He kisses me like he's claiming something that's always been his. His mouth is fierce, demanding, stealing my breath. The mate bond flares between us, white-hot and insistent. Every nerve in my body comes alive under his touch.
His hands shake as he removes what's left of my dress, the torn fabric falling away in pieces. The gown that marked me as Luna, now just rags on the floor. I tug at his clothes with equal desperation, fingers fumbling with buttons and laces that seem deliberately complicated. When his shirt finally gives way, I run my hands over his chest, feeling scars and muscle beneath my palms.
We fall onto the bed together. His weight presses me into the mattress, solid and real and exactly what I need. His hands map my body like he's memorizing every curve, every line, every place that makes me gasp. I arch into his touch, my own hands exploring the planes of his chest, the scars on his shoulders that tell stories of survival.
"Ardena." My name is a prayer on his lips.
"You started this." I pull him closer. "Now stop talking."
He positions himself between my thighs, his eyes locked on mine. Golden and intense and seeing everything.
He enters me slowly, inch by careful inch, giving me time to adjust to his size. The mate bond flares gold, visible in the dark like liquid fire flowing between us in waves. We both gasp at the intensity, pleasure doubled and reflected through the connection like mirrors facing each other into infinity. I feel what he feels—the tightness, the heat, the overwhelming rightness of finally being complete. Every touch sends waves through me, amplified by the knowledge that he feels it too.
"Gods," he breathes, his forehead dropping to my shoulder. Sweat already beads on his skin. "You feel—"
"I know." I wrap my legs tighter around his waist, pulling him deeper. "I feel it too. I feel everything."
He moves, and I match him instinctively, learning his rhythm as if I've always known it. The bond guides me, shows me what he needs, what makes him groan low in his throat. I dig my nails into his back, needing to hold onto something as pleasure builds inside me. He groans and thrusts harder in response.
His teeth find my shoulder, biting down hard enough to mark, hard enough that I'll wear the evidence of this for days. I cry out, pleasure and pain mixing until I can't tell them apart. The bond pulses gold with each thrust, brighter and brighter until the room glows with it.
"Mine," he growls against my neck, the word vibrating through me. "Say it."
"Yours." The word tears out of me on a moan. "I'm yours."
He moves faster, deeper, and I meet him thrust for thrust. My hips rise to match his rhythm. The pleasure builds, coiling tighter in my core like a spring compressed too far. The bond thrums between us, pulling taut like a rope about to snap. He claims me in a way that makes me want to claim him back.
When climax hits, it crashes through both of us simultaneously. I scream his name, my body arching off the bed. He buries his face in my neck, his body shuddering with the force of his release. The mate bond snaps fully into place, complete and undeniable, locking us together in a way that feels permanent and absolute. Gold light flares so bright I see it through closed eyelids.
We collapse together, breathing hard, tangled in sheets and each other. Sweat cools on my skin. His weight pins me to the mattress, but I don't want him to move. Don't want any space between us.
He presses his forehead to mine, our breaths mingling in the small space between our mouths. "Mine."
I drag my nails down his spine deliberately, feeling him shiver and twitch inside me. "Prove it again."
His laugh is rough and breathless. "Give me a minute to recover."
"No." I shift beneath him, clenching around him deliberately, feeling him still inside me. "Now."
His eyes darken, pupils blown wide. "You're going to kill me."
"Good." I roll my hips, watching his face contort with pleasure. "Die happy."
He groans and kisses me again, already hardening inside me. "You're dangerous."
"You like it." I bite his lower lip.
"I love it." His hips move, starting slow and deep. "I love you."
The words hang between us, heavy and real. I freeze beneath him, my breath catching.
"You don't have to say it back," he says quickly, his movements stilling. "I just needed you to know. I needed to say it out loud."
I cup his face, searching his eyes. The mate bond pulses steady and true between us, singing with emotion. "I'm not ready to say it. Not yet."
"I know." He kisses my palm, gentle despite the hunger still evident in his body. "I can wait."
I pull him down into another kiss, deeper this time. "Then wait while you're inside me."
He laughs against my mouth and begins to move again, slow and deliberate and devastating.
Later, much later, we lie tangled together in the dark. My head rests on his chest, rising and falling with each breath he takes. His arm wraps around my waist, holding me close. The mate bond hums contentedly between us, no longer painful or demanding. Just present. Complete. Right.
"What happens now?" I ask quietly.
His fingers trace lazy patterns on my hip. "We figure it out."
"Rhys will come looking for me."
"I know."
"He won't stop. Not until—"
"I know." His arm tightens around me. "But that's tomorrow's problem. Tonight, you're here. That's enough."
I press closer, letting his warmth surround me. Outside, night sounds fill the forest. Inside, just the sound of our breathing and the steady beat of his heart beneath my ear.
For the first time since the wedding, I feel safe.
I close my eyes and let sleep take me.