Chapter Twenty

Ileaned up and pressed my lips to his before he could answer, my fingers gripping into his shirt tighter.

I wasn't sure where the thought had come from, myself or my wolf, but the science behind it seemed solid to me. If being held by my mate kept the voice at bay, then baring his mark should flush the voice out completely. Then whatever being had been haunting me since coming to this realm could be banished and we could continue our mission once and for all.

"Sasha," he moaned against my lips as I moved my legs over to straddle him. He was already hard, his erection pressed between my thighs deliciously.

I bit down on his bottom lip then, pulling it slightly as I flexed my hips against him. I didn't want him to try to talk me out of this. I could feel his apprehension mixed with his own desire.

He would most likely blame the animalistic desires of our wolves to fulfill the bond. He would probably try to persuade me not to go through with the plan, like we had agreed before, but I couldn't handle it anymore. I couldn't let a voice in my head that didn't belong there to confuse my thoughts any longer.

"Sasha," Ayden moaned as I began to unbutton his jeans. "Sasha, wait."

I growled against his mouth in protest at his command. The world spun around me in an instant, my back pressed down to his sleeping bag as he towered over me. I could see his chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. I had successfully undone the button to his pants before he had twisted us around, the bulge pressing the fly open.

"Just wait. Slow down and think about what you're doing." He urged.

I shook my head. "I have. I've been laying here thinking about it since we got in the tent. If the bond is protecting me from going insane, then I want the bond, Ayden. If I can't get rid of this voice, I will lose my mind."

Tears threatened to fill my eyes again as I said it, the fear creeping back into me.

"Please," I begged him. "Please, just help me. You're the only one. I need you."

I watched his face crumble at my words before his mouth crashed against mine again. His hands pushed my shirt up until he cupped my breast and his tongue swept across my mouth with a growl of desire.

I moaned as he gave my nipple a pinch, my back arching up into him, while my hands pushed at his jeans.

"If you want to stop at any time," he gasped against my cheek. "If you change your mind, just tell me."

I knew he meant the mark. We'd already done all of this before. But the marking was what he was so apprehensive about, not that I blamed him.

Once we marked one another, there was no going back. Not really. Even if we decided to go our own separate ways, there wasn't going to be a moment in time where we wouldn't crave the other.

My grandmother had once thought she could do it. She had believed that despite my grandfather's mark, so long as she hid that they were true mates chosen by The Fates, that she could leave him behind and live her life happily. That, of course, never happened.

The pull between bonded mates is too strong. Even if my grandmother had made it out of the city limits and away from him, they both would have sought each other out again.

To accept the mark of your mate meant that you accepted them and no one else for the rest of your life, and in some belief circles, all the lives you had to live after.

I ran my hand down Ayden's chest as he pressed his lips along my neck, my fingers finding the hem of his shirt and the hot, muscular skin beneath it.

"More," I growled into his ear as I ran my nails lightly up his torso.

I could feel his body shudder beneath my touch, his body answering my command as he ground his dick against me.

Ayden pulled back from me; his breath mixed with mine as he stared down at me for a brief moment. His hand yanked on my shirt, pulling it over my head. My upper body was now exposed to the cool night air as he tossed the fabric to the side of his tent.

My own fingers gripped hold of his shirt, pushing it up over his chest until he bent over me to allow me to pull it off. I couldn't help but admire his naked torso again, the light trail of hair descending into his opened jeans.

I swallowed hard as my eyes followed that trail; a teasing view shadowed by the jeans as they still clung to his hips.

He didn't give me any more time to enjoy the view. My pants sliding down my legs and tossed over to where my shirt was. I shivered under his gaze. My entire body was bare to him now, and every inch of me felt like it was on fire with each goosebump that rose along my skin.

"Absolutely beautiful," he sighed, his hand running up my thigh.

I sucked in a breath as his thumb pressed against my clit before pinching the bud of nerves between his fingers. The air soon released with a moan as he did it again.

I watched him through hooded eyes as he licked his fingers, the action somehow seductive as he locked his gaze with mine. He slipped his fingers inside me, my body arching into his touch.

"You aren't quite ready yet," he told me as he slid his fingers in and out. "We can fix that though."

I could feel my body responding to the movement of his fingers as he skillfully explored me. Pleasure was steadily growing within me. With each thrust of his fingers, my moans became choppy and my voice was needy with desire.

"Please, more," I begged, my hand gripping his wrist as if controlling his arm would make him give me what I really wanted.

He pulled his hand back instead. A whine slipping past my lips, a sound I had never heard myself make.

"Don't be disappointed," he said, his mouth moving down my neck to my chest.

