Page 19

M y wolf is as happy as I am. I can feel her happiness wiggling beneath my skin like a living, breathing thing. Just underneath that overwhelming happiness, buried deep in my heart, is a seed of terror that someday I will wake up and this will all truly have been a dream. Werewolves and lost princesses and secret twin brothers. Don't forget the kidnapping, bad guys, and secret sister. I'm riding a very thin precipice of a double-edged sword.

I shake the thoughts away and enjoy the now. Even if I do wake up someday to find it's all been in my head, what a wild adventure it has been.

I slowly reopen my eyes, and it's all still there. A path of ice winding through the forest, almost glowing a soft silver-blue. Twinkle lights strung as far as the eye can see. It has even started to snow again, and soft flurries are slowly drifting around us. The most amazing man in the world—well, I guess worlds—is looking at me like I hung the moon in the sky all by myself.

Tears full of so much love and emotion well in my eyes. “Roman, this is so amazing. I love you so much,” I choke out as I slow him to a stop and turn to face him, reaching for him.

He lowers himself to meet me in a kiss that buries my previously dug-up worries back where they belong. This is real. I've never experienced anything more real in all my life. The way he kisses me reminds me that I'm alive. I can barely remember what life was like without him in it, and it's something I refuse to ever find out again.

He pulls away all too soon. “Let's get you to the end of the path; I have another surprise,” he says, like it's no big deal at all. If I were a cartoon character right now, my jaw would be on the ice below us because this is certifiably insane.

“Roman! This is already so much. You know you don't have to do these things for me, right? I'm not going anywhere. Being spoiled isn't why I stay,” I emphasize, hoping that's not why he does all the most amazing things. Do I love being treated like a…well, princess, by the man I love with my entire being? Yes. Would I still love him just as much without all of this? Absolutely.

He begins to skate again, pulling my hand and bringing me with him. “I know. You've made that clear. However. If you could see the smile on your face or feel the love that you project when you see the things I do for you, you'd understand why I do it. Seeing you that happy brings me a level of happiness I’ve never experienced in my entire existence.”

Well, how the fuck am I supposed to argue with that?

“Okay,” I breathe because seriously, what am I supposed to say to that?

He chuckles, and his breath plumes out in front of him in the cold air. I'm glad he gave me the clothes he did because even I'm starting to feel the chill of the quickly approaching winter seeping into my skin.

In a maneuver far more graceful than I could ever manage in skates, Roman swings in front of me, skating backwards again. I immediately know he's up to something judging by the massive smile stretching across his face. “Close your eyes,” he whispers, holding out both hands for me to accept as my eyelids follow his instruction without any direction from my brain. Traitors. “Keep your feet still and gently bend your knees so I can pull you just a little further.” And, again, my body answers his call without any instruction or approval from myself. I just smile and wait.

He starts moving and gently pulls my body across the ice. It's a strange sensation; for your body to be moving without you being involved in the movement. After just a couple minutes of my being lost in thought while he takes us what I assume is the final distance of his ice path, he slows us to another stop. “Don't open your eyes yet,” he whispers to me, and I can still hear the giant smile in his voice. I hear crunching as he steps away from me. Then the sound of him fiddling with something. Maybe flipping a switch of some kind. The anticipation is humming through my body so strongly that I'm nearly shaking.

All of a sudden, it's quiet. Very quiet with only the very low crackle of what might be a fire. Where did Roman go? I think, but allow myself to focus, using my wolf's stronger senses instead of allowing panic or anxiety to take hold. The first thing I notice is that I do, in fact, smell fire, so I'm proud of identifying the crackle sound. I slightly turn my head to the other side, listening and inhaling through my nose. I still don't hear anything, but the smell of cherries and leather, of my mate, is stronger over here. Willing my heart to calm so I can hear over the sound of it beating in my chest, I hold my breath and listen. I still don't hear him when his warmth reaches my back. “Looking for something?” he quietly growls into my neck, goosebumps trailing across my skin, desperate for his touch.

“I'm trying to wait patiently and failing miserably.” I half-laugh.

