Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

FERN

Relic held me to him as he strode through the caves, growling sweet, sexy things in my ear.

“Gonna take care of you, baby. Gonna make you feel so fucking good.” He nuzzled my neck. “My beautiful little Tink. My perfect mate. Fuck, the way you make me feel.”

I clung to him, unable to get close enough. Gods, that night, when I thought I was claiming his soul, the way my world had spun around me, the heat I’d felt, the unexplainable sense of safety that I’d felt and couldn’t explain—none of it had anything to do with his soul—no, the moment we touched, a primal part of me had recognized him as mine, my mate, and I’d missed it.

I pressed my face against his throat and breathed him in. His scent was home and comfort and every good thing.

Finally, we reached his quarters, and he quickly let us in, shut the door behind us, and lowered me to the floor.

He was breathing hard as he looked down at me. Then, taking me by surprise, he dropped to his knees in front of me and wrapped his arms around my middle.

He looked up at me, trembling almost as hard as I was, and I saw the truth in those stunning golden eyes, as if he’d said it out loud.

“You’re truly my mate?” I choked out.

“I’m yours, Fern,” he said, his fingers flexing against my back. One hand slid up to grip the back of my neck in a possessive hold. “I have always been and will only ever be yours.”

I held his handsome face in my hands and decided to jump off the ledge, allowing myself to trust in this, in him. “I’m in love with you, too, by the way.”

His nostrils flared, and he flashed his canines. “You love me?”

I nodded. “I never thought this would ever happen for me. I never thought the Fates would give me this after everything they took from me. I thought … I thought they must hate me, that they saw everything that was wrong with me like everyone else has my whole life.” I held onto him tighter. “But if they think I’m worthy of someone as wonderful as you, then maybe I’m not the abomination everyone told me I was.”

Relic pressed his face to my belly, and he was shaking harder now. Rage rolled off him as he breathed heavily in and out several times because he didn’t see me that way—he never had. When he looked back up at me, his eyes were glowing red again, and his fangs had elongated.

“You never were, baby,” he said, his voice rough as hell, confirming it. “To me, you are perfect in every fucking way.” He curled his arms around me tighter. “I’m so sorry, my baby, that I didn’t find you sooner, but I swear to you, if anyone tries to hurt you again, I will make them pay with their life.”

I felt every one of his words down to my soul, and suddenly, I couldn’t get close enough to him. I wanted my bare skin on his, his warmth, his scent. I wanted his hands and his mouth on me, his blood on my tongue, and the hard length straining against the front of his jeans buried deep inside me. I wanted it all.

I wanted every part of him, and I wanted to give him every part of me in return.

Leaning in, I pressed my mouth to his, and he groaned against my lips as I slid my tongue over his bottom lip. “I want you to make me yours, Relic.”

He groaned. “We have time. We don’t have to rush anything.”

“But I want it now. I want to be your mate now.” My body ached for him, for him to cover me, own me, love me.

“I’ll make you come, Fern, over and over, but you’re not ready for what I need to do to make it official.” He stood, lifting me as he did. “We’ll get there, but the last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

“You won’t,” I said, wrapping my legs around his thick waist.

He pressed his forehead to mine. “I could if I don’t take the time to prepare you for what needs to happen.”

“What do you need to do to me?” I asked. My inner muscles clenched, fluttering, so needy. “Tell me.”

“To mate you properly, I’ll need you on your hands and knees so I can fuck you from behind … and when we’re both about to come, I have to sink my fangs into your shoulder to mark you,” he rasped. “It’s another scar, and that mark will be on you forever.”

He was worried about causing another scar on my body.

“I want your mark. I want to see it every day.” I rubbed my thumb over the tiny scar on my finger. “My mom gave me this the day she was taken from me. Trying to protect me.”

Relic took my hand, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of my finger over that tiny scar. Warmth filled me. I lifted my hand to the side of his face.

“Knowing that I have another scar on my body, given out of love and not hatred, having your mark on my skin … will make the rest insignificant. Your mark will prove that my father was wrong, that Grady and The Chemist were wrong, that I’m not worthless, that somebody does want me for their own. That I am lovable. Your mark on my skin will make me the happiest female to ever live, Relic. I don’t want to wait another day. I want it now. I want you now.”

His big hand was at the back of my neck, and his fingers slid into my hair, fisting lightly. “Then, you’ll get me, and I’ll make sure it’s so fucking good for you, baby. I promise.” He shook his head. “But first, I gotta wash off Rome’s blood because smelling another male anywhere near you is fucking with me.”

He carried me into the bathroom, kicking the door closed after us, and turned on the water. With hands shaking, his muscles twitching, and his teeth bared, he undid his jeans and shoved them down, along with his boxer briefs. Standing naked in front of me, he reached for me, and carefully but urgently, he dragged my shirt off and fired it into the hamper before he stripped off the rest of my clothing.

