43. Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Three

Evelyn

E velyn’s body thrummed with electricity. A smile broke across her face, so wide it hurt. The edges of her eyes stung, yet a floaty sensation came over her. Light. Warm. Airy. She’d known Kade loved her, had felt it through their bond, but hearing him say the words had the power to buckle her knees.

“I love you,” he said again. “And the gods know I wish I’d said it sooner. That morning in Callum I should’ve said it back. I’ve loved you since that day in Castle Connacht. Fuck, I think I might’ve even loved you sooner, the moment I saw those eyes of yours in the commissioner’s office.” He grabbed her hand, laying it over his racing heart. “ This , my heart, beats for you, Evelyn. I love you with every fiber of my being.”

Kade’s eyes shined more gold than the sun, and an unwavering truth swam in them. She grabbed the nape of his neck, threading her fingers through his longer hair, the waves twirling around her digits and pulled him in for another kiss. Something passed between them—something deeper than fate or the whims of gods or goddesses or the whispers of ancient prophecies. It was them. It was love. It was a choice.

And Evelyn had made hers .

Somehow, Kade had backed her against sacks of flour. Her ass landed at the edge, and Kade caged her with his arms and more kisses. She broke away first, breathless and hungry and too desperate for what she needed to continue on without it.

“Kade, I want you. Need you. All of you.”

She needed him to know, wanted him to know. Wanted him . She’d been ready back in Callum, ready for this moment, this binding.

His amber eyes brightened, his mouth falling open. His chest rose and fell as he stared at her, eyes roaming over her with such a level of intensity, it was like his gaze caressed her skin, laying promise to the delightful moments to come. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a strikingly gentle contrast to the heat between them.

“It is binding for werewolves and their mate,” he whispered.

Not a warning, but honesty—always thinking of her, respecting her.

Evelyn smiled. “It’s the same for witches and their fated.”

Kade swallowed and placed his lips on Evelyn’s. Hesitant. Slow. The opposite of what his body and eyes screamed. Evelyn opened her mouth to him, and Kade dipped his tongue against hers. She groaned, falling farther back against the flour. He shifted, pushing against her as he savored her lips and made her see stars with a mere kiss.

Evelyn tugged his trousers, hands cupping the manly bulge pushing to be freed. Kade’s hands traveled up her legs, fingertips burning her pebbled flesh. She hissed and broke their kiss as he gave her thighs a squeeze. Not gentle. Not harsh. Just right.

The world spun as Kade picked her up and moved them to a taller stack of flour. There, he laid her down; naturally, her legs spread wide and wrapped around his hips, and she dragged him to her level.

His amber eyes never left hers as he ran two fingers against the fabric blocking her sex, and the growl he emitted shook the entire cottage. “You’re soaking.”

“For you,” Evelyn breathed .

His stare was beastly, terrifyingly hungry, it made Evelyn’s toes curl and her core heat.

She pushed up, and Kade shared the same mind because in one swift movement, together they pulled her tattered dress off and threw it to the ground. Evelyn tore her undergarments holding her breasts in place, too, and hissed as her nipples met the air. Kade hooked his fingers through the sides of her underwear and tugged. Between his appraisal and the friction, her sex throbbed with heat. Inch by inch, he pulled the lace off her body, leaving her bare and exposed.

He placed his hands on her knees and spread her legs, opening her sex to him completely. His gaze dropped to it, eyes darkening.

“Show me,” he said, tone absolute. “Show me how you like to be touched so for a lifetime I can pleasure you right.”

Evelyn’s breathing turned rapid. Kade’s amber eyes locked with hers, and the desire, the hunger in them—she bit her lip. Never had she wanted to be so intimate, so bare with someone.

Only for Kade. Forever for him.

With one hand, she traveled slowly down her body, moving between her breasts, down her stomach, dipping her fingers through her folds. Her other hand gripped her breast, pinching her nipple as she plunged two fingers into her core, gasping as she soaked herself.

Kade’s jaw ticked, his nostrils flaring, but his eyes watched as she began to draw circles around her sensitive nub. Slowly, deliberately. Evelyn took her time. Molding her breast, repeating the pattern with her two fingers. She watched Kade all the while, his body covered from battle, blood, muck and floured handprints.

He was beautiful and beastly, and he loved her, and she was his.

Kade’s grip on her knees tightened when she dipped her fingers inside. She was so wet. So ready for what was to come. At the thought of Kade and his muscle atop her, letting his inner beast come out, she gasped, quickening the circles, but Kade snapped.

He snatched her hand away and pinned it above her head. Evelyn whimpered as his fingers took over, quick circles the way her body craved.

“Like this?” Kade didn’t break eye contact.

