Page 24 of Stalking His Mate

“Slowly, babe,” a deep voice rumbles against the side of my head. “We’re still locked together.”

It takes a minute for his words to register. Then… the memories of everything that happened over the last several hours come crashing down on me. I’m wrapped in Dante’s arms. Surrounded by Dante’s scent. Locked with Dante’s cock.

My hand trembles when I slowly lift it to where a dull ache is radiating from the side of my neck. Before I can touch it, his hand covers mine, tucking it back where he’s wrapped around me.

“Don’t touch, it’ll be healed by morning.”

Oh god! Does that mean… Did he… He?—

“You bit me?” My voice quivers around the question I already know the answer to.

“I did,” his arms tighten, and he nuzzles the place on the side of my neck that aches. A slow throb matching time with the pulses where his cock is still buried deep inside me.

Dear God, is he still hard?

“I claimed you; we’re connected now. I couldn’t help myself.”

Anger swells hot and tight in my chest. He bonded me to him. Without asking me? How dare he. But just as fast, that anger quickly fizzles out, because he did ask me, didn’t he? We discussed it, at least. I knew it was his intention and honestly even if he’d had the strength to stop and ask me, in the heat of the moment I probably would have begged for it.

I did beg for it.

It’s no longer the heat of the moment though. Now, it’s a scary reality that I didn’t have time to fully consider the consequences of. Something I know far too little about. What are the repercussions of this? Because I’m sure there will be many. How is this going to affect my life? My daughter’s life?

“I can hear you thinking,” Dante sighs against the side of my throat. “What’s running through your pretty head, Mate?”

Mate. Damn him!

“A lot of things,” I admit.

A rumbly, growly purr vibrates through his chest and into my back. The sound is surprisingly soothing to my fraying nerves, and I find myself relaxing back into him as he asks, “is there anything in particular I can help you with?”

Is there? The growly purr is seeping into my head, relaxing me to the point that it’s hard to keep my eyes open.

He slowly shifts behind me and suddenly I feel less full. His cock must be softening.

He slips free of my body and a warm gush of fluids follows. “Shhh,” he hushes when I whine at the loss of him. “I swear to you, you won’t regret this. I’ll make sure of it.”

My heart leaps at his promise, but can I really trust him?

“I don’t know how I feel about what you did,” I say as my fingers pick at the comforter beneath us. “We should have discussed it.”

This changes everything! Doesn’t it? It’s a permanent thing, I can tell that much. I can feel it locked in place, somewhere deep inside me. It should terrify me, but—I’m not. I’m angry and confused, but not frightened.

Dante’s arms tighten around me, “I know. I meant to. But in the heat of the moment, my instinct and my cat both took over.”

“What about Molly? How will this affect her?” I’m rambling, trying to sort out what’s happened. To make sense of all of it.

“Nothing, baby,” he assures me. “Nothing changes that you don’t want to. Claiming you might bond you to me, but it’s not some mystical thing that will somehow take away your free will. If tomorrow you wake up and decide you want nothing to do with me, then you will still be able to walk away.”

“Just like that? What about you?” I ask. It can’t be that easy.

“I’ll be a wreck, but life goes on. Part of being your fated mate, means that I will always want the very best for you, even if that means you’re not with me.”

A part of me—maybe the part he claimed—understands and accepts everything he is telling me. It understands the instinct behind his actions. He didn’t claim me to be controlling. I realize I can somehow sense his feelings and there is no hint of any kind of malicious intent. Dante truly could not help himself.

“I don’t want to lose you. Not after I just found you, but I know that there is no excuse for what I did,” he nuzzles the back of my neck and my eyes flutter closed at the way both his body and his masculine scent are wrapped around me. “I mean it, I’ll do everything to make sure you never regret it.”

A low pulse has started up between my legs again. How am I horny again so soon? Reaching down between my legs, I slip my fingers through the mess he’s left of me. My lips are swollen and tender, the flesh within still stretched open.

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