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“Mmmm, that’s what I like.” His lazy smile and half-lidded eyes ramped up the tension inside me. “My alpha who can move… maybe not mountains but?—”

I cut him off by plowing into him, my cock silencing my mate as I thrust inside his channel. He whimpered, his breath coming in tiny spurts and starts. Sweat dribbled over his chest into his belly button while our bodies jerked and bumped. The headboard joined in by thumping against the wall.

Joss lifted one leg and flung it over my shoulder, and my cock lodged deeper inside him. Grabbing his ankle, I smothered it with kisses while twisting my hips and entering him from a different angle.

“I love the way you fuck.” Joss’s glistening, half-parted lips and his come-hither gaze ramped up the temperature inside me as heat blistered over my skin.

My cock surged into him, silencing the words on his lips as my hand made its way to his length, bopping on his thigh, a delicious slapping of flesh on skin that spurred me to lunge into him again and again. I grasped his dick, and he covered my hand with his own.

“Together,” he mouthed as his lids closed, and we pumped and I fucked him in tandem. His hair flopped adorably with each thrust and tug, and I wished I could paint him in that moment, with his damp locks, his cheeks and chest tinged with pink, while covered in a sheen of sweat.

Neither of us spoke as my cock filled him, but little groans, grunts, and sighs escaped our lips. I fit so perfectly inside him, it was where I was meant to be. The climax building inside me forced my eyes shut, and surrounded by darkness, the smells, sounds, and sensations of us making love enveloped me like a hug. The squeaking bed, the rustling of the sheets, his tight channel and damp skin, and the musky sensation of sweat and slick mingling.

Joss panted, and his body jerked and spasmed. He cried out and trembled, clamping his hands on me as he climaxed, cum spurting over us.

My cock slammed into him, the room spun around as all thoughts were shoved out of my head, and there was only him and me. The orgasm crashed over me, and my body bowed as though I’d been hit by a gust of wind.

“I love you.”

I lowered Joss’s limp leg to the bed and bent over him, kissing the sweat dotted over his brow and upper lip. As my knot claimed his ass, my fox’s front teeth elongated and broke the skin on my mate’s shoulder. He winced, closed his eyes, and clamped his teeth together as I mopped up the trickle of blood.

“Sorry.” I kissed the mark, wishing it would heal as quickly as a shifter’s wound.

“No. It’s the most significant event of my life, so it has to be memorable.” He traced his fingers over my chest. “I want my mark here on your pecs.” He bit me hard, and it was more painful than expected but mixed with desire and a prickling that signified we were as one.

“Mate.” He grinned and poked out his tongue again. “Now you can’t get rid of me.”

“Oh really.” I chuckled and snuggled into him. “I’m sure I can come up with ways.”

“Don’t kid yourself. You’re stuck with me for always and ever more.”

18

JOSS

It was hard to believe that not long ago, I was just a consultant, and now I was moving in with the CEO. The sexy CEO who had won my heart.

And when I saymoving in, I meant physically because everything was finally coming over from my place. But emotionally? We’d already moved in together. The two of us hadn’t spent a single night apart since he marked me. We’d been alternating between my place and his, pretending like there was still some reason to keep both. But the truth was, we were already living together, just in a split residency, and that got old quick. This was just us catching up the logistics.

It had taken a while to get to this point. Not for lack of desire, but life had been hectic. I’d taken on another consulting gig after my contract with Redtail had concluded, and unfortunately, it was a beast. Labor-intensive. High stakes. Long hours. All the things I craved when we first started and now… not so much.

When you only get a few hours a day with your mate, you’re not using that time to pack up boxes or haul furniture. At least I wasn’t. I spent it curled into his chest, or cooking together, orjust watching crappy TV while our fingers stayed intertwined the entire time.

But finally I was in a lull between contracts. An intentional one.

Because it was time.

I wanted to fall asleep in his arms every night. I wanted to wake up in them every morning. I wanted the whole package—the scent of his soap in my towels, our books tangled together on the shelves, mismatched mugs in the cupboard because we couldn’t decide which set to keep. I wanted a home that wasours. Not a his-and-his situation with overnight bags. Something real.

Something rooted.

It was time to embrace my position in the den, too. If I were honest with myself, that was one of the reasons I dragged my feet. I knew with no doubt that Garner was mine and I was his. But knowing how I would fit in with a den full of shifters I didn’t know and were so very different. That terrified me.

It shouldn’t have. They had been nothing but wonderful to me. I’d gotten invitations from other omegas to go to brunch, movies, walks. I was included in more conversations. It was no longer a case of me walking in and feeling like I was interrupting. And yesterday, for the first time, I felt like I was truly one of them when the den was having a big old picnic and group run. The kids who were too young to take their fox forms were playing different games, and when they were picking teams for their favorite version of tag, the two “captains” fought over who could pick me. It was silly.

This wasn’t gym class and I wasn’t five, but in that moment, it clicked that in their eyes, I was den. And if they saw me that way, it was time for me to see myself that way as well.

“What are you smiling about?” Garner’s arms wrapped around me from behind.