She was breathless, and the tension built inside her as her heartbeat thudded like drums to her undoing. All she could do was nod and mewl.

“I need to hear you say it,” Kade said, peppering kisses on her cheek, chin, jawline, down her neck.

He ran his whole hand down her folds, pressing his palm into her sensitive spot.

Evelyn writhed, pushing against Kade’s other hand where it still pinned her arm above her head.

“Yes.” Her word was breathless and small, a plea for more.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, like that, Kade.”

His circles had become slower, taunting and cruel, as Evelyn sat on the edge of shattering. She was at his mercy, at his touch. He increased his pace, her breath shuddered and then slowed again. Evelyn’s back bowed.

“Should I go faster, Ev?”

Goddess , that nickname.

“ Yes. ”

Kade tilted his head, a hungry gleam glowing in his eyes. “Tell me exactly what you want.”

His tone. His beastly energy. She’d do anything this beautiful man asked.

“Please, Kade. Please go faster.”

Kade did. He worked her, pumping his fingers into her, drawing rapid circles over that spot, and when Evelyn called out his name, he quickened his pace. Kade finally released her wrist, freeing his hand to palm her breast, to suck and tug at her nipples with his teeth. Evelyn’s sight tunneled, the tension in her core rising in a wave of ecstasy, hovering, waiting to crash. And when it did, she cried out, every sensation overtaking her legs as they clamped around Kade. She shuddered as she came down, and Kade kissed her slowly.

He smoothed back her hair, and Evelyn’s bones turned to liquid. When Kade picked her up, she wrapped her legs around his middle and her arms around his neck, never daring to let his face out of her sights. He carried her upstairs where more sacks of flour and sugar filled the room, but at the center, a humble cot and wool blankets waited for them. An empty hearth sat in the corner, and with the snap of her fingers, Evelyn lit it. A small fire crackled, warming the room, but it didn’t compare to heat flowing between them.

Kade sank to his knees and lowered Evelyn to the cot, the floorboards creaking underneath their weight. She blinked and his trousers were gone, his length ready and needy. Evelyn reached for it, ready to taste him, to shatter him like he did her, but he moved over her.

“No,” he said, aligning his hips over hers, his length slicking through her soaked folds. “I want all my pleasure to be when I’m inside you.”

Evelyn whimpered. Kade lined himself up at her entrance, and she threaded her fingers into his hair, pulling him closer. Nothing had ever felt so right, so good compared to this moment. His tip pushed against her, the tease and promise unbearable.

“Kade, I need you,” she whispered. “Please. Now. ”

His lips crashed to hers, and in one single thrust, he entered her. They cried out as their bodies joined, and Evelyn’s back bowed, her entire being coming undone. Kade shuddered, shoulders shaking as he pushed further in, stretching her in a glorious way.

“Stars above, love.”

He grasped behind her knee and hiked her leg up and over his waist, the angle perfect for one final push and Kade was buried to the hilt.

Stretched, full, whole. Evelyn’s body relaxed to the glorious size of him.

“I love you,” Kade said, laying his forehead onto hers.

Then he began to move, slow, deep, and long. Every lovely inch of him sent tingles of pleasure through her. She panted. Breathed his name. Fell into bliss. All over again, tension built in her core.

Evelyn ran her hands up Kade’s back. Blood, dirt, flour, and sweat coated her fingers, and love vibrated between them in the firelight of the small room in a land covered in winter.

They kissed. Sweetly. Hungrily. Kade’s pace grew faster, and Evelyn lost all sense of time and place. There existed only her and him and their pleasure.

She was so close to shattering again.

“Evelyn.” He whispered her name like a prayer, smoothing back her hair and cupping her face.

She came undone from the look in his eyes, the pure love and adoration shining in them. Kade unraveled, too, shuddering and growling into the place where her shoulder met her neck. He climaxed, body turning taut as his hips slowed and he filled her so fully. He muttered her name with various curses, and Evelyn found herself crying out his name again, the pleasure all too much.

When their bodies stopped moving, they didn’t stop looking, drinking the sight of one another in—sweating bodies, panting lungs, loving hearts in their eyes. Time stood still, suspended, and the tethers of their souls reached and connected, weaving together, becoming one.

Wolf and flame.

The fated-mates bond complete.

Tenderly, Kade kissed Evelyn and pulled out of her with care. He lay on his side, dragging her close. They lay there, dazed, and their breathing slowed. The effects of two climaxes still vibrated in Evelyn’s knees, her toes numb. Kade trailed his fingers over her body. Across her collarbone, around her breasts, down her stomach. She did the same, tracing his new and old wounds decorating his wide, muscled chest. Neither said a word—their bodies had said enough.

Not soon after, they drifted into peaceful sleep.

Together.