6. Chapter 6

As much as I loved my new home—and I truly did—what I really wanted to see was what the bedroom looked like and what my mate might look like there.

Naked.

On the bed.

My wolf had been howling inside of me throughout the night and most of the day. We wanted our mate. Now.

But also, rushing into things the second we met had felt off. Not that we had a choice in waiting, not really. There were other people there and this ride home would've been too much for us.

And yes, I had wanted to jump in with both feet, but not while he was still a stranger. Our night together followed by our walk here had alleviated that aspect of things. Sure, he knew a lot more about me than I about him in the sense that I couldn't stop talking around him. But also, the way he listened and the follow-up questions he asked had me knowing him too. It just worked.

Not once had he rolled his eyes or asked me to calm down or be quiet. He just let me be me.

Apollo showed me his beautiful home, but the moment he gripped my hand and we walked up the stairs, my heart began to race. This was different; different than when we were alone together outside under the stars and different than when we were walking here together.

The thrumming inside my heart that had begun when I entered Apollo's territory increased in tempo. It was as if we were serenaded by our own personal symphony. Our heart song. Like the song knew that we were finally alone together in the space he created for us.

Apollo hadn't said it in that way, but he'd let me know in his own way that this home had always been for me, long before he even knew I existed. He'd always trusted I would come. It had me cherishing the home even more.

We stepped into the bedroom. It was not a large room, but it held the most gorgeous bed I'd ever seen. It was for sure not there for him, not in his centaur form.

I gasped when I saw it. The four-posted oak frame dominated the space. There were roses hand-carved into the headboard, with ornate details of the vines sprawling across the dark wood. It was covered in exquisite furs.

"I made it," he said.

"It's beautiful." That was the understatement of the year. I'd never seen anything quite as beautiful in my life.

I turned to face my mate and found that he gazed at me with the same desire burning in his eyes that flared within my belly. I pulled him closer to me and pressed my lips to his. It was a slow, ghost of a kiss, and it only fanned the flames of our desire for each other.

"Make me yours, Apollo," I asked.

He lifted me into his arms. I squealed in surprise and wrapped my arms around his waist to steady myself. That was when I realized my mate was no longer in his centaur form. Our kiss—it called forth his human self.

My eyes widened. "You shifted."

"I did," he said.

I knew it was his very first time. Centaurs didn't get their human forms until they met their mate. But it didn't seem to faze him a bit. All of his focus was on me.

The hunger in his gaze was unmistakable. If I doubted how much he wanted me, the thick cock that was poking me in the ass would've been a good indication. And by thick I meant it was huge. Hung like a horse was a saying for a reason.

"I need to get undressed," I said. But first I lost myself in his kiss. I pressed my lips to his and closed my eyes. My arms locked around his neck. The broad muscles in his back flexed as he moved us across the room.

Then I was on the bed. The soft furs enveloped me in his thick scent. He tugged off my jeans while I removed my shirt. I needed my skin to touch his, needed his body to cover me, claim me.

My mate kneeled between my spread legs. "You are gorgeous, my little wolf."

"So are you," I said. I couldn't tear my gaze away from the thick cock that jutted out from the V of his pelvis. I wanted to lick every inch of it. My hole leaked slick, and my wolf whined inside of me. That whine came out of my very human throat. "Need you. Please."

"I would never deny you anything, mate." Apollo cupped the back of my neck and pulled my head to his so he could capture my lips. I could drown in his kisses. While he distracted me with his lips, his fingers circled my hole. One, or maybe it was two, breached my hole, and I bucked my hips at the intrusion.

Apollo trailed kisses down my neck. His teeth nipped at my skin, and all I could do was thrash against his ministrations. My skin heated with each brush of his lips. It was a delicious torture.

He went on like that for a long while. Dropping kisses and bites along my skin. Focusing on one nipple, then the next, all the while he was stretching my hole for his monster cock. His finger stretched my rim, then teased around the edge, only to plunge back inside again.

"Give me your cock," I whined.

"Soon," he promised.

My hips jerked and cum leaked from the tip of my cock. My release was so close. "Now, please. I cannot take anymore."

His hand stilled. His lips stopped and my skin went cool. My orgasm retreated. Apollo's eyes locked on mine. "If I make love to you, as I wish to do, we'll be bound together. Mates in all ways. That is what you wish?"

"More than anything," I said. There was not a single doubt in my mind. Apollo was my always and forever, and I was ready to forge that bond.

He kissed me again. This time slow and steady. Then the head of his cock pressed against my entrance. My slick eased the way, and his cock slid inside. The stretch burned, despite his thorough preparation. Apollo went slow, allowing my body to adjust. My hands trailed down his back and then reached the muscular globes of his ass. I squeezed as he buried himself deeper.

"Feels so good," I said. My arms went around his neck, and I hugged him to me. "Keep going, mate."

He did, until he was fully buried within me. He kissed my neck, right over the area where a mate bite would go.

I ached to bury my teeth in him, to mark his as mine. It was what wolves did.

"So close, sweetheart." Apollo began to move, his cock sliding in and out of me, stretching my channel. "You're so fucking tight, mate."

My fangs elongated, and I couldn't hold back anymore. The minute I felt my mate stiffen above me and the heat of his cum filling my channel, I bit down. My teeth sank into his flesh, and Apollo's hips jerked.

He let out a moan of pleasure that matched mine.

My eyes rolled back as pleasure radiated through me. Like little sparks of electricity traveling down to my toes. My cock jerked and cum splashed between us.

"Mine," Apollo growled.

"Yours," I agreed.

Once the two of us came down from our orgasmic high, I licked the wound where my mate mark was placed. Apollo shuddered.

"I'm proud to wear your mark, mate," he said.

I kissed the spot, and his hips jerked, sending a jolt of pleasure through my body. "I'm proud to be yours too, Apollo."

Pride didn't even begin to describe the feelings flowing through me. It was as if my life split into two in that very moment. I had my life before mating Apollo and after.

The bond between us was more than just love and attraction. It was palpable. Our heart song had been there from the beginning, but it was different now, somehow sweeter. Like the two of us composed a new piece that was just for us.

"Do you hear it too?" I asked, snuggling into him. "It's… I don't want to say better, but it's…"

"Better." He kissed my shoulder. "It expresses the two of us woven together as one. That makes it better."

I hadn't thought of it that way, but he was right. And it also explained how definitive the before and after felt to me. We weren't just mates, as if there could be just anything when it came to mates, but we were bonded mates—two become one and all that poetic crap humans spouted, but for real.

"I'm so glad I finally found you." I might not have understood that I had been searching, but I was.

"I'm so glad you finally came." He kissed me breathless. "I'd been waiting for you for lifetimes, and now that you're here, my heart is full."