Page 8 of An Ancient Bond

It was his turn to laugh. “My silver girl, I promise it will not. I’m so close to my—ah!” The wood on the bedposts cracked as he gripped them hard.

I slid down his body as he spoke, and had the tip of his cock in my mouth before he could finish his sentence. His cock was smooth and hot, thick, but not so much that I couldn’t fit him in my mouth. I teased him with my tongue, learning his textures, memorizing each ridge and vein, curious at the desperate whimpers he made when I dropped slightly lower, tonguing the area between his sac and his ass.

I was fascinated with his cock, though, and returned to it, tasting the salty tip and reveling in the way the muscles on his abdomen strained as I teased him. He broadened as I took more of him in my mouth, and I felt quite accomplished when he shuddered with bliss, panting out wordless praise. I hummed as I slid my tongue over him, wondering if I could fit all of him inside.

There was only one way to find out.

“Yes!” he shouted as I took him almost into my throat with the next thrust, though I gagged a little on the last inch.

His balls tightened, his back arching away from the bed as he roared in pleasure, and I swallowed, relishing the way he shuddered as he came.

“Woman!” he teased when it was over, and I had my head on his belly, licking my lips clean and toying with his still-hard cock. “We’ll die virgins if you don’t get up here.”

“Well, we can’t have that,” I murmured as I crawled up his body. It was his turn to flip me over onto my back, and he did, his length already hardening fully as he stared down into my eyes.

“Are you ready?” He set the tip of his cock to my opening. I nodded, the passion in his expression robbing me of speech. He thrust forward gently, his girth stretching me in the most delicious way, his eyes never leaving mine as he used small motions to gently ease inside me until he was seated to the hilt, his thick base putting an almost painful pressure on me.

“You can move,” I managed to say when he hesitated.

“You feel exquisite, but let me make it better for you,” he whispered, his voice strained. “All I want is to give you all the pleasure you can stand.” He reached between us and circled my clit again, transforming the small bite of pain into sheer bliss. He moved forward slowly, carefully at first, then more confidently as I cried out my pleasure.

I’d never imagined anything could feel like this. So good, so right.

The empty, yawning void, the loneliness, was gone, and I knew it was gone forever. It was ridiculous how tightly this male had wrapped himself around my soul.

I let my feelings flow through our bond, marveling at the way he responded. His eyes brightened with sparks of silver in the blue, as if his soul had been illuminated. He opened his own soul to mine, and I felt that strange, powerful presence again. I knew absolutely I was safe with this male, but if anyone tried to harm me, they would not be able to say the same. The sheer force inside him was astounding.

My wolf spoke into my thoughts, her voice hazed with our shared pleasure. Alpha, she whispered. He is our Alpha.

Our Alpha? A thought flickered through my mind. A warning. Would Alpha Samuel sense this power and set himself against my mate, even drive him from the territory?

My wolf yipped a laugh that was echoed by a deep, vast rumble of amusement from my mate’s beast.Not the Alpha. Not their Alpha. Our Alpha.

I didn’t pretend to understand what our wolves were saying, but I let it go. A tear had gathered at the corner of my mate’s eye as he moved gently inside me, and he spoke softly. “You are everything I could have ever wanted, Annalise. You’re every dream I’ve ever had come true. I’ll love you from now until the end of time.”

There was something in how he said it that had my heart skipping a beat.

Not until the end of our lives. Until the end of time.

“Rebin, love,” I whispered, reaching for the tear. But he turned his head and kissed my hand, and that’s when I recognized it.

His profile. The line of his brow, nose, and jaw—it was as familiar to me as my own. I’d seen it a thousand times in my memories over the years. Since I was eighteen, at the Southern Conclave that had been my first. I’d seen him, across the field the third night of the Conclave, at the beginning of the Enforcer Games.

In my memory, I was there again.

“Come closer, Annalise,” my best friend shouted, running through the crowd, not waiting for me.

I sighed, looking down at my biggest Conclave mistake. Why had I worn a white dress, and an expensive one, at that? It had seemed perfect when my mother showed it to me. “I have a feeling you’ll meet your mate at this Conclave, Anna,” she’d said before she sent me off with the contingent from our pack to the Southern packlands. She’d been hesitant; there was a lot of talk about uprisings and witches. Our Alpha hadn’t seemed worried, but our pack had sent a huge number of seasoned warriors, just in case.

I’d be safe, and I might meet my mate. I hadn’t shifted yet, but my wolf had started clawing to get out. The Alpha had even mentioned the day before that I might have to go through the ritual early, just to keep my wolf from pestering him, whatever that meant.

I climbed a small hill so I could see the clearing where the Enforcers were starting the exhibition fights. It was some pack’s Alpha Heir going up against a burly shifter from Southern, and I was glad I was far away.

Until I saw him, illuminated by the torches placed only feet away from him. A pair of bright blue eyes were set in a face “too attractive to be practical,” as my mother liked to say whenever I moaned about not being pretty like my friends. He was scanning the area, as if he was looking for something. Someone?

I raised a hand to wave, though I knew he wouldn’t see me, standing in the darkness. But somehow, as his face turned toward me, those eyes widened.

Had he seen me? His head turned as if he’d heard something, and I took in his profile. A strong jaw, a sharp, straight nose, a smooth brow. He looked regal, like an Alpha or a king from a fairytale. I mouthed one word, even though I knew it couldn’t be true.

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