Taking my hand, he stepped into the shower and pulled me in with him. Quickly lathering up soap in his hands, he worked the suds all over him, then me, removing all traces of the blood and sweat that had coated his skin and inadvertently gotten on me. Directing me under the spray, he washed the soap off, scenting the air as he did before making a growly sound of approval.

Looking down at me, he slid one of his hands over my shoulder and down to my breast, growling again as he swiped his thumb over my nipple, making me shudder.

“You’ve seen what happens before I come.”

I nodded.

“That transformation only happens when our mates are near, when you’re close to me. It’s only ever happened with you, and it’s gonna happen when I come inside you. I’m gonna be locked in place, like last time, for a while. So, I need to prepare you for that.” He gave my breast another squeeze and continued to stroke the rough pad of his thumb over my nipple as he talked. “You can take all of me though, sweetness, because that’s how this works.” His other hand slid down over my hip. “I’m gonna need to use my mouth and my fingers for a while first, get you nice and wet and ready for my cock.”

I licked my lips. “Okay.”

He cursed. “You’re so fucking gorgeous. Fuck, Fern, I’ve been desperate to get my mouth on that pussy again.”

He dropped to his knees, and I thrust my fingers into his thick, wavy hair. A whimper slipped from me when he kissed his way down my belly, licking and sucking my skin. He gripped my waist and lifted me, sliding me up the slick wall, and when he leaned in, I automatically hooked my legs over his wide shoulders. With a snarl, he swiped his tongue through my pussy, and I cried out. Relic gripped my ass, yanking me closer, licking me like I was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

All I could do was hang on, my fingers tangled in his hair, while he feasted on me, driving me wild, working my clit over and over until I was flailing against the shower wall, not sure what to do with myself as the pleasure built and built, and finally broke. My cries echoed off the tiles, mixed with Relic’s hungry growls.

I’d barely caught my breath when he lowered my legs and stood. Before I could speak, and with his eyes locked on mine, he slid a thick finger inside me.

“ Oh, fuck .” I gripped his biceps.

“Can’t wait to feel you gripping me tight, Fern,” he said. “Gonna live in this hot little pussy for fucking days. Gonna make you mine, and then I’m gonna cover you in my scent so every male who comes anywhere near you knows exactly who you belong to.”

He slipped in a second finger, and the moan that came from me was a sound I’d never made in my life.

“And w-will my scent b-be on you?”

His nostrils flared. “You’ll be all over me, sweetness. Your scent will tell everyone that I’m taken, that I have a mate who is fucking everything to me.”

His thumb slid up, rubbing my clit steadily while his fingers pumped in and out. And, sweet Lucifer, it felt so fucking good, and the things he said were so perfect that I followed the urge to rock my hips forward, seeking out more.

“I need you,” I said, pulling him down for a kiss.

He devoured my mouth while he fucked me with his fingers. “You got me, baby,” he said against my lips. “Need to make you come again before I give you my cock though.”

He wouldn’t have to wait long because every time those long fingers slid inside me, he hit a spot that had me gasping and my hips rolling.

“Oh, fuck.” I pressed my head to his chest, digging my fingers into his biceps as he rubbed my clit faster.

“You gonna give it to me, baby?”

“Mm-hmm,” I groaned as the feeling built inside me, but this time, my fangs tingled, and the need to bite was overwhelming. My fangs grazed his skin.

“Bite, Fern. You bite me if you need it.”

I did. I needed it—badly.

My pussy clutched at his fingers as I sank my fangs into one of his muscled biceps, and as his blood filled my mouth, I came all over his fingers. I took one final suck and dragged my tongue over the puncture marks I’d made, and panting, I tilted my head back.

He leaned in, and his tongue lapped into my mouth, making my head spin. The shower was turned off, and I was lifted out, quickly dried, and on his bed before the haze of satisfaction could even begin to lift. I blinked, and Relic was hovering over me, his golden gaze moving over my face.

I gripped the side of his throat before he could even think about denying me. “Now, can you make me yours?”

He licked his lips, leaning in, nuzzling the spot between my shoulder and neck, as a rumbly growl rolled from him. “I’m going to mark you right here.” Another needy growl, and then he lifted his head. “If you have any reservations, Fern, you need to tell me now. Once it’s done, there is no undoing it—understand?”

“I don’t have any reservations.”

He smiled, gentle, gorgeous. “Love that you feel that way, baby, but if you need me to stop at any time, you say so, and I’ll stop.”

I nodded. “I won’t want you to stop.”

“You remember what I told you? What I’m gonna do to you, Tink?”

“Yes.” I shivered.

How was I still so turned on? But I was. I was hot and achy and so fucking empty.

He brushed my damp hair back. “Are you scared?”

