A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,38

herself parting around him as he slid inside, filling her to perfection.

Desperate with need, Annie squeezed herself around him as he lay inside her, thick and hot, and felt the shudder than ran through the full length of his body in response.

“Oh God, Annie –”

Even the sound of his voice, drenched in desire, was enough to make thrills of pleasure shoot along her spine.

His first thrust within her, powerful and overwhelming, drove a frenzied cry from her lips. She wrapped her legs around him as he moved, her body arching up to meet his on every thrust, wanting to feel the whole length of his body against hers.

She wanted everything – everything he had to give her. He’d told her that once they sealed their bond he would belong to her forever, but –

Does that mean I’ll also belong to him? Annie thought, as she groaned out his name again and again and again.

The thought only seemed to make her desire burn even hotter. She wanted it – to belong to him, to be claimed by him as his mate, no matter what that meant.

His mate. My mate.

Annie cried out yet again as a wave of ecstasy exploded through her as the word drifted through her mind.

Nothing had ever sounded so clear, so right to her before in her life.

They were made for each other.

In that moment, nothing had ever been truer.

“Annie.”

The sound of Beau groaning her name sent another crash of pleasure through her, and she twisted on the sofa, fingers clawing at his back. She felt him pulse within her, his muscles going taut, his thrusts speeding up.

The bliss that filled her a third time made her cry out yet again, her head thrown back in complete abandon. It wasn’t only the physical sensation that surged through her, though – it was also a feeling of rightness, that this was meant to be, that filled her.

It lingered even after the sparks shooting along her nerves had begun to fade away, the fire in her veins receding. They lay together on her sofa, breathing hard, sweaty skin pressed against each other.

Annie wasn’t sure if she’d fallen asleep. But the next thing she was fully aware of was Beau’s fingers running gently over her temple, brushing her damp hair back from her face.

His dark eyes looked down at her, filled with something that Annie could only call wonder.

“You’re incredible,” he said, his voice emerging as a husky growl. “Just… incredible.”

She gazed up at him, wondering how someone like him could possibly be real.

“I feel like you kind of stole my line,” Annie managed to get out after a moment or two. “And I’m really not with it enough to come up with another one.”

It might have been a corny thing to say, but it made Beau let out a deep, rumbling laugh, before he lowered his head to kiss her again.

Chapter 9

“So, do hippogriffs have any other magic powers? Do shifters in general have powers, or is it just the, uh, shifting?”

Beau glanced over his shoulder to where Annie was sitting on the couch, a sheet wrapped around her. He had his own sheet wrapped around his waist as he stirred the re-heating soup on Annie’s small stovetop. They’d moved to the bedroom when they’d both decided that the sofa was definitely too small for round two, but eventually their hunger pangs had gotten the best of them.

“Mythical shifters usually have something else they can do besides shifting,” Beau said, looking into Annie’s shining, curious eyes.

He had to say, she was taking this a lot better than he’d thought she would. Maybe it had something to do with the mated bond – she could tell instinctively that he wouldn’t ever harm her, no matter whether he turned into a hippogriff or a bumblebee or a Komodo dragon.

“Dragons can breathe fire, just like you’ve read about in storybooks,” he continued. “Wyverns breathe poison. Griffins have healing powers – all shifters heal quickly, but griffins can heal other people as well.”

“And hippogriffs?” Annie asked, as Beau spooned the clam chowder into a pair of bowls.

Beau hesitated. “We have a couple of extra tricks up our sleeves as well,” he said, carrying the soup over to her. “But it’s a little more complicated than that. We can… well, I suppose you’d call it very, very limited time travel.”

“Time travel?!” Annie’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she stared at him, her soup spoon halfway to her lips. “Like… you could go back