Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“So for a long time,” he murmured, smoothing a finger across my eyebrow, “you were made of the elements, of wind and water, and then you were a Cù-sìth, and then a man.”
“Yes,” I ground out.
“And when you became a man, you changed from something that killed, to something that protected.”
“Yes.”
“And your goddess didn’t mind that, even though you were made to do one thing?”
“I think since I’ve never seen another like me, that the others might be where we began, and I’m the only one on this side of the world.”
“With Teague, and Ondine.”
I nodded.
“It makes sense that you’re different—a healer and a protector.”
“I’m not a—”
“I suspect that all the people you’ve saved over the years would call you a healer.”
And many had, so arguing was fruitless.
“What about this form you took, with your bright green eyes and jet-black hair?”
“I can’t change it like Ondine, so it’s always been this.”
“There must be legions of men and women who have—”
“Just men,” I corrected him quickly.
“Okay, so what? Thousands of men in your bed?”
I tried to move, to get up, but suddenly there was a hand on my throat, tight, and another fisted in my hair, holding my head back. My breath caught, and he couldn’t miss the full-body shiver that rolled through me.
“You’re ancient, Mere. Older than mountains and rocks and trees. And yet there’s been no love for you in all that time, only sex with strangers?”
I could move if I wanted, but with the dryness of my mouth, how hot my skin was, and how hard my cock was, I didn’t even try.
“No one has ever claimed your heart?”
“It never… I’ve wanted others, but not to keep.”
“Why not?”
I swallowed hard.
“Answer me.” The demand was clear in his voice.
“There has to be this.”
“You need to submit to another.”
“Yes,” I barely got out.
“And the other person has to be strong enough to demand it from you.”
I needed to make him understand. “But not just…physically.”
“You need to feel the strength from inside, the power. Only that lets you surrender your body, your heart, and your soul.”
Of course he understood.
“I’m an alpha.”
“You are,” I said, trying to even out my breathing, even as I shivered.
“I have dominion over you,” he whispered, leaning close, his lips brushing against my ear. “Because you’re mine.”
Everything was suddenly hot, the air between us, his gaze, his skin as he touched me.
“You need to be held down and marked,” he made clear. “But most importantly, you need to be claimed.”
There was no way to hold in the whimper that tumbled from my throat.
“All this time, what you needed was a wolf mate, Mere.” His lips grazed the space beneath my ear. “An alpha mate, and that’s what you have now.”
Finally.
“Do you know why you had to have a wolf mate?”
I did. Of course I did.
“Because you’re not a shifter, so why would you need a mate?”
The thing was, I was ancient, but still, I needed his words.
“With all the choices you made, of what you would be, with shouldering everything, with so much weight on you, of course you’d need another to give you peace.”
The tears welling in my eyes were hot as well.
“Your mate who will care for you, who you can lean on. Always.”
“Yes.”
“I’m ready to claim what’s mine,” he husked, turning my head, still holding me, staring down into my eyes.
“Will you start with a kiss?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good, because you haven’t kissed me yet. You don’t even know if you’re going to like it.”
“Oh, Mere, I know I’m gonna like it.”
“How?”
“Because you were made for me, and me for you,” he whispered, his breath warm on my face before he bent and pressed his lips to mine.
The kiss started off slow, but soon his tongue was there, pushing for entrance, and when I parted my lips for him, opening, there was a rumbling sound in the back of his throat that made my breath catch. Very quickly, the kiss turned hot and devouring, and his hands moved from my face, one slipping to the middle of my back so he could hold me still and press me forward at the same time. The other hand gentled on my hair, still tangled, but not tight.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he must have liked the whine that came up out of me, because that quickly, the kiss became a mauling. It felt like he wanted to eat me, and I had no issue with that at all.
When he finally broke the kiss, his breathing was ragged.
“Listen,” he rasped, pressing his forehead to mine so we were sharing breath. “The first time—it has to be me, you understand? If I don’t… I have to mark you as mine.”
“Yes.” I barely got the word out.
“But after, later, if you need to have me, or you want to have—”