Chapter 116 Mark
Elara's POV
I jolted awake with a gasp that tore from my throat, my eyes snapping open to find myself still pressed against Kaelen's chest, our fingers intertwined so tightly that I could feel the pulse in his wrist hammering against mine.
Cold sweat had soaked through my palm where it met his, making our joined hands slick and trembling, and the mark over my heart was burning with an intensity that made my entire ribcage feel like it was on fire.
His arms tightened around me immediately, pulling me even closer until there wasn't a breath of space between our bodies, and I buried my face in the curve of his neck without thinking, pressing my nose against his skin and breathing in deeply to ground myself in something real and solid and undeniably present.
The scent of him filled my lungs, that combination of pine and winter frost and something uniquely Kaelen, and I drank it in greedily, desperate for the reassurance that came from his warmth and his strength and the steady rise and fall of his chest beneath my cheek.
But even as I tried to lose myself in the comfort of his embrace, I couldn't ignore the other sensations flooding through me, the way my skin seemed to come alive everywhere we touched, sending sparks of electricity racing along my nerve endings and making my breath catch in my throat.
It was like nothing I'd ever felt before, this awareness of him that went beyond physical attraction or emotional connection, this sense of his golden soul calling out to mine and demanding acknowledgment, demanding more.
Kaelen's hand came up to cradle the back of my head, his fingers threading through my hair gently, and when he spoke, his voice was rough and strained. "You felt it too. The Moon Goddess wasn't lying. This mark, this bond, it's real, Elara."
I nodded against his shoulder, unable to form words past the tightness in my throat, and felt his chest expand with a shuddering breath that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him. The mark over my heart pulsed again, sending another wave of heat cascading through my body.
This time I recognized it for what it was, not just the lingering effect of the Moon Goddess's blessing but something more primal and urgent, a need that had been building since the moment we'd woken up and was now threatening to overwhelm every rational thought in my head.
His fingers moved from my hair to my shoulder, then slowly, carefully, he hooked them under the collar of my sleep shirt and pulled it aside to expose the skin over my heart. I felt his breath catch, heard the sharp intake of air.
"It's beautiful," he murmured, and his voice had dropped to that low, rough register that always made something deep in my belly clench with want. His fingers traced the my skin with a feather-light touch that sent shockwaves racing across my skin, and I couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through me or the small sound that escaped my throat before I could stop it. The contact felt electric, and where his fingertips brushed against the marked skin, the heat intensified until I thought I might combust from the inside out.
The emptiness inside me that I'd been trying to ignore suddenly became impossible to dismiss, an aching void that demanded to be filled, and I found my hands moving of their own accord, clutching at Kaelen's arms with desperation. I couldn't bring myself to care about dignity or propriety or any of the reasons I should probably wait and think this through. The mark was calling to him, my wolf was howling for her mate, and my body was screaming for the completion that only he could provide.
"Now," I heard myself say, and my voice came out hoarse and trembling, barely recognizable as my own. "Mark me now, Kaelen. I need you. I need this."
The change in his eyes was instantaneous, ice-blue flooding with molten gold as Fenris surged forward, and I watched watched the muscles in his jaw clench and his throat work as he swallowed hard. "Elara, are you absolutely certain?"
Instead of answering with words, I pulled his head down and kissed him with all the pent-up longing and desperate need that had been building inside me since we'd woken up in each other's arms. His lips were warm and firm against mine, and the taste of him exploded across my tongue as I deepened the kiss, my fingers tangling in his dark hair and pulling him closer, demanding more.
For a heartbeat, he remained still, as if giving me one last chance to change my mind, and then he was kissing me back with a ferocity that stole my breath and made my head spin. His mouth moved against mine with increasing urgency, his tongue sweeping past my lips to claim and explore, and I met him with equal hunger, pouring everything I felt into the kiss, all my fear and desire and desperate, aching need.
The mark on my chest blazed hotter with each passing second, the heat spreading outward until my entire body felt like it was burning up from the inside, and the emptiness inside me grew more acute, more unbearable. I broke away from the kiss with a gasp.