He pecked a trail along each breast, nibbling each peak before making his way lower along my body.

"I'm only just getting started, Rigel," he said before nipping my belly playfully.

I arched deeper into his touch, my legs parting around his body as he continued to move lower. I swallowed a lump as it formed in my throat, his breath hot against my cunt.

More bumps and shivers wracked along my body with anticipation of what he would do. I reached down to his head, my fingers tangling in his hair, as I tried to guide him to exactly where I wanted him to be.

He stiffened his neck with a chuckle, the air from his laugh teasing at my clit.

"Patience is a virtue," he teased.

I growled low in my throat, the sound dissolving into a whimper as his mouth fell over my slit. My thighs tightened around his head and my fingers gripped at his hair. His tongue ran along my slit, the tip of his tongue circling over my clit before running back down towards my soaked opening.

The tip of his tongue swirled around the tender flesh there, teasing me with the promise of tasting me inside and out. My body bucked up to meet him. I was aching to feel him bring me to pieces.

"Please," I found myself begging again. "Don't stop. More."

He smiled against my skin. "As you wish."

My body jolted as his tongue explored the inside. The feel of him tasting every inch of me as I cried out. My body moved with spasms around him. My thighs tightened, my hands pulled and pushed at his head. I felt like I was being possessed, the sheer movement of his tongue seeming unnatural as he twisted and flicked it around.

"I'm coming," I gasped, shaking my head back and forth as I arched against the ground beneath me. "Ayden!"

Light flashed before my eyes. Ayden's mouth suddenly covered my own. The taste of what he had done to me was still fresh on his lips.

I could feel my body buzzing. My wolf howled in my head for more. I howled right along with her.

I wrapped my arms and legs around Ayden, my heels digging into the waist of his jeans to push them down as I ground myself against him. His hands joined to help, pushing the denim down as his cock sprang free between us.

My body ground against him more, the pure heat of my wolf taking over in that moment. I was all animal and from the feel of his hands as they groped and squeezed at me, Ayden was no less of a beast than me.

He pulled his hips back from mine, his hand helping to line himself up to my opening as our lips remained joined. He thrusted forward hard and deep, my mouth falling open to him with a silent gasp as my nails dug into his back.

His thrusts continued hard and fast. My hips barely able to keep up with him. I could feel him throbbing inside me. His pace never wavered as he pushed deeper and deeper inside me.

My head fell away from him, my breath ragged and hard to catch. I clung to him; my legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

"More," I gasped between breaths and moans. "Don't stop."

My words powered him forward. My body tightened around him with every thrust he made.

I could feel my teeth aching as they shifted to long canines. My eyes fell on his shoulder, the tender skin just at the base of his neck. I found myself tilting my head to the side, craving for him to leave his mark on me as much as I wanted to leave my mark on him.

His body slowed to a pace I could keep up with. Our bodies moved in perfect synch, the feeling of the waves building inside of me just as they had moments before.

"Ayden," I gasped.

"Yes," he answered, "come for me, Baby. Come with me."

My nails raked down his back as I screamed out his name. I felt his teeth sink into my shoulder at that moment, his mark racing through my veins and marking me as his forevermore.

I leaned forward to mark him just the same, but Ayden stopped me.

He whipped us around so fast my body now sat on his lap as he stared up at me. I could still feel him inside me, his hips rocking slowly in and out of me.

"Just wait," he gasped out as he nuzzled his face between my breasts. "If you mark me now, you lose any chance of a choice. I want the mark you give me to be because that is what you truly want. Not to save you from the monster of the Forgotten Realm."

I felt a tad dejected by that, though I could understand where he was coming from. The bond was now just a step away from being fully completed, but that one step could make all the difference if either of us were to choose to reject the bond after we leave here.

My fingers traced over his cheeks, his eyes closed at my touch as he continued to rock slowly in and out of me. My own hips joined his pace, my lips parting on a soft moan.

"You're so fucking beautiful," Ayden whispered to me. "Gods, I can't believe my luck."

I felt myself glow at those words, the dejection fading to a dull ache.

I wanted to tell him that I couldn't believe mine either. I wanted to tell him that I loved him. That I had loved him for as long as I had known him, but the words wouldn't come out. They merely rang in my head.

No matter how many times I opened my mouth to speak those three little words to him, nothing but a sigh or a moan would come out.

He didn't leave my lips idle for long. His lips pressed gently to mine, the kiss matching the pace of our thrusts as he enjoyed every ripple and wave of our combined bodies.

I could see myself doing this forever. I wanted to do this with him forever.

I just couldn't say it out loud.