“If you come?” he asked, his voice tight.
Kat groaned and dug her head back against the bed. “Why do you think the porn-star orgasms freaked me out so much? It’s never been—been easy before. But it’s never—” She met his eyes, his wild, damn-near feral eyes, and wondered if her heart was in her own. “It’s never been you.”
“It’s me.” He stared down at her as he began to move. “It’ll always be me now.”
The way it should be, the way it needed to be, and she was glad she wasn’t a virgin, that she knew how to find his pace and meet his steady thrusts, that she could enjoy the friction and the skillful way he found the right angle, like he’d turned all of that intense concentration on claiming her through pleasing her.
And he did. It got harder to focus with every moment, the slow build of give and take, of deep thrusts and the way he lifted one of her legs higher on his back and growled low in his throat.
Words began to bubble up, a lifetime habit of babbling taking a turn for the obscene as his next advance kindled a wild anticipation, a climax suspended out of reach. “Harder, you can fuck me harder. Make me come, make me beg to stop coming…”
Andrew covered her mouth with his and thrust harder, the muscles in his back rippling as he moved. So good, so good she couldn’t stop the frantic animal noises, or the way her fingernails left scratches down his arms when the first heat of orgasm bloomed.
She came in stages, in slow motion, or maybe it just lasted forever. Her body seized, drawing tight and tense. She had time to turn her head and gasp in one frantic breath before everything exploded outwards, pleasure and pain and her, all the tension and longing releasing in one moment of utter, reckless abandon.
His arms collapsed, and his elbows dug into the bed as his careful rhythm broke along with his control.
“Kat. Kat.”
Instinct prompted her, or the vague memory from last time, the echo of his satisfaction. She lifted her chin and turned her head, offering him the vulnerable spot where her pulse beat with the too-quick tempo of her body’s shuddering release.
He bit her as he hit his peak, a rough caress that would surely leave a bruise, but the pain was nothing compared to the sound he made, completion and pleasure so profound that she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to him.
Just a little, a tiny crack in her outer layer of shields, but Andrew flooded her with a possessive joy that triggered something primal in response. It tumbled free in breathless words, maybe not the right ones for a dominant shapeshifter, but the right ones for them. “I love that you’re mine. I love being yours.”
He rolled to his back, taking her with him, and wrapped both arms around her. He didn’t say anything at first, only panted for breath as his trembling subsided. “Did I hurt you?”
Exasperated, Kat stretched up and bit his chin. Hard.
“Can’t help it,” he murmured with a smile. “Thought you would’ve figured that out by now.”
“Uh-huh.” She settled her cheek back against his chest, where she could enjoy the way his heart thudded loud and fast. “And you need to figure out that if you hurt me, you’ll be the first to know. I’ve got some pretty scary defenses, even when I’m not feeling lethal.”
“Shh.” His thumb stroked over her neck, over the sensitive spot where he’d bitten her. “I meant this.”
Kat shivered and arched into the gentle touch. “It’s a symbol. Even if I didn’t kind of like it, I’d get off on knowing how much you like it.”
“It’s not about that,” he protested quietly. “It’s about needing it.”
“The symbol?”
“The mark.”
“So that everyone else would know? Or so I would?”
“I don’t know—both?”
She lifted her head so she could meet his eyes. “I do know. I think I’ve always known. Maybe that’s why I never pushed, even when everyone laughed and said my big dumb crush wasn’t a secret. I wasn’t ready for this. It was too…forever.”
His expression had turned grave. “It doesn’t have to be, not if it’s too much for you. I swear, Kat, sometimes I think I’d live with half your heart if that was all I could get.”
If he kept saying things like that, her heart might thud its way out of her chest. “You don’t have to. It’s not in very good shape anymore, but it’s all yours.”
“I want it.” Not a shred of doubt. “I love you.”
She’d known. She’d felt it, seen it in the wild colors that surrounded him. But hearing it… Such certainty. Such quiet passion. It tightened her throat until her words came out in a whisper. “I love you too.”
He closed his eyes for a moment before shifting her to the bed, settling her gently. “I’ll be right back.”
Kat eased under the covers, her limbs shaky, as Andrew headed for the bathroom. Her neck throbbed where he’d bit her, and she’d no doubt have the sort of bruise that people pretended not to see but couldn’t stop staring at.
The shapeshifters would recognize the symbol. Julio would probably ignore it. Sera would smile knowingly, and Miguel… Miguel hadn’t felt the need to mark her. It had been part of why they’d worked so well together, that affection that never crossed the line into possession. Sex had fizzled, but their friendship hadn’t.
Except for the fact that she’d been avoiding him since Andrew had come back into her life.
Kat rolled over on her back and closed her eyes. She could think about navigating ex-lovers and shapeshifter instinct in the morning. Tonight was about her, and the man who crawled back into the bed and gathered her close. With Andrew’s arms around her, the world could be just the two of them. Crazy cults and complicated friendships drifted away, leaving her at peace.
They could do this. Together, they could do anything.
Chapter Fourteen
Andrew dodged Kat’s swing and tumbled her to the mat. “I don’t think you want to hit me, sweetheart.”
She snarled her frustration before baring her teeth at him. “Oh, I do. I really, really do.”
“I don’t believe you.” Not with the punches she’d been landing, and not when he knew she could hit harder. “I can take it, you know.”
“Doesn’t make me like it.” Sighing, she rolled to her feet and shook her hands. “It was easier to hit Alec. He inspired rage.”
“No argument here.” Andrew arched an eyebrow at her. “While I’m really, really glad you like me, liking me too much to hit me might make this sparring thing difficult.”
Behind him, the top stair creaked. Kat’s gaze jumped past him as Zola spoke. “That is why we will teach you to fight as a team.”
It made sense—but, then again, Zola usually did. Andrew rose and faced her. “Like you and Walker?”
“Yes and no. Together, you will fight with body and mind.” Zola pointed to Kat. “She is holding back.
Not fighting as I taught her. Katherine?”
In the mirrors, Andrew saw Kat’s cheeks turn pink. “I didn’t want to hurt him,” she muttered.
If he didn’t know how real her concern was, it would have been mortifying. “Hurt me how?”
Zola leaned back toward the stairs and shouted something in French. Then she gave Kat a stern look.
Kat winced. “Callum taught me a few things… I don’t know, kind of like punching someone with my brain. An empathic jolt that throws them off. But I work with Zola because I have to stay calm enough to do it, and get fast enough to do it before a shapeshifter breaks me in half. Which I’m still working on.”