Chapter 296 Book 2 ~ Chapter 61
Chapter 296 Book 2 ~ Chapter 61
Jake’s POV
For a second, I just look at her.
Poppy is spread out against the dark sheets, her copper curls fanned around her, her pale skin flushed softly from my touch, and her lips swollen from kissing me. Her big green eyes lock onto mine, wide and trusting and so fucking beautiful it almost hurts to breathe.
Goddess. This woman. My mate.
The bond pulses hard in my chest, but for once it isn’t demanding or painful. It’s warm, certain, and so full. Like it’s been waiting for this moment just as desperately as I have.
Poppy shifts slightly, lifting her hips so I can pull her shorts off and find her completely bare underneath. I splay my hand over her lower abdomen, forcing myself to take this slowly. One of her hands slides over mine and then travels up until her fingers curl around my wrist. The simple touch sends another wave of warmth through me, deep enough that my wolf practically melts beneath my skin.
Mine.
The thought hits with so much emotion behind it that I actually have to look away for a second before it overwhelms me completely. Because this isn’t just lust.
It’s every moment she laughed at one of my terrible jokes when she was trying not to smile. Every time she leaned into my touch without realising it. Every terrified, stubborn, brave part of her that kept fighting even when she was scared out of her mind, and somehow, impossibly, she chose me back.
My chest tightens painfully as I brush a curl away from her face, letting my fingers linger against her cheek.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this,” I admit quietly.
Poppy’s expression softens instantly, emotion flickering across her face so openly it nearly undoes me. Her fingers tighten around my wrist slightly.
“Jake…”
I lean down slowly, pressing my forehead against hers as I close my eyes for a second, just breathing her in. Rain still taps softly against the windows outside, but in here, in this moment, the rest of the world feels impossibly far away.
My hand drifts lower between her legs, which she opens eagerly for me, and I trace the sensitive skin along the creases at the top of her thighs. Poppy gasps at my teasing, and her grip on my wrist tightens. I wish I had it in me to tease her until she is shaking with need, but I’m already way ahead of her, my body trembling with desire.
The scent of her arousal fills my senses as I stroke a finger between her lips and find her wet and ready for me. Her hips lift off the bed as I circle her clit before pulling a finger deep inside her.
“Jake…” she cries, and I swear I’ve never heard anything more beautiful in my life.
My finger curls inside her. “Say my name again,” I breathe.
Poppy doesn’t hesitate. “Jake… God… Jake… Please…” she pants, almost incoherently as her eyes flutter shut, and she clenches around my finger.
“You’re mine, Poppy, and I am yours,” I tell her whilst pushing her closer and closer to that edge.
I press the palm of my hand down over her clit, and her mouth opens in a silent scream, her entire body tensing, as if held in suspended euphoria for a moment before she goes limp.
Mate! My wolf growls in my mind, and I can’t hold back a second longer. My hands scramble to rid myself of the rest of my clothes.
Then, finally, her skin is against mine as I position myself above her. Poppy’s legs wrap around my waist and her arms around my neck, and she opens her eyes to look up at me.
“You’re so beautiful,” I whisper, leaning down to place a gentle kiss over the spot I plan to leave my mark.
My teeth ache with anticipation, and I have to force myself to pull back, distracting myself with a different part of my anatomy that is also desperate to sink into her. As if she knows, she slides a hand between us, her delicate fingers wrapping around my throbbing erection to line me up with the heaven I know is waiting for me.
“I’m ready, Jake. I want to be yours in every way,” she says, and even as the lights flicker above us, I nod, because no matter what happens next, I’ll never regret loving her.
“I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life protecting your heart as fiercely as I protect your life,” the vow spills from me as I plunge into her in one firm stroke.
Her eyes go wide, and a soft whimper escapes her lips as I hold still, buried to the hilt inside of her. I place a gentle kiss on her lips and brush her hair back from her face as I brace myself above her.
“After tonight, there’s nowhere in this world where you end and I begin...”
I whisper soft vow after soft vow against her skin as I move with her, and she hears every single one. Her green eyes never leave mine, wide and emotional and so full of trust it nearly destroys me.
Because this isn’t just sex, it never could be with her. This is love in its rawest form. It’s devotion, choice, and a promise wrapped into every touch and breath between us. I haven’t actually said the words out loud yet, but the second we seal this bond, she’ll feel it.
She’ll feel every impossible, overwhelming part of what she means to me. She’ll know that I’m hopelessly in love with all of her. Even the pieces of herself she’s terrified to let anyone else touch.
Poppy’s breathing comes out in quick little pants, and I pick up my pace, growling when her body tightens around me. Her nails dig into my shoulders, triggering the tingling that means I’m close. I don’t want this to end; she feels too good, but I also can’t hold back any longer.
My canines descend and my mouth fills with saliva. I drop my face to her neck.
“Are you ready?” I breathe, my teeth grazing her neck as I speak.
“Yes, please,” she cries, her fingers digging in deeper.
The moment my teeth press against her throat, something primal tears loose inside me. My wolf surges forward so hard it almost steals the breath from my lungs, every instinct in me locking onto her with fierce, overwhelming devotion.
She gasps beneath me, her fingers tightening against my shoulders as I sink my teeth into the delicate space where her neck meets her shoulder.
The second the bond seals, warmth explodes through me, and then I feel her. Not just her pleasure, but everything. Her fear, her grief, her loneliness, her exhaustion. All the years of carrying too much on her own whilst pretending she was fine.
The emotions hit so hard my entire body shudders with it, my grip on her tightening instinctively as my wolf surges forward beneath my skin.
Mine. He grows, but it’s not ownership; it’s protection, a promise.
Poppy’s presence crashes into me like a second heartbeat, ancient and overwhelming and suddenly threaded through every part of me, and buried beneath all of it, something shifts in the dark… watching.
My wolf snarls, possessive fury ripping through the bond as every instinct inside me rises in warning. Whatever this thing is, it feels me now.
Poppy screams out in ecstasy, the rush of her pleasure mixing with my own through the bond as I spill into her. She tightens around me in wave after wave of euphoric release, and all I can do is hold her to me and enjoy the strongest orgasm of my life as my soul rewrites itself to wrap around hers.
When the aftershocks finally subside, I manage to lift my head enough to look at her. She looks wrecked in the best way, and tears of happiness spill from her eyes. I kiss her forehead softly before wiping them away with my thumb.
A fresh wave of emotion crashes through the bond, so intense it almost hurts.
Love… pure, overwhelming, and steady.
Every impossible thing I feel for her pours through the bond before I can stop it, and Poppy’s breath catches as fresh tears spill harder down her cheeks.
“And now you know,” I whisper, resting my forehead against hers.
Poppy doesn’t answer with words; instead, she places a trembling hand on my chest, over my heart. The bond hums warmly between us, alive and settled now, and for the first time since all of this started, the pressure in the back of my mind eases. Not gone, just quieter. My wolf finally goes still with contentment. Like he’s been searching for her his entire life and has finally found his home.