Page 75 of My Solemn Vow (The Mafia Arrangement #1)

Somehow, Valor gets it. He understands and squeezes my neck tighter for just a fraction of a second before he adjusts my hips to give him access to my pussy.

He slides his cock in slowly, and the familiar stretch has my head tilting to the side as I groan.

Seated all the way inside me, Valor brings his hand back to my neck and gives it a slightly harder squeeze.

He bends forward, and the change in angle stretches me further.

“I’m here to do what I need to get my wife back.” He nips at my ear before whispering, “And if that means fucking her like the brat she is, until she’s coming on my cock and begging for more, then so be it.”

And he does.

Valor withdraws and then thrusts into me over and over again. With his hand around my throat, he pulls me hard against his chest. The pressure against my neck — a threat and a promise and a turn-on all at once.

I have one earth-shattering orgasm, my body tense and wound tight, as I scream out, but Valor doesn’t stop fucking me, not until the last shiver of that orgasm subsides. Still sheathed inside me, Valor bends, placing a soft trail of kisses up my shoulder to under my ear.

Letting my neck go, he slides his fingers into my hair as he withdraws.

I crave to have him back within me. He hasn’t come yet, and I want him to. No, I need him to. Valor bends me over the vanity, my ass jutting out and his cock slotting between my cheeks.

“Valor,” I growl.

It sounds raw, echoing how I feel. But it accomplishes what I need it to. He slips his cock into my pussy, and I breathe a sigh of relief at how he fills me.

The first smack to my ass rivals the shock of the first time it happened, but it’s more welcome than it’s ever been before. I relax into the way he handles me.

Short, quick thrusts partnered with a hard and heavy smack make my eyes roll back in my head.

Then he switches to long thrusts and peppers my ass with swift smacks.

I don’t count, I don’t even bother trying to remember how many times his hand brings a sting of pain. The pleasure I’m getting is too much.

My pussy throbs, the deep angle rubbing against my sensitive spot on each withdraw and thrust.

“Valor, I’m close,” I moan, praying he doesn’t stop.

He untangles his fingers from my hair. His hips stop pounding into me, and on one last push, he withdraws.

This fuckin’ asshole. I press up hard with my hands until I’m more or less standing.

Valor smiles smugly as he runs his tongue over his teeth. “What’s wrong, darling? Too good?”

I grind my ass against him, needing more, needing him to come. This time, my antagonization doesn’t work. I shove off the vanity and spin to face him.

Like he’s done nothing wrong, Valor leans forward and kisses me, in that possessive way he does so well, placing his hand up alongside my neck. He runs his finger along my throat, and I forget how to breathe at the feel of it.

In a smooth movement, he raises me up onto the vanity.

Instinctually, I spread my legs, putting him between them, but then the fear of him withdrawing again has me wrapping them tight around him.

The head of his cock presses against my clit.

All it would take is a small adjustment, and he’d be back inside me.

Our lips part, and he murmurs against them, “So needy.”

“I’ll handle it myself if you don’t finish the job.” I bite his bottom lip.

He pulls back, releasing his lip from between my teeth, and then adjusts us. Until we’re just right, and he slides back inside me. I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him to me as he finds a new rhythm, taking me harder, faster, and deeper than before.

I squeeze my legs around him, the desire to be one with him settling in like none other .

Bite, the voice in my head whispers.

I roll my head to the side as Valor kisses my neck.

Bite, the voice says louder this time.

With my nose at Valor’s ear, I nip at the lobe.

Bite! the voice screams, and I have no real reason not to obey.

I grab hold of the base of his neck near his shoulder with my teeth, and it alleviates some of the intense desire.

Again, I bite but a little harder.

Valor groans, his hips pistoning in and out. “Fuck. Antonella, darling, that’s it.”

He cups the back of my head, pressing my face closer to him, and I bite harder.

Claim him, the voice, my wolf, demands. But I don’t know what she wants from me.

Two more thrusts and I’m screaming, my body tight and rigid in his hands.

A strong urge overcomes me, my mouth feeling oddly full. I bite down with all my strength until the coppery taste of blood coats my tongue.

Satisfied with my orgasm, Valor chases his release until he’s coming, his fingers bruising into the skin of my hips. His snarl echoes off the solid surfaces of the bathroom.

