Chapter 52

Chapter 52

“You feel so fucking good,” Kale groaned as he pressed a kiss against the side of Ashley’s neck as he continued rolling his hips, taking his time as he savored the feel of her tight sheath wrapped around him.

Last night…

God, last night had been beyond fucking amazing. They hadn’t been able to get enough of each other. They’d barely finished screaming in pleasure before they were going at it again. Kale had taken her over and over again, unable to fuck her hard or fast enough, needing her so fucking badly that he thought he’d die if he didn’t touch her again, all while he’d struggled against the urge to mark her.

He needed to mark her before he lost his fucking mind. She was his, but there was so much more to it. He wanted her to know just how much he loved her, needed her to know how much she meant to him, and with every passing second, it was becoming more and more difficult to remember all the reasons why this was a bad idea.

So many things could go wrong. There was a very real possibility that her blood could kill him since they still didn’t know what they were dealing with yet. There was also a chance that a mating mark could put her in danger, alerting the wrong people that she belonged to him. If she didn’t mark him in return, he would be seen as weak and fucking pathetic, which would put a target on his back, but at the moment, none of that mattered.

He loved her.

Pressing one last kiss against her neck, Kale allowed his fangs to slide down as he turned his head and pressed the tips against her skin. Groaning, he made his thrusts shallow, rolling his hips so that he was slowly thrusting his cock inside her as he pushed his fangs through her skin and nearly fucking lost it when the first drops of her blood hit his tongue.

So fucking sweet like strawberries and sugar, Kale thought, unable to help but moan when he felt her sheath tighten around him as the scent of her arousal intensified and her moans became louder. As she ran her hands over him, he waited for the pain that he knew should be coming. She was a Pyte and her blood should have been dangerous to him, but instead of pain, all he felt was an insane amount of pleasure tearing through his body.

God, it felt so fucking good, Kale thought in a daze as pleasure was quickly followed by a surge of power like nothing that he’d ever felt before. It felt like every cell in his body had been electrified. So much fucking pleasure, Kale thought, releasing his bite as his breaths came faster and he couldn’t seem to move fast enough.

He watched as Ashley’s eyes shifted between red and silver, her fangs slid down and her mouth opened on a moan as her back arched off the bed and-

It wasn’t enough.

Not nearly fucking enough, Kale thought as he slid his arm beneath her and pulled her closer as he continued moving, needing to fucking move as the energy continued surging through his body. It had been a long fucking time since the last time that he’d shifted, but he’d never forget the intense pleasure that came after a shift.

His body would tremble with unspent energy, his cock would harden, needing release and the pleasure…

God, the fucking pleasure.

It was the reason why most shifters didn’t fight a shift because they knew just how fucking good it was going to feel afterward. But as amazing as that felt, it had nothing on this. As his mouth found hers, Kale wondered if her mating heat was responsible or if this was just a side effect of her blood. Whatever it was, it was addictive.

His cock had never felt this good before or maybe, it was just her, Kale thought as he took her mouth, his tongue moving against hers as he took her hand in his, entwining their fingers together and felt himself spiraling out of control as pleasure tore up his spine and for the first time in his life, he let go.

* * *

“You marked me,”Ashley said in a daze, unable to help but smile as Kale brushed his lips against hers, relieved that the worst of the mating heat was finally over.

“Yes, I did,” he said, tightening his hold around her as he rolled over onto his back so that she was lying on top of him as he settled back against the pillows.

“You also lost control,” Ashley pointed out as she turned her head and kissed his jaw.

Chuckling, Kale said, “Yes, I did,” turning his head and kissed her as he reached up and cupped her face in his hand.

He was always so in control, making sure that he did all the right things, and holding back when she could feel that he wanted something more. Last night he’d struggled to stay in control, but every time that she thought he would finally lose it, he’d managed to pull it back and today…

That control snapped.

He stopped holding back, stopped overthinking everything, and when he finally let go, she’d felt the difference immediately. His movements became less controlled, his kisses became hungrier, and she hadn’t been able to get enough of him. When she felt his fangs press against her skin, it had taken her a moment before she realized what he was about to do and when she did, it had taken everything in her not to cry.

When she was little, her mother used to tell her romantic tales about mated shifters that marked each other, letting everyone know just how much they meant to each other, but it was the fairytales that humans told their children that she used to love hearing about more. The idea of one day finding her mate had never appealed to her, but finding Prince Charming? It had led to a lifetime obsession with romance movies and novels and dreams of a happily ever after that she never expected to come true.

Then she’d met an incredibly cranky shifter who loved to glare and she’d fallen in love with him, and now, she wanted what every shifter girl dreamed of, but she also wanted her happily ever after. She wanted it all. She wanted to do all those things that would end with her walking down the aisle one day, but she knew that wasn’t possible.

