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Chapter Thirty-Nine

AUTUMN

R enall shifts back into wolf form in a flash of fur. He tosses his head back motioning for me to hop on. Slowly, I climb onto his back, fingers digging into his coat as he starts to walk. Then once I’ve learned to squeeze my thighs around his belly, he breaks into a run back toward the cave. Wind whipping wildly around me as we make our mad dash through the rustling, moaning and wailing sounding in the cliffside all around us.

Renall isn’t heading back the way we came, I realize, as the ledge off the lagoon comes into focus. Before I have a chance to brace myself, he leaps from the edge of the smaller cliff. Air leaves my lungs and never returns as we are flying through the air toward the waterfall. My stomach drops. Water crashes over me as we burst through the waterfall, tumbling onto the damp floor of the corridor.

I lose my grip on his fur in the tussle, and when I rise to my feet again, my mate is in human form. He approaches me, his eyes glowing in the deep green darkness as he pins me against the wall, kissing me like it’s our first time.

His hands slip under the neckline of my dress shooting fire across my skin. Then they slide back out and down my back until they grab my ass and he lifts me into his arms. Unable to break away from his kiss, I wrap my legs around him and Renall carries me back through Luna Cavern.

Anticipation growing with every step closer to our cave. Our home. Gods, this is finally happening. My hands tangle in his wet hair, desperate for more of him.

We burst into the room, slamming the door behind us. We are a blur of lips, tongues, and teeth as we stumble over the back of the couch. He’s naked as usual, but I still have my dress on. Renall must realize this the same time I do because he rakes his teeth down my neck. I moan, gasping at the pleasure of it. Sliding his hands down my wet arms, the dress slides down my shoulders. His kisses follow.

Gods, he’s torturing me. My dress falls to the floor.

I stand naked before him, and he’s lost his breath. Renall takes a step backward, trailing his eyes up and down me, drinking me in. His lips still flushed from kissing.

Beautiful.

Renall’s voice rings clear in my mind, but his lips did not move and he’s not touching me.

He’s speaking to me telepathically, the rarest kind of mate, a soulbonded mate. Renall was right. He’d been sure all along. My loyal wolf, and he chose me again and again. I leap for him and he catches me with ease as if he were expecting me and carries me over to the bed.

He lies me down on the bed ever so carefully. Trailing kisses and teeth down my entire body. The perfect mix of pain and pleasure bubbling through me. His lips are ice against my fiery skin. It still does nothing to quench the raging inferno ignited inside of me. He reaches the apex of my legs and falls to his knees, pinning mine open. With one singular glance, our eyes meet. My heart twists in anticipation. Then, he devours me. Not soft and subtle, but passionate, desperate even.

“Oh Goddess.” My back arches, hands clenching the sheets. All too soon I’m tipping over that edge, making sounds I’ve never heard come out of me before.

Tension releases from his shoulders as he crawls up me planting kisses over my abdomen and up to my neck.

“Okay?” he growls against my neck as he notches himself at my entrance. He pulls back to meet my eyes, waiting.

“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” I grip the back of his arms, encouraging him forward.

His hardness eases into my wetness. The pressure and fullness make me gasp. He stills above me. “Okay?”

“Don’t you dare stop.” His fingers fist the sheets as he slowly pumps in and out, giving more of himself each time.

I resist meeting his lips, fisting his hair and moaning into his ear. I want him to hear it, hear what he does to me. He licks my neck as if asking for permission.

“Yes,” I gasp. “Bite me. I’m yours.”

His nails dig into my back as he draws me closer. His teeth breach my skin, and he growls against my throat. Pleasure rips through me at the feeling of his fangs notched into me. Fullness like I’ve never felt filling me in places I never dreamed. Renall’s pace quickens, his claws extend, shredding into the bed until his release finds him. Watching my carefully calculated wolf come undone at my words also takes me over that peak.

Retracting his fangs and pulling back, he licks the blood off his lips. His eyes are glowing in the dark like a cat caught in a flashlight’s beam.

“Yours are too,” he says as if reading my thoughts.

The bond between us is solidified and strong.

“My mate,” he whispers in awe. Pressure builds again as he grows hard inside of me.

“You weren’t kidding that this is going to be the longest night,” I tease, rocking against him, desperate for more friction.

Pumping slowly, he says, “The whole cave will know you are mine by morning.”

“And you are mine. Lie on the bed, my mate, it’s time for me to please you.”