30. Thirty

thirty

Even though I knew that's what she was going to say, it still made my skin tingle. Whether in anticipation or fear, I didn't know.

I shook my head. "I don't think that's a decision that should be made under these circumstances."

She snorted. "What circumstances would you prefer? When we're old and gray and the only thing left ahead of us is death? Are you afraid, or do you not want to bond with me?"

I strangled my whine. "I don't want you to feel pressured."

She lifted her head and stared at me with tired eyes. "It's too late for that."

I huffed and looked away. "No, it's not. You can take all the time you need to make an informed decision. There is no reason to be hasty."

She sprung from my bed and I backed up as she advanced on me.

"No reason to be hasty? Are you fucking kidding me?" Her little hands fisted at her sides. "Tomorrow night you're going to reveal yourself to someone who will run to tell their boss, who is one of the people that funded the research to create you! Someone who will tell the director of the lab!"

I shrugged. "That's the easy part."

"Easy?"

I winced as she screeched.

"If that's easy, what's hard?"

I took a deep breath and cocked my head. "The waiting that comes after."

Her entire body deflated and she sank to the blankets. "That's what I'm afraid of. I don't think I'll survive the wait without some kind of connection to you."

"I'll be fine."

"You can't say that. You don't know what's going to happen."

I growled low in my throat. "I will always come back to you. I don't need a forged mate bond to tell me what lengths I'd go to in order to get back to your side. I would endure a thousand lifetimes of captivity if it meant you were safe."

"Don't you see?" Tears tracked down her cheeks. "If I don't have a way to feel that you're okay, I'll be in hell."

I crouched in front of her and licked her cheek. She turned away from me, and I wanted to shatter into a million pieces. "I can't feel like I've pressured you into a lifetime tethered to a monster."

"I don't see you as a monster. You've protected me—cared for me—since the moment I crashed into your legs. You've made me feel safe. You've never belittled me or made me feel stupid." Her chest rose with a big inhale. "I didn't fall in love with a monster. I fell in love with you."

My ears flicked back and forth, filled with the sound of blood rushing through my veins. My mind was blank, my muscles locked in place. On a whisper, I asked, "Did you say you love me?"

"Yes, Drym. I love you."

My mouth watered. "You want to forge a mate bond with me?" I waved my hands at my body, not fully comprehending how this could happen. How did I get so lucky, not only to have found my fated mate, but to have her say she loved me? How was a creature grown in a lab, designed for dealing death, worthy of love?

I stalked toward her on all fours. She waited until my nose was so close to her face, I felt her breath.

"Yes. I want to forge a mate bond with you."

Unwilling to wait another second, I ripped at her pants.

She laughed. "Oh, it's forged with sex? Bonus!"

She helped me undress her. When she was fully naked I sat back on my paws, wanting to etch every line of her body into my memory. "You are gorgeous."

I didn't wait for her to answer. I could smell her arousal, could see how wet she was for me when she spread her legs. I bent over her, tilting my muzzle toward her shoulder. As I shoved my cock into her delicious heat, I bit down hard and fast.

Euphoria filled me. She orgasmed and her cunt squeezed me like a vise as I withdrew. She moaned as I thrust again. The taste of her blood, like the sweetest wine, coated my tongue.

"Holy shit, you bit me."

My fangs were still buried in the soft swell between her shoulder and neck and I was reluctant to let go. Bacon's information didn't say how long the bite should last for the bond to be complete, only that I had to bite her.

As Kendal had said, the sex was a bonus.

Her arms and legs wrapped around me and she urged me on as I pounded her into the blankets. I felt possessed. Thank everything holy that she made keening sounds of pleasure because I couldn't stop.

Another orgasm ripped through her and I closed my eyes to savor the feel of her walls clenched around me, the way my spikes bent back and forth as I moved. My rear claws scrabbled at the rock as I tried to force myself deeper, but I was already at the limit of her body.

I gasped and let go when an odd sensation popped in my ears. My fur stood on end and it felt like static electricity filled the air. A strange golden glow cocooned us.

"Are you seeing this?" She panted and her hips still moved against mine, but her eyes were open in wonder.

"Yes, I see it."

There was nothing in Bacon's notes about this. The light pulsed with us as I took her. It grew brighter and brighter until we both had to shut our eyes against it. I couldn't hold back any longer when I felt her third release. I spent myself inside her, the light behind my eyelids impossibly bright before it winked out.

I rolled onto my back and situated her against my chest. We both stared in awe at the tiny golden motes of light that danced around us.

She reached a hand for one, and it moved away, like there was a bubble between it and her. "They're so beautiful."

"Do you think they're our tether?" I rumbled, quiet as if being loud would break the spell.

She giggled. "I don't know. Having dancing lights no one else can see isn't as weird as a talking chicken, so it's possible."

She rubbed her hand up my chest and around my neck. "You bit me."

I nodded. "It was the bite that forged the bond."

"So, the sex was…?"

I grinned. "A bonus."