“There’s something else. It’s not my first time, obviously.” She glances at Finley asleep in his cradle. “But I don’t remember my first time.”
Anger burns through me as I think of what she must have been through, picked up and discarded by a wolfskin. She takes my face between her small hands and draws me down for a kiss. The skinchanger and skinbearer blood is pounding through us, drawing us closer and driving our desire higher.
“Are you sure?” I ask, nuzzling her throat.
“I want you as much as you want me. Please, Balen.”
Her soft begging undoes me. I slide my hand between her legs, and she opens beneath me. My cock drags up her thigh as I reposition myself, and she strokes my length, guiding me closer.
I wet the tip of my cock in the folds of her pussy, enjoying the way we look together, my smooth, blunt head against her shining entrance. I capture her mouth with mine as I delve into her, feeling her give around me as her inner muscles massage every inch of my cock.
I pull back and gaze at her as I begin to thrust, watching the sensations play across her face. She’s trusting and sweet, but quickly starts to writhe and pant, her fingers clenching my muscles.
My bear instincts have me turning her over and hugging her hips to my body with one arm as I sheathe myself inside her again. I listen to her cries as I thrust fast and deep.
“Balen, you feel like you’re getting thicker,” she moans, her cheek pressed against the mattress. There’s exquisite pleasure on her face, her eyes closed and her panting mouth open.
The arm holding her has suddenly sprouted fur. I can feel ripples down my spine as my body begs to change, and swelling in my cock. This has never happened before. I have to grit hard against it to stop myself from changing all the way, but there’s nothing I can do about the rest of me.
“I can’t stop it. Tell me if it gets too much,” I growl, pounding into her faster. Carys pushes back to meet me, her cries growing feral.
We climax together, my growl and her cries filling the cabin. I look down and see my thickened cock wedged impossibly tight inside her. I lift her up against my body and hold her against me.
“My Carys. My kochanie. My heart.” I can only say these words, over and over, as I marvel that she’s in my arms. That I’m deep inside her. That she’s full of my seed. Finally, I ease myself out of her and we lay down together. She strokes her hands down my arms, smiling, as all the fine, dark hairs retract.
“I didn’t frighten you, I hope.”
“You felt amazing,” she purrs, snuggling into me. “I could feel you bulging and pulsing inside of me and it drove me wild.”
“The urge to change was so powerful I almost couldn’t hold it back.” I squeeze her firm ass with my retracting claws. I’ve never felt anything like it.
My mate rests peacefully in my arms, her head against my shoulder and her knees tucked against my belly.
Around us, the wood crackles in the stove and Finley’s sleepy breathing is soft and steady.
Carys opens her eyes. “That wolfskin knows where we are. He’ll be back with others, won’t he?”
I clench my teeth, hating the thought that talk of Carys is probably on their filthy tongues right now. “Undoubtedly.”
She sits up. “Then we have to leave. They’ll want to fight you, and if there are more than three, what if they hurt you permanently, or kill you? I can’t let that happen.”
I shake my head and draw her back into my arms. “We’re staying. I’ve lost too much over the years, and I’m not giving up this hard-won territory because of a pack of mangy mutts. Out there,” I say, nodding toward the door, “every mountain slope, every meadow, every valley is spoken for by some beast or skinchanger. I’ll have to fight no matter where we go, and I’d rather fight for my territory than throw someone else off theirs.”
Carys catches her lower lip between her teeth, nibbling on it as she regards me. She says quietly, “I understand that, but it was so frightening to see you dying.”
“I wasn’t dying. I was healing as fast as I could to come back to you.”
She puts her arms around my neck and lays her head on my shoulder.
I stroke her hair, murmuring softly. “I’ve