Still behind me, he wraps his arms around me and says, “Let's go ahead and take a few steps and get you off the ice for this part.”

Once we're settled in to what’s apparently the perfect place, he says, “Okay, give me one more minute. I want to see your reaction.” He bolts from behind me, taking his warmth with him. After a moment of him crunching in the earth, he says, “Open them,” so softly that I almost miss it.

My eyelids lift, and the scene in front of me takes my breath away. I wish I was exaggerating, but I gasped so hard I choked on my spit, and it sent me into a coughing fit. Real romantic, Leera.

“Shit,” I hear Roman bark as he rushes to me. I have one hand on my knee and one held out in front of me trying to convey that I'm fine, but since we can't communicate telepathically yet, and I can't seem to cough the spittle from my windpipe, he thinks he did something wrong. “Are you okay? It's all right if you don't like it.”

I lift my body back up as the coughing finally slows to a stop and look at him with tears streaming down my face now. I'm not sure if they're more from the coughing, the amazing surprise, or my embarrassment, but all three are definitely part of it. “I'm okay,” I'm finally able to squeak. “Gasped…spit…wrong pipe,” I say in between a few straggling coughs.

He barks a short laugh and tries to disguise it as his own cough, likely feeling the embarrassment growing heavier and heavier around me.

“I…” I begin testing my ability to speak again, “I think I'm okay now.”

Roman approaches me until he's standing so close that I have to crane my neck to look him in the eyes. Before he can even ask, I reassure him, “This…” I shake my head, willing my emotions to let me speak, “This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Tell me this was here before. Tell me you didn't do all of this for me.”

His smile returns, and he shakes his head. “This is what I was doing yesterday. Me and the guys. I didn't do it all on my own. Are you sure you like it?”

“No, Roman, I don't like it. Are you kidding me? I don't even love it. Like you, there are not adequate words in the English language for me to appropriately convey what this means to me.” Tears are now skittering down my face, and I can't be bothered to care. He moves from in front of me to my side, and I fully take it all in again.

The ice path ends near the end of the tree line, and just in front of us is another smaller lake—maybe at this size, it's considered more of a pond. The forest wraps around this magical little space, and there is a small clearing to my right, and on a wooden platform, there is a domed tent that I can see straight into. It looks like a snow globe out here with everything being covered in the snow flurries and the light dusting on the ground. There's a small fire crackling that’s settled between two wooden lounge chairs, as well as another small fire going within the dome in a small stove. The twinkle lights extend in a path to both the chairs and the tent, held up by stakes since the trees are now behind us.

My feet carry me to the snow globe, and I take in the interior. Two-thirds of the inside are taken up by a large bed, covered in fluffy white blankets and pillows, adding to the snow globe ambiance. There's a skinny piece of wall behind the bed that I can't tell what it is…a bathroom or something if I had to guess. To the side of the bed is the stove heater and a comfy-looking lounge chair, also a fluffy white.

Everything is absolutely stunning.

“What is all this?” I ask because this all looks fairly permanent and not just for a date.

“I thought we could use our own little getaway space on the pack lands. I mean,” he rubs the back of his neck, “I know with you being the princess and all, our future isn't certain as far as where we will be, but I wanted to create a space for us here that was made for you. It doesn't have a finished bathroom yet, but there will be one. I have it rigged up more like an RV right now, so we can still use it, though—”

“Roman.” I stop him with my hands on his chest. “It's perfect.” I breathe in his scent and pull him to me, kissing him as hard as I can, hoping he knows how much I love this. That no matter where our lives take us, we'll always have this place to just be us .

Without breaking our kiss, he lifts me into him and wraps his arms around me, one arm banded beneath my ass and the other tangling in the hair at the bottom of my neck. He slowly starts walking us towards the little haven he made just for us.

He pulls the hand out of my hair to open the door and carries me inside. It's so warm and toasty in here and smells like the fire mixed with the increasing intensity of Roman's scent that’s becoming muskier in the small space.