I shook my head and took his face in my hands. “I know I’m safe with you, Relic, no matter what. I know I’m always safe with you.”

He pressed kisses along my throat and my jaw before sucking and nipping at my lower lip. “I need you to remember that when I’m fucking you, sweetness. I’m gonna try to be as gentle as I can, but the beast is fucking itching to claim you. I might have rock-solid control most of the time, but not when it comes to you. I’m going to try like fuck to keep it locked down, but things could get a little rough.”

I shivered again, but not from fear. He watched as I swallowed convulsively and then licked my lips.

“You said I was made for you and you, for me.”

“Yes,” he said.

“Then, I’m thinking … I’m gonna love it any way you give it to me.”

He stilled for several beats, his chest pumping hard. “Fuck,” he finally gritted out.

The beast leaped forward in his eyes, and they flashed brightly before he bared his teeth, lifted me, and flipped me over.

“Hands and knees,” he ordered as he gripped my hips, lifting my ass in the air before I could do as he’d said.

Excitement thrummed through me, and I jumped, squirming when he pressed a kiss to my side, then across my lower back. His hands slid up, cupping my breasts, squeezing as he continued to kiss and rub up on me. He was marking me with his scent, letting the animal take the lead, and when he leaned over me, covering my body with his, I could hear— feel —the beast vibrating through his chest.

His cock nudged my rear, and my nerves shot higher. I wanted this. I wanted it more than anything. I wanted to belong to him and me to him. But for me, sex had never been about pleasure; it had been something used against me, something to get through, something I and the person I was with had never wanted. I knew it wouldn’t be like that with Relic, but muscle memory had me jerking forward.

Relic stilled, his mouth at the side of my throat. “Talk to me, Tink.”

“Don’t stop. Do not stop. I want this. You have no idea how much. Please, Relic, don’t stop.”

“Not gonna stop if you don’t want me to, baby, but maybe we do this another way to start with.” Then, he was gone from behind me, positioning himself beside me on the bed. “Climb on, sweetness. You start, and when you’re feeling ready, I’ll finish.”

He wasn’t put off, not treating me like I was broken, and instead, he’d come up with a way to make this good for us both. Trusting me. Always trusting me.

I could do that.

Gods, he was utterly gorgeous, lying there. Still, nerves fluttered inside me. He was trying to look relaxed, but every muscle in his body was tight as hell, and his long, thick cock strained against his stomach.

“What if it doesn’t fit?” I said before I could stop myself.

“We were made for each other, remember? It’s gonna fit.”

“The Fates seem to love fucking with me. What if this is another one of their cruel games? What if we can never be together like that? Then what? I won’t be your mate,” I rasped, starting to spiral.

This had to be too good to be true, right? The Fates wouldn’t give me this. They wouldn’t.

Relic hooked me around the back of the neck, snapping me from my freak-out. “You will be my mate,” Relic growled. “Nothing will change that. And if we can’t fuck that way, then we don’t. We love each other, and we do all the other shit that feels fucking amazing.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I fucking mean it. I know you’re scared. I know you’re used to people hurting you and throwing you away, but that will never be me.” A smile curled his gorgeous mouth. “But maybe instead of assuming the Fates are fucking with you, Tink, how about you try and fuck me first?”

I could definitely do that. I nodded and straddled his muscled body.

“That’s it. Now, start like last time, working that pussy against my cock until you’re nice and wet again—can you do that?” he said.

I couldn’t wait to do that. Planting my hands on his chest, I did what we had last time, trapping his thick cock against his stomach and grinding down so my pussy spread around his length. A shudder rolled through me when I started working my clit against him. It didn’t take long before I was soaking again, sliding up and back along his cock, while pleasure coiled low in my belly.

“You look fucking gorgeous up there.” His hips lifted a little off the bed.

Leaning forward, I kissed him and let my hunger for him take over. I kissed him like it was the end of my world, and it was—the end of the hell I’d lived and the start of a new life, where I belonged to someone, where I was loved and cared for, where I was safe. Where I had a future spread out before me that I’d never dreamed possible.

I couldn’t believe it, and yet I knew it was real, that this was real.

“I love you,” I choked out as I slid forward. Instead of sliding back, I let the head of his cock notch just inside me. “And I’m going to make you mine,” I said, the words coming from a primal place inside me that was every bit as possessive as his beast.

I pushed back, and he stretched me wider as he slid deeper.

“You are mine,” I said with a hiss.

“Yeah, I fucking am,” he said, holding my hair back so he could see my face as I took a little more of him. “That’s it, baby, nice and slow.”

My mouth fell open as I wriggled my hips and worked in another inch.

Maybe this was all some messed-up game the Fates were playing; maybe they wanted to hurt me again, but I wouldn’t let them win. They would not win, not this time.

