“But I can bear it for everything that came after,” he mutters.
“You don’t have to. I forgive you.” My voice thickens with emotion. “It’s true I lost everything that day. My place in the pack, my father, our friendship. But you’ve given me back everything you could and more.”
His forehead rests against mine and he releases a ragged exhale, holding me close.
“Fate wasn’t wrong, Avery. I was. And I’ll spend every day—beyond an eternity if that’s what it takes—proving to you that you’re my mate.” He pauses to thread his fingers in my hair, eyes searching, intense and all-consuming. “The only one my heart has ever beat for.”
“The only one?” I breathe.
“Avery.” His words are gruff and he cradles my face. “This is always what we were meant to be. It’s not because of the bond. There’s never been anyone for me but you. I chose you before I knew you were my fate. When your laugh became the sound that made me happy. When you’d drag me out to explore the mountain, or the way you’d get this wicked smile that lit me up before daring me to jump the cliff with you only to push me off. Whenever I saw you, I always needed to follow you. Needed to be near you because it made me feel right. I’ve loved you before I understood what it meant.”
Tears well in my eyes and my chest expands with so much happiness that it steals my breath away. When we were friends, I was hopelessly in love with him. I begged the moon goddess to make him my fated mate so we’d never be parted. I never knew he felt the same.
“I’ll never let you go again.” He traces the junction of my neck and shoulder in passionate captivation. “I want everyone to know you’re my mate, my Alpha female, my trusted equal. I want to mark you here with my claim. You are mine as I am forever yours.”
I melt against him, seeking a kiss. His lips crash against mine. Our breathing becomes hazy, his hands running over my body fervently.
He pauses to wrestle out of his clothes. I help peel his shirt from his skin and it plops somewhere on the bank when he flings it with a grunt. His pants go next until I feel his body gliding against mine underwater.
He squeezes my ass and lifts me against him. I writhe in his arms, wanting to rub against his firm torso, eager to feel his cock. My breath hitches when he trails kisses down my neck, nibbling at my shoulder. His hand wedges between us, moving between my thighs. He watches me when he finds my clit.
“Yes,” I hiss.
The corner of his mouth lifts, gaze burning into me while he touches me. He teases my entrance before sinking the first finger in. My head falls back and my hips rock with the steady pace he sets. He adds a second, working me faster. I squirm, my orgasm just beyond reach.
“More.” My hands slip on his wet shoulders and grip his hair.
“Are you begging for my knot, Avery?” He nips my earlobe.
I shudder with a nod. “Yes. Yes. I need you.”
“Patience, mate. I’ll take good care of you. I know exactly what you need.”
Water sloshes as he fucks me with deeper thrusts of his fingers. My nails scrape his back and I gasp, locking my legs tighter around his waist to chase my release. It feels so good, but it’s not enough. Even as I crest the edge and fall apart with a cry that he swallows. I need more. Need my mate inside me.
He helps me out of the spring, mouth capturing mine with another searing kiss. Then he whips me around and encourages me to my knees, positioning himself behind me.
“Like this.” He draws my hair aside, nuzzling my throat with a rough groan. “You smell so damn good.”
“Caden.” I barely recognize my voice, ragged with overwhelming desire.
I need him. I can’t wait another second.
My chest lowers to the ground and I raise my ass in the air with a moan. “Caden. Please.”
“Fuck,” he chokes. “Come here or I’ll explode from the sight of you presenting for me.”
He draws me upright against his body, holding my waist. The tip of his cock glides through my slick folds. I push back and he keeps me steady with a hand clasping my throat.
“So needy and wet for me,” he rasps at my ear. “And all fucking mine.”
“Yes,” I whimper.
At last, he gives me the pressure I want. Every inch of his thick length stretches my pussy, leaving me breathless and floating. My body is thrumming and pliant for him.
He doesn’t slam into me. He savors it, chest vibrating at my back with a possessive growl. It makes me feel utterly claimed.
When he’s worked all the way inside, we both still from the intensity. It’s new and exhilarating, the fullness teetering on the edge of too much, yet not enough because my body craves it. Craves my mate. A soft noise catches in my throat.
He stills. “Did I hurt you?”
I shake my head. “No. I—I need more. Don’t stop.”
He kisses my flushed skin with a strained rumble as I shiver, core clenching. He kneads my hips, cock throbbing before he slowly pulls back and glides back in. The stretch is better the second time.
“Fuck.” His nose drags up my throat to bring his lips to my ear. “You feel that, mate? How incredible we feel together?”
Air rushes past my lips, tinged with a desperate moan when he begins to move, each thrust lighting me up. His cock is so big. I feel him so impossibly deep inside it’s making my eyes roll back in pleasure.
“I—oh, goddess. I don’t know if I can take it. You’re so huge,” I cry. “It’s so good. So—ah!”
“Shh.” He kisses my shoulder and splays his palm over my abdomen to hold me in place while driving into me. “You can take it, mate. You were made to take me. My cock. My knot. I’ll fill you so good with everything you need, sweetheart. That’s it, you feel your pussy squeezing me? You want this. My perfect, beautiful mate, soaking my cock with your slick.”
I nod frantically with a whimper, clutching his corded forearm as he rubs my clit. My pussy pulses with need and arousal. I’m dripping, wetness coating my thighs the harder he fucks me. His other arm bands around my waist to tease my breast and he kisses the juncture of my neck and shoulder, the sensual glide of his tongue sparking tingles across my skin.
His composure slips, a wild edge taking over. I like it when he thrusts harder and holds me tighter, my own feral side matching his. He’s claiming me, but I feel a carnal sense of power equal to the goddess for bringing out this side of him, for making him lose control.
With another savage sound, parts of his beast come through in a partial shift, nails elongating into claws and his strength increasing as he fucks me. A sharp bursting pulse ignites in my core when he grasps my breast, the lightly stinging pressure of his claws on my sensitive skin heightening my pleasure.
“Mine,” he growls.
“Yours. I’m yours,” I gasp out as it crests.
He senses it, making a sensual noise of encouragement against my neck. “That’s it, Avery. Fuck. Come for me.”
I’m in freefall when I come, my senses going haywire from wave after wave crashing over me. The ecstasy is endless and the bond feeds it back on me tenfold from both of us. The scent of his arousal grows rich and enticing, our pheromones entangled around us. His cock swells thicker. I crave my mate’s knot more than I need my next breath.
Caden’s fangs graze my neck. He’s going to claim me with his mating bite and I’m ready for it, everything in me screaming for him to mark me. To make me his forever.