The door is shut behind us, keeping out the cold air. Roman lifts me even higher as his kisses travel across my jaw to my neck. I tip my head back to give him a better vantage point and am able to successfully gasp without choking myself. Staring out the top of what I have decided will forever be known as our snow globe, the moon is shining in the sky, and the snow flurries are dancing and landing on the edge of our enclosure.

Feeling the heat of embarrassment in my cheeks, I ask quietly, “Is there anyone else out here that will see us?”

His eyes meet mine in the fire-and-twinkle light, and I'm once again struck stupid by the beautiful colors. One green eye, one blue. My eyes dance between his, and we both just kind of get lost in each other again. He shakes his head a little, remembering I asked him a question. “No one. The pack didn't really use these lands except for hunting. I let them know to steer clear of this area while we’re here.” He growls into my skin as he's resumed kissing me everywhere he can reach, which currently isn't much as I’m terribly overdressed.

As if he was able to read my thoughts, he gently sets me on my feet. I wobble at first, forgetting I have the skates on. They might be second nature to him, but I am definitely still getting used to them. I plop backwards onto the chair by the stove to remove them, but as quickly as I land in the chair, Roman hits his knees in front of me and begins to unlace the skates.

I watch his every move as his large hands nimbly work to untie, loosen, and remove each skate gently but quickly. With the skates off, he slides the fluffy pink sock and leg warmer from my right leg. After setting them down next to him, he rolls his fingers into the sole of my foot, causing me to release an unexpected moan. I've had the mediocre foot massages you get when you get a pedicure, but the way his hands are working the tension in my feet from that skate is a completely new experience. His eyes jump to mine at the sound, and I work to shove the embarrassment down again. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. This man adores you. And judging by the slowly growing bulge in his pants, he's enjoying this as much as I am.

He gives my left foot the same treatment, and I'm able to stifle the moan by biting my lip.

I thought after the foot massages, I'd be allowed to stand, but I don't even get the opportunity to try because he goes directly from massaging my foot to massaging my calves. The electricity shooting through my body right now from his touch could keep all of these twinkle lights lit for weeks. I can feel the wetness building between my thighs as he continues to work and knead my body in a way I never thought sexual before.

Once he's had his fill of both legs and before he can move onto whatever he had planned next, I ask, “Roman, honey, when are you going to take off your skates?” when I notice they're still on his feet.

“Would you like me to remove them?” he returns my question with one of his own, and the gravel in his voice skitters across my skin, and all I can do is nod.

He quickly moves to do as I’ve asked and returns to me, offering me his hand, then pulling me to my feet. He leans in, kissing me again and taking all my brain power with him. I'm clutching his shirt, desperate to hold on to anything to ground me as he unwinds my scarf from around my neck and tosses it onto the back of the chair.

With the scarf gone and my brain still malfunctioning under the spell of his kiss, I barely register him unzipping and slowly guiding my arms out of my fluffy vest. The vest plopping onto the floor snaps me out of it, and I'm suddenly tugging on his jacket. He helps me remove his jacket, and I immediately move for his shirt, only being able to lift it so far because he's so tall he helps me and lifts it off over his head. I can't contain myself, and my fingers move to the chiseled muscles in front of me, letting my fingers trace every dip and ridge, soaking my panties even further.

“Your turn,” is all the notice I'm given before he's pulling my long-sleeve shirt over my head, my arms now straight up in the air, leaving me in the silver lace bra I got just last weekend.

“No ripping these. They're my new favorite,” I mock-scold with my finger pointed at him.

He throws his head back and laughs. “Now where's the fun in that?” He then huffs, “You should know by now to buy multiples when you find a favorite.”

Before I can retort, I'm lifted off of my feet and back into his arms. My legs instinctively wrap around his waist, and my mouth crashes against his. This kiss is different. This kiss is raw and filled with need. My arms are wound around his neck, pulling him into me, and it still doesn't feel close enough. I can't get enough.

He turns with me still attached to his torso like a marsupial and lowers me onto my back. The kiss breaks, and my chest is heaving trying to get enough oxygen to chase away the fog of lust, but it's not working. Not like when I went through my first heat, just in a way that won't go away until I get what I want. Everything I want.

