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Row wouldn’t let Kammie carry anything to the sacred cave. He carried the cooler containing their food, as well as a large pack on his back. Along with dishing about the sex in the romance novel, Alice’s friends had advised Kammie to wear something sexy under her clothes and to treat the sacred mating the way a human male and female would treat their wedding night. Kammie didn’t own anything remotely sexy, unfortunately, so she went a different direction. She hoped that Row would be pleased.
They neared the cave, and Row said, “Give me two minutes.” He handed Kammie a flashlight, because the sun was setting and the woods were growing dark.
He disappeared into the cave and she heard a lot of hurried movements. True to his word, he reappeared shortly and said, “I wish I could carry you inside the cave, but the entrance is too small for me to do that.”
“You’re so sweet.”
“Only to you.”
She kissed him and gave him the flashlight. Going to her knees, she peered into the entrance of the cave. She had to crawl on her hands and knees for the first few feet. Row had set an electric candle where the tunnel turned sharply, and she followed more flickering candles for a little longer, before the tunnel opened up and she was able to stand in the rough-hewn chamber. The cave was circular, about ten feet across, with shelves hewn into the walls for supplies. Row had set electric candles on the shelves to illuminate the space. On the floor was a thick pile of furs, and he’d arranged pillows and blankets along one edge.
Row’s hands slid around her waist and he kissed her neck. “What do you think,Adara?”
“I think it’s amazing.”
The air was cool but not chilly. She bent over and took off her boots and Row set them in the tunnel outside of the chamber, along with his own.
Row took her coat and laid it along one wall with his, then turned to face her. He took her hands and lifted them, kissing the tops. “When I left here to take my sister to her people, I never expected to find my truemate in the woods of a strange place. Meeting you changed my life in a heartbeat, Kammie. I would be lost without you.”
Tears stung her eyes. “You’re the most amazing mate, Row. I don’t know what I’d do without you either.”
He stared down at her intently. She could hear the faint rumble of his bear and knew that both man and beast were excited for what was to come. She and Row were already marked according to wolf traditions, but she was going to be joining his sleuth as his mate, and she wanted to wear the crescent mark.
He caught her around the waist and drew her against him as his mouth descended on hers with a gruff growl. She loved the way he kissed her, as if he couldn’t get close enough to her or touch her enough. His tongue slipped against hers in a dance that made her skin tingle and her wolf growl happily. Tugging his shirt from his jeans, she ran her fingers up his back, feeling the heat of his skin. She raked her nails down lightly, then slid her hands up the front of his shirt, undoing the buttons as she went. His broad chest was thick with muscles that bunched and contracted as she traced them with her fingers. Rubbing her fingertips across his nipples, she circled them until they tightened under her touch and smiled against his mouth as his hands kneaded her waist.
She pushed the shirt off his shoulders, and he released his hold on her long enough to take it off and toss it aside. Then his arm was around her once more, his hand slowly caressing the front of her body. She could feel the heat of his touch through the thin shirt she wore. He eased from the kiss as his hand cupped her breast, and she knew he could feel that she wasn’t wearing anything under her clothes.
His thumb rubbed her nipple as it hardened under his touch, and he gazed down at her. “Is my sweetheart naked under her clothes?” His voice was rough and husky, and it made her toes curl.
She lifted her shirt, slowly baring herself to him. He watched intently, reminding her of the first time she’d stripped for him. She was aware of her scars and she thought she probably always would be, but she wasn’t ashamed of them anymore. Row had changed her life so completely just by being himself and caring about her. She didn’t even really recognize herself anymore, but she was glad for that. Starting their new life together with a new attitude was just what she needed to do.
He helped her tug the shirt off and growled possessively. “You’re beautiful.”
“I’m yours.”
He kissed her and then slipped to his knees, wrapping his arms around her waist and rubbing his cheek against her stomach. “I’m yours too, Kammie.”
He opened her jeans and tugged them slowly down her legs, kissing her flesh as it was bared to him. His growl, when he realized she wasn’t wearing panties, sounded a lot like a purr. She would’ve liked to buy sexy lingerie for him, but she knew in that moment that her mate thought she was sexiest when she was naked. She loved that knowledge.
After she stepped free of her jeans, she went to her knees and undid his, cupping his ass in her hands as their lips met in a kiss that seared her all the way to her soul. She could feel his erection through his jeans, and it was a heady feeling to know she turned her mate on no matter what she wore.
He stood slowly as she pushed his jeans down his legs, allowing him to step free of them and toss them to the side. She reached for his cock, but he pushed her hands away gently. “If you touch me, I’m going to forget to mate you properly, and it’s important to me that we do this right, sweetheart. I want to wear your mark on my arm and I want you to wear mine.”
Earlier in the day, he’d told her that he wouldn’t mark her if she didn’t want him to. He understood that she had enough scars to last several lifetimes and that she might not want another. It hadn’t even been an option in her mind, though. Taking Row’s crescent mark was a way to cement their mating, to make it clear to one and all that they were mates and nothing would separate them. She hadn’t had a choice with her other scars, but she would choose Row’s scar.
He lifted a Mason jar from one of the shelves and went to his knees before her. After unscrewing the metal lid and setting it aside, he placed the jar between them. He took her hands and placed them on his hips, patting them gently. Then he dipped his index finger into the jar, coating it in the clear oil.
“Kammie Townsend,” he said as he stroked his finger down the left side of her throat, “I, Sorrow Grayson, vow myself to you for all eternity.” He dipped his middle finger into the oil and stroked it down the right side of her throat. The oil was warm and smelled of lavender. “I vow to be the best mate to you, to care for you in every way, and to protect you from harm.”
He coated his ring finger with oil and brushed a slow line over her heart. “My heart is yours. My soul. My life. Everything that I am is yours, from this moment forward. I will honor and love you for all of my days.”
As he dipped his little finger into the oil, he gazed into her eyes. She’d never felt so connected to anyone in her life, and she believed it was meant to be this way—truemates were special and meant to be revered.
He stroked his finger across her abdomen from hip to hip. “I vow to love and protect our children, to see them safe from harm in all ways and teach them all that I’ve learned. I promise to be a good dad, and to love their mom fiercely.”
His hand rested on her hip, fingers digging into her flesh lightly as the words that he’d spoken hung in the air between them.
