Page 46 of Fighting Fate (Monsters of London #4)

Vince

I run. I could hang around and banter with Dax some more, but we have time for that.

We’ll have all the time in the world for that—more or less—after tonight.

The moon’s out, and something Dax doesn’t know is that I’ve visited Epping Forest five or six times over the last few months, once we’d worked out where we wanted to go. I need some kind of advantage. I’m only human, after all.

We’ve agreed on a fifteen-minute head start, so I start off at a gentle jog, winding my way through trees and careful to leave my scent behind. Oh, I know Dax will find me. That’s the point. But I want to have some fun with this.

The moment the fifteen minutes pass, a shiver echoes down our bond, and I quicken my pace. I clamber up into a tree, just for a few seconds, making sure to leave enough of my scent there that it might slow Dax down.

Then I head to the place I’ve already picked out.

Yeah, Dax might have somewhere in mind, but I think he’ll like this. The trees become a little denser as I run north, the moon lighting my way. A large oak stands here—not unusually old, perhaps, but its roots form a neat little cradle at the bottom that I know I can sprawl in. I lean back against the trunk and catch my breath. Dax’s feelings reach me down the bond. He’s curious, still, and excited to hunt me down.

I smile to myself. I want him to find me, but I’ll give him a little run once I’m sure he’s close.

Minutes stretch out, and I push off from the trunk when I feel a pulse of satisfaction come down the bond. My little stunt with the tree seems to have distracted Dax for a while, but now he’s heading right towards me.

I grin and run again.

I’m planning on running in a circle, leading Dax back to this place, but it’s only seconds before I feel the prickle of eyes on my skin. I hear a low growl and skid to one side as I change direction.

Dax sails past me, landing on the spot where I was just standing. I laugh and run again.

Now that he’s not hunting so much as chasing, I know it won’t be long before he has me. But he doesn’t know the ground the way I do, even if him being shifted gives him a bigger advantage.

The oak tree is in sight when Dax gives in and catches me. His teeth clamp around my jogging bottoms and he tugs, sending me sprawling on the forest floor. All the air leaves my lungs in a quiet oof .

By the time I turn my head, he’s already shifted back, all that desire I can feel banked by concern.

“Are you all right?”

Oh, I’m a simple man. I see an opportunity, I take it.

I’m on my feet in seconds, racing towards the tree. “I’m fine,” I call over my shoulder, and Dax laughs before he shifts back and follows.

He catches me again, this time jumping on my back, just before I reach the tree. I wriggle beneath his furry bulk, glad that the space is just the right size for the two of us. Dax’s cold nose nudges my ear, and I shiver.

He shifts back and when he gently bites my earlobe, I groan. “Looks like you caught me.”

“You wanted to come here.”

I grin, glad that he’s worked it out. “I wanted us to have a place we could come back to.”

Dax leans back and rolls me over so I’m on my back beneath him. He hasn’t ripped my clothes off yet, which is a little disappointing.

“You want to come back here?”

I stretch up, a slow arch of my back that has his eyes going all dark. “I think we should come back here every year and do this over and over again.”

“Good plan,” Dax says and kisses me.

I kiss him back, distracted by the fact that he’s naked and I’m not. My hands move over his skin, and I dig my fingers into his arms and then his back just so I can feel his breath stutter.

He’s already hard, and I’m mostly there, so I don’t really see that this will take that long at all.

Dax pulls back from the kiss. I go to follow, but he plants one hand on the centre of my chest, pushing me back between the tree roots.

Fuck. He might be the only one of us who’s naked, but I feel it, flayed open before him as his eyes roam slowly over my desperate, trembling body. He pushes my T-shirt up, claw tips scraping over my abs, and the mewling cry that escapes my mouth would be embarrassing in any other situation.

But not this one. Not here.

Dax blinks, and his wolf steps back, leaving his eyes soft and brown instead of wild and silver. “Did you prep?”

“Oh, baby, I’m so ready for this.”

“Good.”

His claws emerge again, and he tears through my T-shirt like it’s nothing. They scrape over my skin—enough to make my muscles twitch and leave the faintest of red marks—and I tip my head back and groan.

Dax makes just as fast work of my joggers, then drags off my shoes and socks. There’s no reason for me to be panting beneath him, except when I look up, he’s kneeling between my spread thighs, all dangerous coiled muscle, and all his attention on me.

My mouth waters, and my cock jerks against my stomach. His eyes are silver, cataloguing my every movement. His chest heaves with each breath, and I don’t know what’s holding him back, but I know we don’t have long before the moment snaps.

“Dax,” I say, pleading. I grab the backs of my thighs and tip my hips up, exposing myself to him. “Fuck me.”

He growls, long and low, and goosebumps erupt all over my body. Yes, yes, yes. I want him. I want him now, like this, this perfect wild animal. I want him soft and needy when we’re in our bed. I want him laughing, comfortable, scared, sad…

“Do it,” I practically order, and Dax surges up and over me, one big hand shoving my left thigh further back.

Thank fuck for yoga. My muscles hardly tremble as he reaches between my cheeks, two thick fingers driving into me in quick succession.

I tip my head back and howl out in pleasure as he fucks me open on those fingers, stretching until he thinks I’m ready to take him. I look at him again when his cock presses against my hole. Fuck, I need him in me. Need to be in him. Need to stay under this tree forever with my mate.

“My mate,” Dax says, echoing my thoughts. He tilts his hips forward, and I breathe through the stretch as the head of his cock pushes inside. I reach for him, already greedy for more, and Dax ducks his head, kissing over my chest.

“Fuck, keep going.”

