Page 52

"Stars, Issy," he murmured, his voice rough with want.

I pulled back, letting him slip from my mouth with a wet sound that was obscene and perfect. I raised an eyebrow. "What, you didn't think I'd been fantasizing about this too?"

There was a pause, and then his mouth curled into a slow, delighted grin. "Did your fantasy include me making that noise I just made?"

"Obviously," I said, moving back up his body to straddle his hips again. "That one and a few others."

When I leaned forward to kiss him, I could feel him laughing softly against my lips. "You really don't need me for anything, do you?" he asked, but there was no accusation in it now, just wonder.

I traced the line of his jaw, considering. "I can think of a few things," I said, then shifted my weight, crawling up his body until my knees were on either side of his head.

His eyes widened in pleased surprise, his hands coming up to grip my thighs. For a moment, he just looked up at me, jaw slack with something like awe.

"Is this okay?" I asked, suddenly uncertain.

"More than okay," he growled, and then his mouth was on me, hot and eager.

I gasped at the first touch of his tongue against my clit. He was relentless, thorough, using his hands to spread me wider as he licked and sucked. When he slipped a finger inside me, I had to brace myself against the ground to keep from collapsing, my bandaged hands stinging with the pressure.

The discomfort was nothing compared to the building pleasure. I moved against his mouth, chasing the sensation, unafraid to show him exactly what I wanted, what I needed. His other hand reached up to cup my breast, thumb brushing over my nipple in rhythm with his tongue.

The pressure built, heat coiling low in my belly. I closed my eyes, lost in the feel of him, in the steady, building tension. When his finger crooked inside me, finding that spot that made stars burst behind my eyelids, I came with a sharp cry, my thighs trembling around his head.

He worked me through it, gentling his touch as the waves of pleasure subsided. When I finally opened my eyes, he was watching me with undisguised hunger, his mouth wet from me.

"Come here," he growled, his voice thick with want.

I moved back down his body, feeling the hard length of him against my thigh. I wanted him inside me, wanted to feel full, complete, connected.

"Now," I murmured, positioning myself over him.

He nodded, hands coming to my hips to steady me as I slowly lowered myself onto him. The stretch was just on the edge of too much, but I welcomed it, savored it. Inch by inch, I took him in, until he was fully seated within me, filling me completely.

For a moment, we both stilled, adjusting to the sensation. His thumbs traced small circles on my hip bones, soothing, patient. I braced my hands on his chest, careful of the bandages, and began to move.

It wasn't rushed. It wasn't punishing. It was intentional—a claiming that wasn't about possession but presence. With each roll of my hips, each slide of him inside me, I reclaimed another piece of myself. Not just my body but my desire, my pleasure, my choice.

Uldrek let me set the pace, his hands moving only to caress, to encourage. Up my sides, over my breasts, down to where we were joined. When his thumb found my clit, I gasped, my rhythm faltering briefly before finding a new, more urgent cadence.

Our bodies moved like they remembered each other, like muscle memory. The rhythm deepened, built. Sweat slicked our skin, making every slide smoother, every touch more acute.

And then it happened—the claiming mark, so quiet since that night at the cottage, sparked back to life. Not with the blinding intensity of our first time but with a steady, golden glow that spread warmth through my chest like coals being stoked beneath my skin.

Uldrek's hands tightened slightly at my hips when it happened, his gaze fixing on the mark with wonder. "Guess that answers that," he muttered, voice hoarse.

I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. "Shut up and come," I said, grinding down harder against him.

He laughed—a choked, wrecked sound—and then his hips bucked up to meet mine, his control finally breaking.

His hands gripped me tighter, fingers digging into my flesh as he drove into me from below, once, twice, three times, before his whole body tensed, and he came with a groan that seemed torn from somewhere deep inside him.

I followed a heartbeat later, the sight of his pleasure pushing me over the edge.

My second climax washed over me like a wave taking its time, intense but more controlled, more complete.

I buried my face against his neck, inhaling the scent of him—salt, skin, home—as the aftershocks rippled through me.

For several long moments, we lay tangled together, his arms around me, my cheek pressed to his chest where his heart still thundered. Ghost snorted somewhere nearby, apparently unimpressed with our activities. A night bird called from a nearby tree. The world spun on.

Slowly, carefully, I lifted myself off him and settled at his side. He immediately turned to face me, pulling me back against his chest, his arms wrapped securely around my middle. I could feel his breath against my hair, the steady thump of his heart against my back.

The town glowed faintly in the distance. Ellie would be wondering where I was. People would worry.

"We should go home," I whispered, staring at those distant lights.

"Yeah," Uldrek murmured, his arms tightening slightly around me. "We should."

But we didn't move yet. Not just yet. For a little while longer, we stayed there, wrapped in each other, watching the lights of Everwood grow brighter as the night deepened around us.