He rises to his full height and flips a switch, turning off the main lights within our little snow globe, as well as the twinkle lights following the ice path, leaving us only illuminated by the moon and the small fire to our side.

I wriggle with need on the fluffy blankets, and a whimper escapes me. Roman inhales a deep breath, and when he opens his eyes, they're blown with need themselves.

He leans and runs his finger along the waistband of my leggings, asking for permission to remove them. I nod furiously, another whimper leaving my lips.

His growl reverberates around the room as his eyes drape over my skin, taking all of me in, his eyes lingering over my silver lingerie set. I take the opportunity to lift myself, lean forward, and unbutton his pants while never breaking eye contact. His dick is pressed so tightly against his jeans that it springs free of the denim the moment I pop the button and begin to lower the zipper, though still held by the confines of his black boxer briefs. Without hesitation, I grab the waistband of those as well, pulling them down with his jeans.

His thick length bobs at eye level when I sit back up from helping him step out of his pants, and I lick my lips in anticipation. The tip is red and looks angry from being confined in his too-tight pants, so I lick around the top, taking the silky-smooth staff in my hand. He tosses his head back, groaning in approval. Though he only allows me a moment to lick around his tip and down the bulging vein while my fingers trail lightly up and down, remembering to pay special attention to his knot. I love listening to his body react to my touch. The power in being able to make him feel this way. He reaches down and lifts my chin so that we're looking into each other's eyes. “Lay back for me,” he breathes, and I swear I can see his heart trying to beat out of his chest.

It's hard to look sexy when you drop back onto your elbows and shimmy further onto the bed, but I do the best I can. His face gives nothing away to tell me if I look like a fool. He's still looking at me like I'm some kind of treasure he's found after a lifetime of searching.

He moves across the bed to join me, covering my body with his as he kisses me again. Our bodies touching in so many places has my core begging for attention. “Please,” I beg as I take ragged breaths and arch my body into his.

“Yes, Princess,” he says as he begins kissing his way down my body. “Your wish is my command,” he continues between kisses until he’s exactly where I want him. “Are you wet and ready for me?” he asks even though he knows damn well I am. He can smell it. Hell, he can probably see it. There's no way I haven't soaked through these panties.

Forgetting my earlier scold, he elongates a single claw and snaps them right off my body, but my words catch in my throat when he begins to massage his finger into my most sensitive spot.

His tongue quickly replaces his finger, and I cry out at the warmth of his touch. He growls as he eats me, and the vibrations on my clit have me already so close to coming. As if he knows, he slides two fingers in, gently massaging and stretching me as his tongue continues the perfect rhythm that has an orgasm shooting through me so quickly I didn't even feel it building. I scream his name and pull him away by his hair, my clit needing a moment without stimulation to come back down.

He makes a show of licking his lips and fingers, not letting a drop of my release go to waste.

Once the high of my orgasm fades, a sigh leaves me. It's amazing, but I want more. I want everything.

“Roman, pl—”

“Shhh, my little miracle, I know,” he soothes, and my eyes immediately fill with tears.

“We can—”

“Yes, Leera. Are you sure you're ready? If you thought there was no turning back before, this is your absolute last chance.” He tries to play the question off as a joke, but I can see the worry in his eyes, and I can feel it crackling in the air around us like the fire. It breaks my heart that he thinks that there's absolutely anywhere else I'd rather be.

I nod and whimper, “Please, Roman. I need you. All of you. I love you. Make me yours.”

His lips crash into mine again, and I can still taste myself on his lips, but I don't care. I need him. I need him inside me, to complete me. I need him to mark me, to claim me. My soul won't feel complete until he does, and I can't stand this nagging feeling of my missing piece.

When he pulls away from the kiss, he rests his forehead on mine. “I'll be as gentle as I can. It will be uncomfortable at first, then it will hurt a little bit. When the pain fades, it will only ever feel amazing. I promise.”

My nerves are shooting through every corner of my body, but I'm ready, so I nod again, pulling him against me.

