She was flying. With his arms wrapped tight around her, his tongue licking at the wound to her shoulder, that barb stroking into a bundle of pure raw nerves, and Rachel felt as though she were flying, totally free. Without constraints, straight into the blistering heat of the sun.
She felt as though she became melded to him. She melted into the pores of his flesh, locked inside him, and knew she could never be the same again.
Jonas had to fight for breath. He had no idea pleasure could tear the world out of his grip, that a release could do more than simply bond him to this woman.
For the first time in his life, he felt a freedom so complete, so vast, that he knew his life was changed forever.
He'd fought giving all of himself to her, and in that moment, he realized he had never had a chance against her.
She was sobbing against his shoulder, the pleasure was so intense. She was whispering his name, begging, shudders still racing up her spine as he felt them digging sharpened talons into his balls.
It seemed never-ending. It seemed as though he had shot straight into the soul of the woman gripping him with a fierce hold, refusing to release him. And he didn't want her to release him. He wanted her to hold him inside her forever.
And she would.
This pleasure would ease, their bodies would separate, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would never be free of her or the effect of this night.
Wrapping his arms around her, he buried his face in her hair and fought just to breathe as he felt the sensations gently easing.
Rationality was returning as the barb slowly receded. His c**k softened, but only marginally. Held inside her, the thick width still stretched her. He could still feel the delicate little tremors that attacked the vulnerable tissue every few seconds.
She was relishing this final, unhurried descent, and he wasn't about to disturb her, because he was damned if he wasn't loving the hell out of it as well.
It was like being locked in a well of peace. In all his life Jonas had never known true peace. Not until this moment, not until the pleasure had been agony, forcing him to spill his very soul into the woman who had demanded it.
"I love you." The words rose unbidden to his lips as he whispered them against her ear. "In all my life, Rachel, I have never truly loved until you."
He had sacrificed. He had been responsible. He had led, he had manipulated and he had been driven. But he had never loved a single entity, not truly, not as he should.
He loved his sister, but not enough to open himself to give her the security she had needed, and he was only now realizing that. No wonder Harmony had refused to allow him around his nephew in the months since he had been born. It was no wonder others watched him with fear and loathing.
They sensed it. They had known it. Jonas had been the ultimate master manipulator, and he had manipulated himself right out of the lives of those he had needed most.
His sister.
His brothers.
His father.
His mother.
Those who stood by him despite his failings. Those who watched him with both longing and distrust. Even Rachel. Until this moment, he realized a part of himself had still been manipulating, searching for an angle to use, a way to control.
He would never control this woman.
"I love you so much. I know I would die without you."
He heard the words, so soft, so weary, whispered against his chest as his mate collapsed against him. Still buried within her, her gentle weight a warmth he never wanted to lose, her words sinking into his soul to hold him a willing captive for eternity.
Emotion nearly overwhelmed him. It clenched his heart, tightened his chest. It rolled through him like a wave of heat, brighter, hotter, than the lust that had fueled them moments before.
No. It wasn't lust. It was pure hunger. A white-hot need to share, and to give himself to the one person, the one woman who been given to him to save him.
He had been on a path of personal self-destruction, a complete isolation from those around him. Rachel and her child had brought him back. Then Rachel had bound his soul to hers with chains forged of unbreakable strength.
Easing from her body, he almost grimaced as her snug pu**y tried to tighten on the still-engorged flesh filling it. The stroke of silken flesh across it was a pleasure he was loath to lose.
His mate was exhausted though.