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The subtle pain in my side from my healing wounds didn’t stop me from thrusting between her thighs, slowly and carefully eliminating the space between us until I felt her warmth consume me. She bit back nervous sounds, and neither of us felt it when I broke her hymen, and I glimpsed pale streaks of blood on the condom—but it didn’t stop me, and it didn’t seem to affect Billie. She all too quickly accepted the meter of my hips rocking against hers, pulling me in and pulsing around me. She was so tight it made me dizzy.
When she started moaning for me, I thought I would die.
Our fated bond came to fruition. This was how it was supposed to be between us. This was how we were meant to be. Every inch of our skin touching, her panting in my ear, her fingers on the back of my neck, her lips on mine. And when her body writhed at the crux of ecstasy, she pulled me along with her, uniting us in an overpowering climax that smothered all senses and left us burning.
By the end of it, I was braced above her, sweating and laughing, breathless. My heart was so full I could barely speak. “I love you,” I muttered, kissing her neck.
Billie sighed softly. Her happiness blossomed between us; happiness and belonging and completion like she’d never known, and neither had I. “I love you too.”
I realized I had never said it before and meant it, like I did for her.
I loved Billie more than anything.
Chapter 31: Billie
I never thought I could say that my first time having sex was with Alpha Gavin Steele, but now, I wouldn’t want it to have been anyone else. I belonged with him, and I finally understood the tranquility that the fated bond imparted on someone whose anger was too wild to control. My rage at David and Colt ran rampant until I felt Gavin’s touch, and then I remembered what was most important to me, what I had come to hold dear, and how lucky I was to have it: the support of Grandbay, and the love of my fated mate. That must be what Gavin felt whenever I was around.
While we joined our bodies, I held onto him and never wanted to let go. Feeling him inside me for the first time was an experience I would savor and remember forever. He was so big I thought it would hurt, but he went slow enough that I had time to get used to him, and then it felt like I couldn’t get enough of him. The rhythm of his hips brought me an orgasm with such euphoric intensity that my body sweltered, my groin tightened and throbbed and the pleasure carried on for minutes. Adoration for him flooded my mind and never left. He had been so gentle and caring, even when he said he’d fuck me hard. I was curious enough about what he was capable of that I wanted to have sex again. barely an hour later.
Gavin laughed, brushing my hair behind my ear. “Yeah, we can do that. But I wanted to ask you something first.”
“What?”
His fingers trailed down my arm and entangled in mine. Before saying anything, he kissed my temple and breathed in, leaving me in suspense. I felt his heart beating in time with mine. “Can I mark you, Billie?”
I smiled. I was ready to make our bond permanent. I wanted it more than anything. I wanted to be with him and him only, so that nobody else could come between us, so that we could be connected on a metaphysical level. “Yes. I want to be your mate forever.”
Gavin kissed me, pouring every ounce of affection he possessed into it before pulling away. “You know what we have to do, right?”
Of course, I knew. The marking ritual was like a fairy tale I’d fantasized of since I was a child.It was a romantic union between two people that eternally bound them to one another under the eyes of the Moon Goddess. It could only be done between two willing partners, and it elevated each partner to their highest potential as a shifter, granting unbridled strength and stunning clarity in their beast forms while opening up a true telepathic connection between them. It had always seemed so far away to me, like I would never find someone who would want to mark me, let alone find my fated mate.
We both sat up, and Gavin clasped my hands. His nose grazed my neck, finding a tender spot away from my superficial veins where my scent smoldered most potently, and I did the same, his stubble scratching my lips. “Don’t be afraid,” he murmured.
I knew I would have to draw his blood, but I wasn’t afraid. We were doing this together, just as we would everything else for the rest of our lives.
First, I felt the pressure of his teeth pinching my skin. I reacted in kind, nipping a small fold of flesh, and we each bit harder until it burned with pain, first hot, then cold, then numb as blood rushed to the wounds and swelled out of the cuts we’d made. I couldn’t help the tiniest whimper from crawling out of my throat, but it wasn’t out of fear or agony or distress. I was excited, bursting with joy, and I could already feel the Moon Goddess’ inexplicable magic teeming from our blood as though she had been anticipating the moment we would invoke the ritual. When he felt it was enough and opened his mouth, I gasped from the intensity of it.
“Mark us, Luna, we are ready to be one,” we both said breathlessly.
The magic manifested between us, tingling—sizzling—sealing the marks we made into scars like my skin was being cauterized. I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped Gavin’s arm, enduring the scorching sensation until it faded away.
Look, I heard a voice glide gently between my thoughts.
Opening my eyes, I saw Gavin tilt his head, exposing his neck where I had bitten him. There was no blood from the wound I made—the ritual had evaporated it, leaving his skin clean with only the raised pattern of my teeth on his flesh. I touched it, marveling at how the Moon Goddess could demonstrate her presence in this most subtle, yet most meaningful of ways, proving to us that she was real. That she had seen us, approved of us, blessed us.
Gavin examined the mark on my neck too, smiling. “Now you’ll never be without me,” he said.
“And you’ll never be without me.” I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. I wanted to give him the world, and I would never be able to express enough gratitude for how he had saved me from the Hexens. He had become my world and I wanted to devote every breath to him.