He flared his nostrils and braced his arms to either side of her, slowly sliding into her body. “You are so tight. So tight and hot.” He drove in, not stopping to take a single breath, and filled her. Her muscles stretched taut. She couldn’t move. He was big, thick, and deep inside her.

She grabbed handfuls of his hair and yanked his face to hers, pulling their lips into a decadent kiss. He propelled back and drove back in. Deep. Hard. Fast. Then he did it again. And again. Each drive seeming to trump the last.

Every move shoved her body farther up on the bed, and then he slid his hands under her ass and tilted her hips. The change allowed him to go deeper inside her. She gasped into their kiss, sucking on his tongue. She savored the taste of her sex on his lips. He took her lips the same way he did her. Commanding. Demanding. Feasting.

His thrusts increased with every twirl of his tongue over hers. The sound of skin slapping filled the room. She pushed the balls of her feet into the edge of the mattress and raked her nails down his shoulders. His big, sweaty shoulders.

She pulled away from the kiss to grab a gulp of air. He didn’t stop. Instead, if possible, he got faster. Rougher.

“Ah, my beautiful Fia. I’m so close.”

She whimpered. “Me too.”

“I know. You want me to make you come, don’t you?” he asked with a kiss on her cheek.

She dug her nails deeper into his shoulders, holding on during the ferocious ride. “Yessss.” She mumbled. “So close.”

“That’s right.” He bit down on her earlobe, breathing hard by the curve of her jaw. “So close to getting you off.”

She mewled and heard his voice deepen further. “I love being inside you. Your curves make me so hard.”

A drop of sweat slid down the side of his face. She brushed it off and lifted her head to kiss him. “Make me come, big, Sayer. Make me fly, my hunky lion.”

He grunted a low, animalistic sound and pumped hard and fast into her. She couldn’t talk, could barely breathe, and just when she thought she couldn’t take another thrust, the tension inside her broke like a dam. A flood of bone-deep pleasure rushed through her with the force of a tsunami. Quickly destroying everything in its path, mainly her thinking and breathing.

He dug his claws into her ass cheeks, holding her hips in place and fucking her mercilessly. He came with a loud snarl, his hot semen engulfing her channel and coating her.

He turned them on their sides while they tried to catch their breaths. Her legs shook, curled around his hip with him still embedded deep inside her.

“You’re mine, Fia.”

She shut her eyes and gave a soft laugh. “That lion inside you needs to learn he can’t just have a woman.”

“Sweetheart, he isn’t going to ask when you just gave yourself to us.”

“Don’t ruin the moment, Sayer.” She grumbled and snuggled into his arms. He kissed her forehead and laughed. “Today or tomorrow. It doesn’t matter. It won’t change what it already is. Youaremine.”

“Let’s take this one day at a time, okay?” She met his gaze and smiled. “Okay?”

He gave a slow nod, kissed her, and held her close. “One day at a time.”

“We need to go back. I want to be there when Vienna wakes up.”

He pulled her tighter into his arms. “We will. In a bit.”

She sighed and cuddled into him. She hoped this change in their relationship wasn’t a mistake.

EIGHTEEN

Sayer stepped out of the shower, a cloud of steam billowing around him as he reached for a towel. Droplets of water traced the defined muscles of his chest and arms, a testament to his shifter physique. His mind buzzed with a heady mix of contentment and anticipation. Yesterday’s date with Fia had been... amazing.

As he dressed, Sayer caught his reflection in the mirror. The man staring back at him looked different. Happier. More alive. It wasn’t just the afterglow of their intimate night together - though that certainly played a part. No, this was something deeper. A sense of rightness, of pieces finally falling into place. He had his mate.

Downstairs, he found Fia in the kitchen, her hair still adorably mussed from sleep. She stood at the stove, humming softly as she flipped pancakes. The morning sunlight filtered through the curtains, casting a warm glow on her skin. Vienna sat in her high chair, happily mashing banana between her fingers, her giggles filling the air.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Sayer said, wrapping his arms around Fia’s waist and planting a kiss on her neck. He inhaleddeeply, savoring the scent of vanilla and cinnamon that always seemed to cling to her.

Fia leaned back into him, a soft smile playing on her lips. “Someone’s in a good mood.”