He leans onto his left forearm, laying it on the side of my head. Now he's lifting my chin with his right hand to kiss me again, the softness returning. When he pulls away, our eyes move together to where his length lies between us. He takes the shaft in his hands and begins to move his head through my folds, gathering what remains of my release. The friction alone helps to calm me, the need drowning the nerves. He rubs it higher, making sure to drag it across my clit.

“Please, Roman. I-I'm ready. I need you.”

“I need you too, Princess.” He moves the head of his length to my entrance, and I suck in a deep breath. “You have to keep breathing, baby,” he instructs, so I release the large breath I was holding, and he begins to move inside of me.

“Oh, God,” I breathe, throwing my head back against the bed.

He freezes and searches my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, Roman. Please move. Keep going,” I pant, needing him to move.

He moves in another inch, and I start to see stars. I'm so full. He's so big. It's such a tight fit. Come on, Leera. Now is not the time to panic. Breathe.

He nearly reaches my resistance, and he's pulling back so slowly I swear I'm going to die. “R-Roman,” I stutter. His face looks pained. Can he feel me panicking? “P-please keep moving. I promise I'm okay,” I say, trying to convince myself as much as I am him.

He nods and kisses me on the forehead while he works his hips in and out of me, just those couple of inches, acclimating my body to the foreign feeling of being so full.

Panting, I lock eyes with him once again. “I'm r-ready,” I assure him.

He nods and stops moving his length within me but starts rubbing my bundle of nerves with his thumb, resting his forehead on mine. “This is the part that hurts,” he whispers, and I nod. “I'll do it as quickly as I can, and I won't move until you tell me to,” he explains while he continues to rub my clit and slowly begins moving in short thrusts. My body feels like an explosive device; I can already feel the fire burning at the end of the wick, and it's eating up the line fast, with detonation rapidly approaching.

I nod furiously, doing everything I can to not thrash my head back and forth. “Please, R—"

My words are cut off by the sharp hitch of his hips plunging him all the way inside of me, and holy shit. A small scream tears from my lungs, and tears gather in my eyes. “Shhh, I'm here,” he soothes, rubbing his hands on my temples. “I love you. I love you. I love you,” he whispers in chants as he kisses all over my face while I squirm and whimper, waiting for the pain to slowly begin to fade. I feel so full. It’s like I can't even take a full breath. “Keep breathing, Leera. You're doing so well. I love you.” His continued affirmations keep the tears from gathering in my eyes.

He takes my face in his hands, and his thumbs wipe the last tears from my face. “I'm okay,” I breathe, nodding my head again. “I’m ready.”

“You're sure?” he asks as his face searches mine once more.

“I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life.”

He lifts his torso a little further off of mine, raising one hand to snap my poor bra straps from my chest, and leans in, taking one of my nipples in his mouth, effectively stopping me from reminding him that I wanted to keep this bra. At first, he uses the same hand to pinch and twist my pebbled nipple before he moves in and sucks it into his mouth. While he's sucking on my flesh, his tongue flicks against my nipple.

He begins to slowly move within me, and fuck if it doesn't feel like I'm finally complete. It's still a little tender at first, but after a couple of passes, the pain is nearly all gone, and all that's left is a need burning so big and bright, I don't know how I'll survive it. All the sensations being thrown at me are so completely overwhelming, and I am absolutely certain I will never get enough of this. Of him. Of us, in this way. Complete.

The sounds leaving me don't even sound like me anymore, and the ugly embarrassment beast is nowhere to be found. It's just me and my mate, finally becoming one. Every thrust of his hips sends me hurtling further and further into a chasm I've never been through before. The end of his dick hitting a spot within my body that takes my breath in the best possible way.

He finally releases my nipple and moves to give the other the same attention while I chant his name and try to remember to breathe in between cries of pleasure.

He releases my nipple with a pop and lifts himself back up, re-angling his body so that we can watch where we’re finally joined. “Look at us, Princess,” his voice holding so much love, another tear rolls down my cheek. “Look at how well you take me. You were made for me.”

“Yes. Yes. Yes.” Watching him disappear inside my body only amps up everything I'm feeling.

