Page 1 of Bound By Roses

CHAPTER ONE

ABBY

‘Ineed to feel you. Everywhere.’I don’t speak the words aloud, but I know he hears them.

My mate.

Those two beautiful words keep repeating in my mind. The two words I thought I’d lost forever, only to be reforged stronger than I ever knew possible with nothing but a kiss.

A kiss my lips are still very much engaged in.

I feel Quinn shift, though he doesn’t break our connection. Not even when he lays me down on my back, slides my pants down my hips, and slips a finger—no,three fingers—inside me.

‘Gods, Stabby. You’re already so wet.’

‘Then what are you waiting for?’Even my thoughts are breathless and laced in desperation. I’d meant what I said. I need to feel him everywhere. Every inch of my skin craves his touch and the static charge that comes with it.

It wasn’t like this before. The bond that once existed between us was amazing, but this is unbelievable. Other-worldly. Insatiable.

A whimper escapes me when the sensation of his fingers disappear, but then I feel him, full and hard as he thrusts insideme with a moan that breaks through our kiss and forces me to take in a breath of air.

His hands find their way under the loose fabric of my shirt and slide upwards, hesitating only a moment on my breasts. A memory of his teeth nipping at them flashes through my mind, and I can’t tell if it came from me or him. His breath hitches and I instinctively know he’s thinking the same thing. Whatever this new bond is between us, it’s on an entirely different level.

In one swift motion, he pulls my shirt up over my head and tosses it carelessly onto the bed beside us. I didn’t even notice that we’re on the floor, and I really couldn’t care less. Just being with Quinn, feeling his hands running across my skin, touching me in as many places as he can, as if he needs this as much as I do, is all that matters.

He moves, thrusting deeper, and a sudden flash of pain hits me. Just as I knew what he was thinking, I know this pain isn’t mine. I open my eyes just in time to catch his wince. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he says, resuming his rhythm. I feel the sensation again in the same moment his face twitches.

“Roll over,” I say, and he rolls us without argument.

He sits up so that he can kiss me and so I can feel his bare chest against mine. The mysterious pains have ceased, so I roll my hips and ride his cock with no attempt at being gentle. I don’t need to ask if he’s enjoying this because I can feel that he is. He’s open to me, just as I am to him; every sensation between us shared.

I know he’s close, and so am I. I don’t need to slow his orgasm, but I lean forward and bite his neck anyway. His gasp and the arousal that comes with it sends me over the edge and my teeth clamp down harder. His release follows just seconds behind mine and goes on both forever and entirely not longenough. All I can do is hold on to him and ride the wave as it crashes into me again and again and again.

When we’re both heaving heavy breaths, he wraps his arms around me and locks me in an embrace that I never want to escape from. I long for the warmth of his body to swallow me whole so that this small moment in time can become our permanent reality.

The golden vines snaking down my arms glow, as does the newly formed rose on his chest. I nuzzle deeper into him and kiss it.

We’re alive. We’re together.

‘Safe and together,’he says through our bond as if he were thinking the same thing.

Though I don’t know if I’d say we’re truly safe. No matter how good Quinn is in bed, even his cock doesn’t have the power to make me forget. Shadows linger, even in a moment as precious as this.

A sudden knock on the door brings me back into the light. It opens just as suddenly, and Quinn barely has time to drape the blanket around us before Aurelia enters with a disapproving scowl etched onto her face.

“Is privacy not a thing in Marein?” Quinn growls.

Aurelia’s eyes narrow in response. “Not when someone is not where they are supposed to be.”

I look to Quinn. “What is she talking about?”

“Nothing. I’m exactly where I should be.” He brushes a lock of hair back from my embarrassingly sweaty face.

“Your bond is back,” Aurelia says, more of a statement than a question, though there’s a definite undertone of surprise and a slight raise to her brow as her eyes settle on me. “Then maybe you can talk some sense into your mate. He was to report to the healers over an hour ago.”

“Healers?” I ask and think back to his winces and the phantom pains I’d felt entwined with our ecstasy. Blurred memories of the battle we’d faced the night before come back to me in a rush, as does the image of Quinn’s bloody leg.

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