Page 82 of The Sword & the Stone

She looked into my eyes, and I felt something shift inside me. Something clicked into place in my head. I wanted this woman. This queen. I wanted to keep her.

“I want to be your safety,” she whispered against my lips.

For the first time in centuries, I felt a sob working its way up my throat, but I stifled it. Instead, I captured Arthur's lips again, swallowing her moans as I ground my hips against hers. The friction was exquisite torture, even through our clothes. I wanted,needed, to be inside her, to claim her as mine.

I flipped our positions, pressing Arthur back against the moss-covered hollow of the tree. She gasped, her eyes wide and dark with desire as she looked up at me.

With trembling fingers, I unlaced her tunic, pushing the fabric aside to reveal her creamy skin. I trailed kisses down her throat, nipping and sucking at her pulse point. Arthur arched into me, a breathy moan escaping her lips.

"Tristan," she gasped, her fingers tangling in my hair. "Please..."

I growled low in my throat, the sound more feral than I intended. My fae nature was rising to the surface, drawn out by the magic of Avalon and my burning desire for the woman beneath me. I knew my eyes were glowing silver in the twilight as I looked down at her.

Leaning back on my heels, I slowly peeled off her trousers and boots, and she shucked off the rest of her clothing, bearing herself to me fully.

Slowly, reverently, I ran my hands along her body, marveling at the contrast between my dark fingers against the paleness of her belly. Arthur shivered under my touch, goosebumps rising in the wake of my caress. I leaned down to capture her lips in a searing kiss as I positioned myself between her parted thighs.

Pulling my cock free, I lined myself up with her entrance, sliding through her swollen wetness. Arthur's breath hitched,her eyes locking with mine as I slowly pushed inside. The tight, wet heat of her body enveloped me, and I had to grit my teeth to keep from losing control.

"Tristan," Arthur breathed, her voice thick with desire. "Don’t you dare leave me."

"Fuck," I groaned, my voice rough with need. “I can’t fucking leave you, little faerie. There’s no Avalon for me without you.”

She whimpered in response, her legs wrapping around my waist to pull me deeper. I began to move, setting a slow, deep rhythm that had Arthur moaning. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, nails raking down my back as I thrust into her. The slight sting only fueled my desperation, driving me to claim her more thoroughly.

Growling low in my throat, I hitched her legs higher around my waist, changing the angle of my thrusts. Arthur cried out as I hit that spot deep inside her that made her voice pitch higher. Her inner walls clenched around me, drawing me deeper. I was coming already, but I couldn’t stop.

It was a good thing Arthur was fae, and that fae women could only get pregnant when fully mated, because between the six of us males, it could have easily happened the night before.

I picked up the pace, my hips snapping forward with increasing urgency. The hollow of the tree creaked and swayed with our movements. I moaned, unable to stay silent as I fucked her into the moss roughly.

That’s it,” I gritted through clenched teeth as her hips rose to meet mine in a frenzy. “Just like that, little faerie…”

My vision blurred at the edges, silver light bleeding into the corners of my perception as my fae instincts surged to the surface.

Arthur's eyes flew open, locking with mine. I watched in awe as golden light bloomed in her irises, spreading until her eyeswere twin pools of molten sunlight. "Tristan—" she gasped, her voice thick with need and something deeper, more primal.

An overwhelming urge swept through me: to claim, to mark, to make her mine for eternity. Without conscious thought, I leaned forward, my lips finding the junction where her neck met her shoulder. My teeth grazed the sensitive skin there as Arthur shuddered beneath me.

With a guttural groan, I sank my teeth into the soft flesh of her neck, tasting the coppery tang of her blood on my tongue, claiming her. Arthur cried out, her back arching off the moss as pleasure and pain mingled and blended.

Suddenly, Arthur's hands tangled in my hair, pulling my head back with surprising strength. Before I could react, she surged upward, her teeth finding purchase at the sensitive juncture of my neck and shoulder.

The moment her teeth broke my skin, the world exploded into a haze of sensation. It was as if every moment of my long life, every vision I'd ever had, every possible future, all converged into this single point of connection between us. I noticed Arthur's essence merging with mine, our souls intertwining in an unbreakable bond.

Mates. We were…mates.

The realization hit us both like a thunderbolt, our bodies shuddering in unison as the mating bond snapped into place. I felt Arthur's emotions coursing through me: wonder, ecstasy, a fierce possessiveness that matched my own. Our hips moved in a frenzied rhythm as we chased our mutual release.

"Mine," Arthur growled against my neck. The word reverberated through our newfound connection, igniting a primal fire in my veins.

"Yours," I gasped in response, tightening my grip on her neck. "And you're mine, little queen. Now and always."

I spilled into her with a growl, more animalistic than man. She followed me over the edge, moaning gutturally as her cunt squeezed me. Wave after wave of pleasure crashed over us, amplified by the mating bond until it felt like we might shatter from the intensity.

As the aftershocks subsided, we collapsed against each other, panting heavily. Arthur's heartbeat thundered in time with my own, our bodies and souls now inextricably linked. She lifted her head, those golden eyes meeting mine with a mixture of awe and fierce joy.

"What have we done?" she whispered, though I didn’t sense any regret through our bond—only a sense of rightness—of coming home.

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