Dax kisses up to my shoulder, rocking his hips more slowly than I want. I whine and wrap my free leg around his hip, trying to pull him in deeper. Dax growls and threads his hand through my hair, tugging my head back. I moan when he sets his teeth to my throat.

“Do it.”

“Not yet.” The words are rough and muffled, and I don’t get a chance to reply because when I open my mouth, Dax shoves in all the way, hips slapping against my arse. All the breath leaves me in a rush, and I cling to him instead as he begins to fuck me in earnest.

For once, I can’t find anything to say. I groan and whine instead, holding on to Dax as he drives his cock in and out of me. He sucks a mark on my throat that throbs with each beat of my heart.

How could I have ever doubted this? Us? It’s not even about being here—not even about sex. It’s about every moment we’ve shared over the past year, even the bad ones, and how we’ve managed to work through them all.

Dax kisses me hard. “Vince,” he murmurs against my mouth. He sounds as broken as I feel, and I haven’t really done anything at all.

I bite his lower lip, twisting my body, and Dax lets me roll us over so I’m sitting on top of him. His hands fall to my hips as my knees hit the ground. He’s so deep inside me, filling me so well.

“This is how you want it?” Dax asks.

“You ready to bite me yet?”

He grins, teeth sharp fangs, and I groan and start to roll my hips. Dax thrusts up every time I sink down on him. I don’t know who’s leading who, but it doesn’t matter.

My cock throbs, so I reach down and stroke myself, planting my other hand on Dax’s chest to keep myself steady. Fuck. I’m so close. So ready to be marked, to be his.

To have him be mine .

“Fuck,” Dax mutters, eyes wide, and as I watch, they go completely silver. He surges up and pulls me into his arms, and I’m still on his lap, but I can hardly move now. “Are you ready?”

I tip my head to one side, exposing the mark Dax left a few minutes ago. “Do it.”

I have to bite him too, and it’s something I’ve been worrying about over the past week. What if I can’t do it? What if I can’t do it hard enough ?

Right now, those doubts and worries are gone. I want nothing more than to sink my teeth into Dax—some primal part of me already knows that it’s what I need to do to make him mine.

Dax kisses the mark he left, making me shiver, and then sinks his teeth into my skin. It hurts, of course it does, but the pleasure that chases on the pain’s heels is almost overwhelming in its intensity. Dax’s hips move slowly, still gently thrusting in and out of me, but I’m so close that I know it won’t take much more to make me come.

When Dax lifts his head, there’s a smear of blood on his lips. He licks it off and I shiver. I shiver again when he tilts his head to one side.

“Your turn.”

The bond quivers in anticipation. It already feels stronger than it did a moment ago, and I know it’s because of the bite, but it’s felt stronger the entire time we’ve been out here, too. I wrap my arms around Dax’s shoulders and nuzzle his throat.

His fingers brush over my hole, stretched around his cock, and I swear. “You want me to fuck this up?”

Dax chuckles. “You can’t.”

“Can if you keep doing that,” I grumble and bite back a moan when he does it again. The pressure is perfect, my cock pressed between our bodies… Fuck. I nip the spot I’ve chosen and Dax shudders, one hand flexing against my back before he relaxes it again.

“Vince, please .”

Oh, I can’t deny him anything when he sounds like that. I bite him hard, keep going even when I’d usually stop, and when my teeth break his skin, the bond flexes and flares and snaps into place between us. Dax thrusts up hard when it does, a sound close to a howl tearing from his throat, and I groan and shake as my cock spills between us.

Dax follows me over the edge, and usually I’d hardly notice, but now his pleasure chases mine, making my own cock jerk and try to come again. Dax pants against my shoulder, and I press my face against the mark I’ve left, just about the only mark that will remain on his body.

I don’t know how long we remain like that—me in Dax’s lap, him holding us both up. Well, kind of. He’s leaning back against the tree trunk, and when I lift my head and look at him, his expression is soft. Loving.

“It worked,” I say. My voice is almost a croak with how hoarse it is.

Dax’s big hand sweeps down my spine. “Of course it did.”

I grin because his giddy excitement is something I can feel and yes, it’s separate, but it’s something I get to share in. “We’re mates.”

“We always were.”

“No, Dax. We’re mates . Forever and ever.” I lean in and press our foreheads together. I can do this. My next words are a whisper, but no less real for it. “I love you.”

Dax sucks in a little breath—because he can feel, too, the truth of it—and then he’s kissing me desperately, passionately, owning me with every press of his lips. My wolf. And I’m his, too.

“We’re not heading back to the car yet, are we?” I ask when we part.

Dax snorts, but he does cast a curious look up at the sky. We’ve still got a few hours until sunrise, by my reckoning, and even then, we’re deep in the woods. He’ll be able to get to the car and back before anyone can come across us.

“No, not yet,” Dax says. He takes a deep breath like he’s breathing me in. “You still have to mate me, I think.”

“Oh, is that right?” Humour colours my voice, and Dax’s smile is the brightest thing I’ve ever seen.

“We want the bond to stick, don’t we?”

I laugh, kiss him just because I can, and then run my hands down his chest. “And I guess we’ll have to repeat this ritual, what, once a week? Twice?”

“Three times. At least.”

“Hmm.” I pinch a nipple and Dax gasps, back arching, even as his eyes still sparkle with amusement. “I suppose we can do that.”

He laughs, and I do too, and when we pull back from our next, inevitable kiss, he takes my face in his hands and stares deep into my eyes. “I love you, Vince. My mate.”

I turn my head and kiss his palm, his fingertips. The words come easier this time, and I’m sure soon they’ll come as easily as breathing.

“Oh, Dax. I love you too.”