I worked my hips, swiveling them and rocking on that big cock, working him in one hot inch at a time. When he stretched me wider, I ignored the pinch, so fucking determined.

Panting, I eased up and back down, taking more each time, until I could take no more. I was shaking and sweating and had bitten my lip so hard that it bled, but I’d done it.

“I won,” I gasped out. “I beat them,” I said as a hot tear streaked down my face.

Relic reached up and swiped it away. “Yeah, you fucking did, Fern.” He was panting as well, his stomach muscles impossibly tight, his chest and arms straining.

“I made you mine,” I hissed from a mix of pleasure and pain. I slowly swung my hips forward so he was almost all the way out, then pushed them back, stuffing myself full of him once more.

“Not letting you go,” he said, his hands gripping my hips. “Never letting you go.”

“I won’t let you,” I said brokenly as more tears slid down my cheeks. “If you leave, I’ll follow you.”

He chuckled, dark and gritty. “If I had a soul to give, baby, it would be yours. Neither one of us is going any-fucking-where without the other.”

I nodded and moved faster, and every time I took him deep inside me, shocks of pleasure jolted through my body. I was so wet now—there was no resistance—and, gods, I was close to coming again. I stared into his eyes as I moved on top of him, gasping and sobbing as I got closer and closer to the edge. His long, thick fingers gripped my hips tighter, and he hissed a breath through his teeth as he lifted his hips again, filling me more deeply.

Oh, fuck . I dug my nails into his chest and moaned low. “I’m … I’m going to—”

“Not yet, baby. Hold on.” Relic lifted me off him, flipping me onto my belly again, then dragged my ass in the air.

As he hooked me under the hips, holding me up, I whimpered, trying to impale myself on the head of his cock. Desperate to feel him inside me again. He slid back inside me, this time in one smooth thrust, filling me easily.

“Oh gods, yes,” I moaned.

He slid out, and when he thrust inside me again, all the air was knocked from my lungs. I barely managed to drag in a breath before he was taking me. His growls and snarls filled the room as he claimed me—as the animal, the beast, claimed his mate. Fisting the sheets under my hands, I gasped for breath and shoved back into him, wanting every huge inch inside me. Everything about it was wild and raw and so fucking perfect.

The way Relic wanted me, the way he was claiming me, made me feel loved and wanted and utterly out of control. But for once, I didn’t have to be scared because my mate held me tight, and he’d never let me go.

He growled lower. “That’s it, Tinker Bell; fuck me back, show your hound how you like it deep,” he said in a distorted voice. “You’re gripping me so fucking tight, baby.”

I groaned and lifted my ass higher, pushing back harder, and he roared like the beast he was. I loved it. I wanted him to feel as out of control as I did. I fisted the sheets tighter as I felt my orgasm build inside me. My pussy fluttered wildly, and Relic barked out words in a low, guttural language I didn’t understand.

He grew larger inside me. “Oh, fuck.”

“Only you do that to me,” he said in that otherworldly, resonating voice. “Only you’ll ever know what this feels like.” He gripped the back of my neck and pushed my upper body down to the mattress.

He thrust deep, and when he tried to slide out the next time, I was tugged back with him. We were locked together. My head spun, my body vibrating with pleasure.

Relic’s groan was so guttural that it lifted goose bumps all over me. He lapped at my shoulder, and I shivered when his canines scraped my skin.

“Don’t try and pull away when I bite,” he said, then sank his fangs into me, moaning against my shoulder and rotating his hips.

I cried out as his cock throbbed heavily inside me, pumping me full of hot seed and sending me over the edge. I shuddered and moaned, my pussy fluttering and spasming as I came around him. His canines in my flesh didn’t hurt—no, it tingled, felt warm—and as one orgasm waned, the next built.

He released my shoulder. “That’s it, Fern. Come again for your mate,” he growled like the beast he was.

His rough demand was enough to push me over the edge, and I came again. His roar echoed through the room, the beast letting everyone know that he had claimed his female. That I was his.

While we were still locked together, he gripped my hips and rocked and ground into me, filling me so thoroughly, and all I could do was breathe through it.

“You did so fucking good, Tink,” he said low, gently, rubbing my back and massaging my hip.

His rocking turned to shallow thrusts, and then he was able to slide in and out of me again. He leaned over me and lapped at the bite he’d given me several times, and the rasp of his tongue made me shiver.

Finally, he slid out, and his arms came around me so he could carefully position me where he wanted me on the bed. I couldn’t have moved even if I wanted to. I was warm and weak-limbed and, gods, dazed. Relic climbed in behind me, wrapping himself around me so I was fully cocooned by his heat and scent and comfort.

“My mate,” he said in a voice full of reverence, and my eyes stung. He nuzzled his mark on my shoulder and lapped at it again. “Mine.”