Page 33 of Witches and Wine (The Mythical Mates of Arcane Cove #1)
Dion’s horns grew more pronounced, his jawline more angular, his claws thicker, and the amber in his eyes became reflective from the moon’s glow.
I smiled at how handsome he always has been, but this form stood out as him at his most primal.
Stepping toward him, I used my magic to dematerialize my clothes, flittering them away as stardust.
I pressed a hand to Dion’s cheek, grinning resplendently at him, his chest heaving as if he was holding back something. “My mate,” I cooed, emphasizing the word I knew his beast yearned to hear repeated over and over for eternity.
That otherworldly growl vibrated in his throat again, and Dion pressed his forehead to mine. “Chelsea, I don’t want to hurt you.”
The words came out pinched as if he was vulnerable to admitting it.
I raised on the balls of my feet and traced my finger over the same horn that damn succubus had the nerve to touch, wiping all essence of her away so there was only my scent left on him.
“You won’t,” I whispered. “Your beast wants to claim me, Dion. To fuck me. Hurting and killing are reserved for those who do us wrong .”
Crimson flashed in Dion’s gaze before he pointed behind me. “Then run .”
Blinking because his reply took me by absolute surprise, I backpedaled with an uneasy hand pressed to my chest. “What?” I breathed out.
The claws on Dion’s feet scraped the ground. “I am to chase you to claim you. So, run, mágissa .”
My magic pooled in my core, tightening there in understanding. We were to play the fox and hound. Once he caught me—a wicked grin played on my lips, and I turned, sprinting through the forest with my bare breasts welcoming the moonlight.
There would’ve been no way of telling Dion was hot on my heels straight away, but the leaves crunching from first my left side, then the right, were a dead giveaway.
If this were any other situation, I might have worried about my glowing skin giving my position away, but with my mate, I wanted it to be easy to find me—I wanted him to claim me.
“Chelsea,” Dion growled before whisking into the shadows undetectable. He was toying with me, and by the moon and stars, I loved it.
My breathing grew more erratic the more I ran, my heart racing from the excitement and effort.
A chill formed through the trees, making my breath smokey and the moonbeams peeking through the branches foggy.
I slowed my steps, no longer hearing Dion anywhere around me.
Snarling, Dion pounced from the shadows, toppling both of us to the soft, mossy ground.
He’d cradled my head and pressed some of his weight at my back, pinning me beneath him.
“Caught you,” Dion whispered, smiling against my shoulder and peppering my skin with light kisses.
His already hardened length grazed my ass, and I dug my nails into the dirt, tearing away bits of grass. How would it feel? How would this time be different from the others?
I raised my ass as much as I could with him on top of me. “I’m yours for the taking, Dionysus.”
Dion’s beast let out a gravelly hum, and he traced his canines delicately down my back, lightly nipping one of my ass cheeks.
He curled a finger over my entrance, checking how moist I was.
I was drenched . A satisfied snarl echoed through the surrounding trees, and he pressed the tip of his cock at my entrance, pushing in slowly at first until he thrust it the rest of the way.
I cried out, the connection we now had heightening the sensations.
Dion pressed a hand between my shoulder blades, lowering my head to the moss and pinning me.
His thrusts were ferocious and wild with guttural grunts.
My toes curled against the emerald moss beneath us, and fluttering orgasms washed over me in repeated waves that had me in a euphoric daze.
It kept taking me to the point where I didn’t think I could stand it any longer; the sensations were just so incredibly delicious, and then it’d taper away only to drive right back to my core.
Dion’s hands moved to my waist, hoisting me to my hands and knees.
His pumping slowed, but he bent forward, kissing my nape, licking it.
He tested me at first, scraping his teeth in the spot he intended to leave his mark.
When I reached for him, tangling my fingers in his wavy, dark locks, he sank his canines into my neck.
I wailed, but not from pain. It pinched at first, a sting as his teeth punctured, but it was instantly replaced by a pleasuring, calming swirl that traveled from where he claimed me through my chest and stomach, and tightened in my clit.
Blood trickled over my collarbone and in between my breasts.
The euphoria built to a crescendo of pulsating pleasure bursting through every neuron of my fucking existence.