His hips find the perfect rhythm as he drives into me, and just when I begin to feel the now familiar tingle of my orgasm gathering at the bottom of my spine, he stops.

“Wh-what's wrong?” I cry.

“Absolutely nothing. I just want to prepare you for the next part.”

Oh, right, I forgot there was more. I nod, wriggling in his hold, creating absolutely any friction I can and doing my best not to mewl.

“When you come this time, I'll be following right behind you, and when I do, my knot will be yours and so will my mark,” he pants, offering me short thrusts while he explains, “Once I've marked you, it'll be your turn. Just like with shifting, you'll will your wolf to partially shift, focusing on your teeth.”

I gulp and nod. “Yes,” is all I can say right now. My brain is all fuzzy, and I feel like if he doesn't move, I just might die. On the other hand, I also kind of feel like this orgasm will end me.

He nods and returns to the perfect pace he had previously set, our skin slapping together while he whispers sweet nothings to me. Promising me the world while it feels like my very DNA is being unraveled in this very moment. I'm panting and moaning and thrashing beneath him, chanting and crying his name as the pressure builds to an unbelievable level.

“Oh-oh, God…I’m…Roman...I'm gonna!” I can't even speak as the spiraling waves of euphoria consume me. My brain is being scrambled, and my body is tingling all over with the electric connection of our bond. Roman moves his hand, and when his thumb meets my clit, my body is shattered to smithereens, no longer able to contain the amount of pleasure he's built within me. My screams fill the air around us, and my body arches off the bed beneath him, and it feels like my soul has left my body.

Roman gives me a moment to return to my body, stalling his body from thrusting, but I can see the twitching need in his muscles. When I’ve regained control of my body, he slides his hands beneath my back, bringing me up to him. I rest my hands on his shoulders and lock eyes with him as he moves his hands under my thighs, holding onto the globes of my ass while he bounces me on his dick. The new angle makes my eyes cross, and the pleasure begins to build again, even quicker than before.

“I'm. Almost. There,” he grunts between thrusts. The final jolt ending on a roar as he pulls my body down completely onto his knot. As I'm stretched and filled completely by his length, his knot, and his cum, another soul-defying orgasm rips through my body so hard and fast that I feel like I can't breathe. I thought I was full when he finally entered my body and we became one. I never knew what full was until now. I didn't know what complete was. I do now.

“Leera, baby, are you okay?” He searches my face, his brows again crinkled in worry.

“Yes,” I breathe. “Claim me,” I beg, turning my head to the side and pulling my hair out of the way, exposing my neck to him. I watch as his canines elongate before he leans into me, licks the crook of my neck, and bites down. Hard. There is the briefest moment of sharp pain flooded by another explosion of intense pleasure that fires me into another orgasm so hard that I can't even hold my head up. My body tries to scream his name with my head hanging backward, but I'm so hoarse from the other orgasms that it comes out as an unnaturally strangled sound.

Roman gently retracts his fangs from my flesh and licks the mark. It takes everything I have to lift my head up to him just in time to see him bearing his neck to me. I concentrate and plead with my wolf to help me shift my fangs…and it works! I run my tongue over the long, sharp incisors that feel bulky and out of place in my human mouth.

Finally, I lean into him, like he did me, and before I can overthink it, I move in and claim my mate. Growling low in my throat as the coppery tang of his blood hits my tongue, and I have no control over my body when I begin to ride his knot, sending him into another release. I moan when I feel him filling me even further, his cock twitching in the confines of my body while he moans my name, his face nestled against my breasts.

Retracting my fangs, I pull away and lick his wound, repeating his motions. Suddenly, we're both roaring, holding onto each other when our bodies detonate one final time, as our bond snaps into place. That's the only way I can explain it. It's like I can feel his love literally washing over my body, but I crash against his chest in exhaustion and elation. I try to open my eyes to tell him how much I love him, but I don't have the strength to hold them open for even a second.

I love you, Roman. So fucking much you'll never understand. This is the best moment of my entire pucking life, is my last thought before my consciousness leaves me.