The pain of Valor’s teeth cutting through the flesh of my shoulder sends fireworks across my vision. But it passes as quickly as it comes, the pleasure, aftershocks of an orgasm, overtaking the unpleasantness.

The weird feelings leave my body, but the taste of blood remains in my mouth.

At least five minutes pass before we’re able to move. The exhilaration subsides, and we’re left drawing slow inhales, looking into each other’s eyes.

Until my eyes fall to his shoulder .

The wound doesn’t make sense. What the fuck is this about? What is this? “How did this happen?”

Valor cuts me off with a kiss. “It’s a mating mark. It’s a primal instinct to claim each other as mates.”

He helps me down off the vanity and spins me so I face the mirror. When he brushes my braid off my shoulder, I see the mark.

“It’ll turn into a silvery scar, showing we own each other — forever.” He kisses it and then up my neck, “Till death do we part.”

“Mmhmm.” I lean forward, looking at it.

The bite is four puncture marks, not half circles like I’d expect.

“Fangs,” he says, and it’s almost as if he’s in stereo inside my head.

I look up in the mirror and squint at him. Why does his voice sound different? What the fuck did this asshole do to me?

“One of the perks of being a mated wolf. It’s the bond. And ... It’s not nice to call names.” He smirks, but his lips don’t move as I hear the words.

“You can talk in my brain. You can hear me, in my brain.” This new reality of not being normal — again — settles over me all at once. My body gets stiff, and I want to run or do something. I cover my face with my hands.

This is so not good. How did life get to be this way? It’s rhetorical, of course. The road here was quite clear.

Valor pulls my hands away and wraps his arms around me, holding me to him.

“I can hear some of your thoughts in your brain. Just like you can only hear some of mine. It’s kind of like if you think about me or to me, it passes through.

Sometimes, the big thoughts just kinda happen automatically.

So, I’d fully expect to hear something like ‘This fuckin’ idiot’ no less than four times a day when I’m working. ”

I snort, thinking of how relatable that is, but then the deviousness of how I can make this more fun sets in. It doesn’t have to be scary. “I can only imagine how many times you’re going to hear all the teacherisms at school.”

“God help me.” Valor holds me tightly again.

My heartbeat slows, and my shoulders come down from around my ears. When he’s sufficiently satisfied with the hug, he takes me by both hands and leads me to the shower.

Enveloped in the glass-walled shower, Valor cleans me. Lightly massaging, he works my muscles under the soothing hot water as he scrubs.

I hear Valor in my mind, small requests and adorations like, ‘That’s it’ and ‘Good.’

The blood of the day washes down the drain.

My mind wanders to Christmas cookies, and Valor kisses me, redirecting my focus back to him. He must hear more of my random thoughts than I anticipated. But he doesn’t bring it up. Instead, he uses intimate touches and praise while wrapping me up in a towel.

Almost an hour later, in the quiet hours of the morning, despite how tired I am, sleep doesn’t come.

Wrapped up in the familiar chocolate and bourbon scents of Valor, I’m physically at rest, my body letting go of the last bit of tension as I embrace the feeling of safety. But closing my eyes and trying to rest does nothing.

Valor’s breathing hasn’t evened out to peaceful sleeping sounds.

So we’re both awake, lying here, looking up at the ceiling.

I roll my head to look at him, and the darkness no longer seems that dark with how easy it is to make out his features. But a question has been eating at me. No, it’s been clawing at the back of my brain, trying to get out. The smallest thing has been bothering me until it no longer feels small.

“Did you mean it? ”

“Probably, but what are you talking about?” Valor yawns and rolls to face me.

Immediately, the warmth radiating off him reaches me.

“Did you mean it when you said you loved me?” I swallow hard.

Am I ready for the truth? Do I want him to love me? Will it destroy me if he doesn’t?

Unhelpfully, my wolf is nowhere to tell me her thoughts. She was so opinionated until I bit him, and now she’s gone. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I roll to face him, bringing my hands up like I’d normally sleep, close to pressing on his chest.

“I love you, Antonella. I will never hurt you again.” Valor places his hand on top of mine.

He squeezes my fingers, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles.

That last little resistance wrapped around my heart, which held onto the fear, anger, and resentment of what he’d done, evaporates. In its place, a new warmth fills me.

“You better not.” I wrap my hands into his, squeezing. I shuffle closer until our thighs meet, and I feel all of his body pressed against mine. “Because I love you too.”