In one smooth motion, Kaelen shifted our positions, rolling until I was beneath him on the bed with his weight pressing me down into the mattress, and his hands moved to the hem of my sleep shirt, pausing for just a moment as if asking permission one final time. I answered by arching my back and pulling the fabric up myself, desperate to remove the barrier between us.
He helped me strip it off and toss it aside before his hands moved to my sleep shorts and underwear, removing them with quick, efficient movements that left me completely bare beneath him. The cool air against my heated skin made me shiver. His eyes devoured every inch of me, and his breathing became ragged and uneven as he took in the sight of my naked body spread out before him.
My hands went to the towel wrapped around his waist, and I tugged at it impatiently until the fabric came loose and fell away, revealing the hard planes of his chest and stomach and the undeniable evidence of his desire. The emptiness inside me clenched with such intensity that I actually whimpered, my legs falling open in unconscious invitation.
Kaelen's lips found mine again as his hand trailed down my body, over my ribs and stomach and lower, until his fingers were brushing against the wetness between my thighs. The sensation made me gasp into his mouth, my hips jerking up involuntarily to meet his touch, and he groaned against my lips as he felt how ready I was for him. His fingers explored carefully, gently, one sliding inside me with slowness.
His thumb found the bundle of nerves that made pleasure spark through my core, and gradually the discomfort faded into something else, something that made my breath come faster and my hands clutch at his shoulders for support.
"Please," I heard myself whimper when he added a second finger, stretching me further, the slight burn mixing with the building pleasure until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. "Kaelen, I'm ready. I need you inside me."
He kissed me again, deep and thorough, and I felt him shift his weight, felt the blunt pressure of him replacing his fingers as he positioned himself at my entrance. His eyes locked with mine, gold meeting silver, and in that moment, I could see everything he felt reflected back at me, all his love and desire and desperate, aching need that matched my own.
"I love you," he said, his voice rough and breaking, and then he was pushing forward, slowly breaching me, and the sharp pain of being torn open made me bite down hard on my lower lip to keep from crying out.
Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes as he continued to press deeper, my body struggling to accommodate his size, and I dug my nails into his back hard enough to leave marks, using the pain to ground myself and push through the discomfort.
"Don't stop," I managed to gasp out when I felt him hesitate, saw the concern and guilt flash across his face. "Keep going. Give me everything. I can take it."
He groaned low in his throat and continued his slow advance until finally, finally, he was fully seated inside me, our bodies joined completely, and the feeling of being so utterly filled chased away the emptiness that had been consuming me.
The pain was already beginning to fade, replaced by a sense of rightness and completion that went beyond the physical, and I experimentally tightened my inner muscles around him, drawing a strangled sound from his throat that made heat pool low in my belly.
Then he began to move, pulling almost all the way out before sliding back in, establishing a rhythm that started slow and careful but gradually increased in speed and intensity as my body adjusted and began to respond. Each thrust sent sparks of pleasure racing up my spine, made the mark on my chest burn brighter.
I found myself meeting his movements, my hips rising to take him deeper, my legs wrapping around his waist to pull him closer. The sounds spilling from my throat were broken and incoherent, whimpers and moans.
The mark exploded with light just as the pleasure crested, silver and gold blazing so bright that it illuminated the entire room, and suddenly my consciousness was being pulled somewhere else, dragged into a space where I could feel Kaelen's soul intertwined with mine, could see into the very depths of him and understand exactly how much he loved me, how completely he wanted me, how thoroughly I had become the center of his entire existence.
At the same moment, he bit into his own wrist and brought it to my lips, and I drank without hesitation, the metallic taste of his blood flooding my mouth and throat, and then his fangs were sinking into the gland at the side of my neck and the dual sensations of pain and pleasure hit me simultaneously, so overwhelming that I screamed, my body convulsing beneath him as the orgasm tore through me with devastating force.
My own fangs extended without conscious thought, and I sank them into his neck in return, tasting his blood and his essence and feeling the bond snap into place with an almost audible click. The divine energies that had been dormant inside us both suddenly awakened and merged, gold and silver light exploding outward in a wave that seemed to shake the very foundations of reality.