Mark lifted up, just enough to strip off his shirt, and the words on his chest made her laugh out loud. “I can’t believe you let me write on you like that.”
He’d lost his pants and boxers, and crawled beside her in all his naked glory. He caught her hand and pressed it to the thick blue lines. “It’s true. I’m yours.”
Not yet, he wasn’t, but nearly. Tessa’s cat preened and fussed, happy from the orgasms, but wanting it all. She reached between them and closed her fingers around him carefully, loving the contrast of hard shaft and soft skin. “No condoms.”
He shook his head. “You tell me. As shifters we’re good, but…”
“I’m a cat. I can’t get pregnant right now.” His eyes rolled back as she stroked him, playing with the amount of pressure, the speed.
Mark caught her wrist. “Stop.”
Wow. “How do you talk through your teeth like that?”
He grinned and leaned in to kiss her until she tingled all over. He rolled over her, nudging her thighs apart with his knees.
“Look at me,” he ordered.
Tessa stared into his eyes as his cock slipped between her folds. Heat and pressure and something else slid into her, a sensory overload of pleasure. Of belonging.
His.
Together.
Mark buried himself all the way. Tessa lifted her legs around his waist and moaned in delight.
“This. This is only part of it.” Mark pulled his hips back so slowly, his cock teasing as it rubbed the perfect places inside. He rocked forward and her breath gasped out, forced by the depths of his possession.
The entire time he took her, he watched. His gaze drifted over her face, her torso. Hungrily memorizing her? Whatever it was, Tessa was on fire. It had never been like this before. Something deeper than physical connection wrapped around her. Drew them together.
Mark kissed her without missing a stroke. Harder drives now, his breath fanning past her cheek. His cock a hard point of pleasure taking her again, and again. Tessa arched up to add to the motion, squeezing her thighs, digging her heels into his ass until the sound of their bodies echoed through the room. Panting breaths, frantic motions.
A blinding rush of desire in her core burst out, pulsing around him and wringing his climax from him. Mark brought his teeth to her neck and bit down and…
There were no fireworks, no twirling lights. It was like being thrown from a massive height yet knowing there was a safety net to catch her. Mark was that net. Mark would always be there to catch her. Free fall, a rush of excitement that made her cat thrill and her human clutch his shoulders and rock.
“That was totally wicked…”
She’d meant to say it out loud, but her ears never heard the words.
Mark stiffened, though, as if she had spoken. His every muscle had gone tight, his teeth buried in her neck like his cock was buried in her sex. He jerked, the final pulses of his release escaping as he groaned.
“Tessa, oh damn, I can’t believe it.”
She was too bonelessly satisfied to bounce with excitement. “Whoa…I can hear you in my head.”
Mark licked her. Pressed his lips to the spot that radiated waves indicating something…other…had just happened. “Mate bond. This is it. You’re mine.”
Tessa nuzzled the side of his head until he twisted far enough their lips could meet. It seemed like the appropriate moment for a kiss. “I think this means you’re mine. After all, you are the one that’s labeled and all.”
Mark chuckled against her lips. “Semantics.”
She shook her head seriously. “No way. To a cat? Ownership is everything. You’re mine.” Tessa rocked her hips, pleased to discover that another one of the stories she’d heard about wolves and mates wasn’t a fable. “Hmm, you’re hard again.”
“I noticed.” Mark sighed wearily. “Guess we’ll just have to start all over and try harder.”
Tessa laughed before she caught his head in her hands. “I’m thrilled to be yours. And I’m going to love you more as time goes by. If you’re okay with that.”
His grin alone would have been enough of an answer—she was a quick study, she had figured out listening to what actions said was important.
Still, she couldn’t deny that the words he whispered through their mate bond gave her a thrill.
“As you wish…”
Chapter Ten
December
Mark nodded at another pack mate, pointing directions. “Take the dish to the kitchen, and the tree is in the gathering area on the third floor.”
He stuck his head out the front door for a moment. The north wind howling over the piled-high snow made him even more grateful for the warmth of the house behind him. He raced up the stairs, bursting into the body-filled area of the main entertainment area. Everywhere the incredible sound of happy conversation and laughter competed with Christmas carols and the crackle of the fire.
Tessa bounded across the room to his side. She planted a huge kiss on his cheek, her arms circling him so naturally he sighed with contentment.