My magic beamed from my skin, curling around us, fusing us, and I could have sworn the moon shone even brighter because of it.
When Dion released me from his beast’s hold, the teeth letting go of my neck, he lapped the wound, sealing it from bleeding but leaving behind a claiming scar I’d be proud to bear.
Dion’s thrusts picked up again, and I reached for him, latching onto his forearm. “Wait.”
Pausing with his hands on my hips, the beast let out a disapproving growl, but Dion arched a brow at me, doing as I asked.
Turning around, I lay on my back, spreading my knees wide and encouraging him to cage me in.
Grinning, he fell over top of me, propping his elbows on each side of my head, and began his frenzied thrusts, ready to undo himself inside me, craving it.
Charging myself with the moon’s lunar graces, I slid my hands to his back and dug my nails into his skin enough to leave marks and dragged them downward.
Dion tilted his head back, roaring at what I was doing, but it didn’t stop me.
I claimed my mate in my own way, creating tattooed markings of the lunar cycle up his spine.
At the top point where his neck met his head, I carved a prominent crescent moon—the same phase of the night when we first met.
With the moonlight serving as ethereal ink, my claiming mark would glow on him whenever I was near.
Finishing, I bucked my hips, meeting him thrust for thrust now, encouraging him.
After several more feral thrusts, our skin slapping against each other, he came undone inside of me, tensing and shaking. His hips jerked until he relaxed, flopping over me and brushing my sweat-soaked hair from my forehead. “I didn’t know witches could do that.”
“Neither did I,” I mused, trailing my toes over his thigh. “My sisters told me.”
“Well—” Dion started, peering over his shoulder at my glowing claiming mark. “—I fucking dig it.”
Smiling up at him and the view of the moon giving him a shimmering white outline, I curled a finger around one horn and pulled him closer, kissing him. “What’s next for us, Dion?”
“Does there have to be a next?” Dion tilted his head, lazily dragging a finger over where he’d bit me.
The thought of the unknown, the bright future as I learned more of my magic, conjuring spells with my new coven and exploring the Cove with my mate , had my body going boneless. “No, I suppose there doesn’t have to be a next.”
“Exactly,” Dion gruffly whispered, settling between my thighs again. “And this is coming from the god of ‘living it up,’ but one of the best parts of living, Red, is living for the present moments.”
“You honestly still think that after how long you’ve been around?”
Dion used his thumb to scratch under his bottom lip. “Nah. I’ve lived over a thousand years, Chelsea, but my life didn’t truly start—” Dion pressed a chaste kiss to my lips. “—until I found my mate.”
My moon magic buzzed, and as I stared into his eyes, knowing he’d never lie or fabricate anything with me, I crashed my mouth against his.
“Can I ask you something, D?” I kept my arms wrapped around his strong neck.
“Anything.”
Tracing my fingertip over the curve of one horn, I asked, “None of the other gods have a beast form like this. Is there a particular reason that you do?”
Dion smiled, flashing a bit of canine. “It was the second or maybe third time, I can’t remember, that Hera tried to kill me.
Despite them making an arrangement to be married for politics only and that they were free to be with other people, she was still furious that I was the first product of Zeus’s grazing .
” Dion paused, scratching his thumb under his bottom lip.
“When she almost succeeded the time before, Zeus wanted to protect me. The only way he could do that—was by cursing me with the beast.”
“It’s by no means a curse,” I reassured him.
He bumped a knuckle under my chin. “It used to be when I couldn’t control it as well as I do now.”
“It saved you. Maybe that’s why it took so long for us to find each other.” Grinning, I pressed a light kiss to his lips.
“I’d have learned to control it in an instant if I knew it would bring you to me that much sooner, Chels.” Dion trailed his claws through my hair with a contented sigh.
One hundred and four starbursts shot through the sky that night—one for each day I’d wasted knowing Dion and being too scared and stubborn to be with him.
With him, I’d found a new home in Arcane Cove.
I discovered my true self and uncovered a deeper connection with my late mother that I had never known I had.
And though I never admitted my jealousy over my little sister’s mythical life—here I was, a part of the magic all along.