Shifters didn’t get married. They didn’t date or do all the things that she’d never had the chance to experience. She just…she wanted more with him.

“I fucked up, didn’t I?” Kale asked, sighing heavily as he turned his head and kissed her forehead.

“No, you didn’t,” Ashley said, unable to help but smile as she leaned in and kissed him. “I love you, Kale.”

“But you didn’t want this,” he said, gently pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“It’s not that,” she said, shaking her head as she pushed herself up and sat back on his thighs.

“Then tell me,” Kale said, grabbing several pillows and shoving them behind his back so that he could sit up and-

“You wanted the human version,” he said, sighing heavily with a look of understanding that had her cheeks burning.

“Maybe,” Ashley mumbled, knowing that it was foolish to hope for the impossible, especially knowing just how special a mating claim was, but she hadn’t been raised knowing that she was a shifter. She’d been raised believing that she was human and had dreamed about marrying her Prince Charming one day.

“Do you want to marry me, Ashley?” Kale asked softly as he reached over and ran his fingertips along her jaw.

Worrying her bottom lip, she nodded.

She watched as his lips pulled up into a pleased smile as he said, “Then we’ll get married.”

“We will?” Ashley asked, feeling her lips pull up into a smile as Kale leaned in and kissed her.

“Absolutely,” he said, brushing his lips against hers one last time before he sat back and asked, “Do you know what a claiming mark means?”

“That you love me?” Ashley said with a teasing smile, knowing without a doubt that he loved her. It was in the way that he touched her, the way that he held her, and the way that his gaze softened whenever he looked at her.

“God, yes,” Kale said, leaning in and took her mouth in a slow kiss as he wrapped his arms around her and she realized what she had to do.

She had to mark him.

There was no choice, he’d marked her and she had to do this for him. She remembered what happened to the few males in her stepfather’s Pack who’d marked their mates, hoping that it would be enough to stop their mates from cheating on them. It never was. When their mates didn’t return the claiming mark, they were seen as weak and pathetic and ended up being targets for other shifters. It…it never ended well.

She didn’t want that for Kale. She loved him and would do anything for him, including doing something that terrified her. Over the past few months, Kale had offered her his wrists, but she couldn’t do it. No matter how tempted she was to bite him, and god, was she tempted, she just wasn’t ready to face that side of her, terrified of what would happen if she did.

Right now, she still drank blood in a coffee cup and honestly, she would rather keep doing it that way. At least if she was drinking blood from a cup, she could pretend that something about her was normal. If she bit into his neck…

She didn’t have a choice.

Breaking off the kiss, Ashley turned her head and slowly exhaled, telling herself that she could do this. Repeating that lie that she was really hoping would get her through this, she willed her fangs to slide down as she opened her eyes and-

Frowned in confusion as she sat back, trying to make sense out of what she was seeing, or rather, what she wasn’t seeing. Wondering if her eyes were playing games with her, she reached over and ran her fingertips over his neck, looking for the small, barely visible scar that should be there, only there was nothing but smooth, tan skin.

“What’s wrong?” Kale asked, but she barely heard him as she shifted back on his thighs so that she could look for the light pink scar on his torso this morning, only it was gone.

“You’re completely healed,” Ashley murmured absently as she traced a circle over the smooth skin where the scar from the gunshot should be.

“What?” Kale said, following her gaze only to frown.

“Your scar on your neck is gone too,” Ashley said, her gaze met his as he reached up and ran his fingertips along the spot where his scar should be, only to find smooth skin as his eyes turned silver and his expression went from surprised to pained and she didn’t have to ask to know why.

The last reminder of his sister was gone.

Not knowing what else to say, Ashley dropped her gaze and-

“Oh, my god! You’re bleeding!” she said, struggling not to panic as she climbed off his lap. The scent of fresh blood reached her as she frantically searched for the source of the blood. When she couldn’t find it, she quickly climbed off the bed only to stumble before she managed to pull it together and rushed to the bathroom to grab something to stop the bleeding.

“Ashley, wait!” Kale said, moving to follow her as she tried not to panic.

She should have stopped him, Ashley berated herself as she struggled to hold it together. He’d told her that her blood was dangerous and she should have listened to him. As soon as she felt his fangs press against her neck, she should have pushed him away and…and…

Wondered why Kale was kissing her.

When he finished giving her the sweetest kiss that she’d ever experienced, he pulled away, smiling down at her and making her wonder what she’d missed.

“Why are you smiling?” Ashley asked, only to once again find herself frowning when she realized that the blood wasn’t Kale’s.

It was hers.