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Mason sat with Ellie’s beautiful face cupped in his hands, heart smacking against the walls of his ribs like a fluttering bird. He had just poured his heart out to her … about the fire, his father, and the whole fated mate business. It was the most vulnerable he had ever been in his life, and he prayed deep in his heart that he wasn’t going to regret it.
Ellie continued to let the tears fall, and she took his hands in hers. He felt a pulse of fear blast through him, but when she started to kiss his hands, he knew he had done the right thing.
“Mason,” she began, sniffing. “That was all I needed to hear … I … I’m sorry about everything … this fated mate thing … I …”
Mason began to feel that slithery sensation of fear wriggle up his belly again, but he remained still.
Ellie wiped her eyes and nose with one hand while still placing delicate kisses on Mason’s hands. She finally flicked her stunning, sea-blue eyes up to him. They shimmered like the ocean at dawn.
“Mason, I love you, too,” she burst out. “I am so in love with you. I needed to hear it from you first.”
Everything Mason was ever afraid of melted away. His tiger inside him purred with delight, having found his mate and finally winning over her affections.
It was Mason’s turn to squeeze his beloved's hands. They were so soft and inviting.
“Oh, Ellie,” he crooned. “You have made me the happiest man in the entire universe.”
Ellie giggled, and more tears flowed, but now with joy. Mason kissed up her wrist, to her forearm, to the spectacular valley of her shoulder. He kissed and nibbled, engulfing himself in her groans of excitement.
She leaned into his touch without hesitation. She wrapped her hands around his hand and tangled her fingers in his hair, propping up her chest so her breasts could press into him. He growled as he felt how perky they were, then lifted his head from the nape of her neck to linger over her lips.
“There’s one more thing,” he purred.
Ellie was in a daze, her face flushed with desire. “Hmm?”
“As a shifter, and fated mates, I need to mark you,” Mason whispered. “When we are making love, I need to claim you as mine so everyone else will know. It'll drive me mad until I can."
Her eyebrows lifted. "Mark me?"
He leaned in, brushing his lips along her skin, and she tensed, finding she wanted him to bite her. "It can be on the neck or hip, usually.”
Mason anticipated some form of questioning, but instead, Ellie flashed him a radiant, mischievous smile.
“That sounds really sexy,” she purred back.
Mason was hard as a rock. But he needed to make sure she understood what she was committing to.
She tried to pull him in to kiss, but he kept his lips back, noticing how they watered for her.
“Are you sure, Ellie?” he murmured. “It's not a kink. It's a claim. It's more than marriage. This is forever.”
Ellie continued to smile, then shifted her body on the couch so that her back was pressed against the arm of the seat. She placed her legs on his lap, pressing her thighs together with anticipation.
“Mason, I want this. I want you. I love you.”
She said it with great conviction, and Mason knew in his heart that she meant it.
It was all he needed to plunge into the glorious depths of her body, her soul, and her wonderful mind.
Their lips finally met, and it felt like the first time. Ellie responded immediately to him, groaning as their tongues danced and urgently tasted one another. Mason felt like he could make out with Ellie for hours, to rev her engine, and tease her until she could no longer take it.
But he couldn’t do it that night. He needed her desperately, the way a diver needs to swim toward the light for oxygen.
He began to remove her clothing hastily as they kissed, and she helped him. Mason did the same, removing his suit without a hint of consideration for the cost. She chuckled as he did so, their lips attached like magnets.
When they were both finally naked, Mason lay on top of her, moaning at the sensation of their bodies pressed against one another. He held her face in his hands while she stroked his hair, then bit his bottom lip.
“You are fucking out of this world, Ellie,” he growled.
