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Rocco drew him into another kiss, and then another, until Emmy laughed and pushed him away.

“The sooner you go, the sooner you’ll be back.”

As big as the pack was and as many hunts as they went on, they had a walk-in freezer just off the kitchen.

Rocco had commandeered a small corner of it to keep his gift, with Marco’s blessing, of course.

It only took him a few minutes to wander downstairs and bring it back to his mate.

Not wanting to risk dirtying himself up, he used his magic to float the gift ahead of him.

It was wrapped in plastic and several lengths of brand-new colourful bondage rope.

As he stepped back into Emmy’s rooms, he took in the chair and carefully wrapped table that now stood centre stage and grinned.

“Holy shit, did you get me a body for Christmas?” Emmy said, his eyes lighting up as he turned from where he’d been placing tools out on the table.

“Not just any body, puppy. Come open it.”

Emmy raced over to him as he set the gift down on the floor, his deft fingers making quick work of the knot-work it was tied with .

“This is excellent quality rope,” Emmy noted as he pulled a dagger from who-knew-where to slice through the plastic.

“Only the best for my mate.”

Pulling aside the plastic to reveal a face frozen in pain, Emmy sat back on his heels in surprise.

“Did you steal this?” he asked.

Rocco smiled as he watched his husband trace a finger down the cheekbone of the man the Silverlake Pack had refused to let them take the other day.

“Of course not. I wouldn’t risk making trouble like that. I made a deal with Charles. Helped him out with a little glamour.”

“You got him for me to use at the bridge?” Emmy asked.

“I told you we’d find the perfect person. You wanted him, so I got him for you. I’ll always give you anything you want and everything you need.”

“I love you,” Emmy said, throwing himself into his arms.

Rocco blinked and stood unmoving for a moment, too surprised to react. His shock didn’t last long, though. Wrapping his arms around his husband, his mate, he held him close.

“I love you, too, Emmy.”

“Now, come here,” Emmy said, making Rocco laugh as he half-dragged him across the room before shoving him into the chair.

Looking over at the tools Emmy had been laying out, Rocco smiled, filled with satisfaction.

“Are you going to tattoo me as my present, puppy? Gonna mark me forever?”

Emmy looked down at him as he tugged Rocco’s shirt over his head. “Yeah. That okay?”

“It’s more than okay. Being your canvas would be the greatest honour of my life. Your art made me who I am today. ”

Emmy nodded almost distractedly, already turning his focus to gloves and preparation before straddling Rocco and pressing a single finger to the skin over his heart. “Here.”

“Yes,” Rocco said, something akin to awe rushing through him as he watched his mate prepare the tattoo gun and fixate on the unmarked skin he was about to ink.

Emmy looked obsessed. Ravenous. Talented beyond anything he could imagine and more beautiful than anyone he’d ever seen.

“Mine,” Rocco said as the needle sank into his skin for the first time.

“Yours,” Emmy replied.

The pain was barely noticeable, subsumed as it was by his fascination with watching his mate. The passage of time drifted until finally Emmy sat back and placed the tattoo gun on the table beside him.

The design he’d chosen was deceptively simple—a black and white stylised image of a wolf, somehow unmistakably Emmy, that had been interlinked with the sigil for air magic.

All in his distinctive street-art style.

It was a brand of ownership. A brand that shouted to the world that they were inseparably one.

“Let me mark you back?” Rocco asked.

Emmy nodded and pulled his shirt off over his head one-handed.

Usually, the witches who tattooed wielded water or earth powers, but Rocco could make it work with what he had.

Especially given his own training in reproducing images perfectly as glamour.

Picking up the tattoo gun, he traced out the same lines Emmy had drawn on him in the same location on his body—a matching set, just like they were.

Rocco’s magic wove the ink into Emmy’s skin and held it there when his shifter magic would usually reject it and heal.

He made sure to embed his tracing spell in the ink so Emmy would never be without it again.

Emmy groaned with pleasure as he worked, his eyes dilating and turning golden as his fangs lengthened.

“This was supposed to be my present to you,” he gasped.

“It’s your present for us.”

“Fuck. I so want to bond you right now.”

“Do it,” Rocco said, gripping Emmy’s hips to pull him closer.

Emmy shook his head. “I want you to have your own pack as well as mine. I’m not going to put your relationship with the MC at risk because I couldn’t wait a few days for Blaze to sort his shit out.

The whole reason we got married was to make up for a mating they didn’t approve of.

We can’t risk a war with them right now. ”

“Okay, but if they’re still gunning for me by New Year’s Eve, I’m going to restrain you and shove my throat into your mouth,” Rocco growled, grinding their erections together as he fought for control.

Emmy moaned as his hips rocked forward. “If they take that long, you won’t need to restrain me.”