Page 24 of Protector

He doesn’t need her permission, but her hoarse whisper sends lightning up his spine nonetheless.

“Oh,fuck!”

His knot swells fast, stretching her wide, and her whimpering turns even more desperate—more pained.

He doesn’t think; reacting on instinct alone, he reaches for her clit with his oil-slick fingers. He falls down on top of her, keeping her pinned to the mattress as he slowly works his still-swelling knot through her protesting sheath.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Her cursing is high-pitched and panicked, but he feels her flutter around his cock every time he strokes her nub until—fuck!—her pussy snaps shut around the bottom of his knot like a damn elastic band, and all he sees are stars. Everything is hot, pulsing flesh—and utter euphoria.

Save her.

Her nape is clammy from their combined sweat, and rich with her pheromones. He sucks in greedy lungfuls and groans when his balls draw up tight, until,finally…!

He has never known release like this—never known anything could give him such complete and perfectrelief.

Without thought for the consequences, AX2 bites down on his tormentor’s neck, breaking her skin and reopening the fresh scar left by her first alpha.

A single word pounds in his brain, reverberating through his body and into the very helix of his DNA:

Mine.

ELEVEN

AX2

There is a festering wound in his chest cavity.

Grunting, AX2 brings a hand up to test the flesh covering his ribs, finding the skin unbroken.

The woman beneath him draws in a sharp breath at the movement, the squeeze of her slick muscles around his cock a blissful counterpoint to the pain throbbing through his chest.

"Shh," he mumbles, instinctually nuzzling her neck to soothe her discomfort at being knotted. Then realization dawns.

His mate.She's… hismate.

He isn't prepared for the flood of emotion rushing through his veins, nor the sharpened edges of reality when the full memory of what he's done sets in.

Sheis his mate.

Nausea follows the sickening pain behind his ribs.No.No, no,no.

He grunts and lifts halfway off the woman, the urge to put as much distance between them as possible making him pull roughly at their tie.

She lets out a broken sob underneath him, and her ass follows the jerk of his hips as her pussy keeps a merciless hold on his knot.

The agony in his chest flares in response, forcing him to still and press against the painful spot again.Shit, that hurts!

Even his cursed chip hasn't been able to inflict pain like this. It's deep and wet andintimate—like someone hooking a thumb into a wound. And it stems fromher.

AX2 doesn't remember learning about mate bonds, but he recognizes it on a level more primal than breath. Deep in that festering wound, iron hooks dig in, anchoring a direct connection from his heart to hers.

Up until this moment, he didn't know she had one.

"Fuck,"he croaks and tumbles down on top of her again, easing the pull on her battered depths. The sharp pain softens to a dull throbbing that makes his teeth smart. His brain still screams for a distance both his new bond and his knot refuse, but at least he can breathe again.

She doesn't move. Doesn’t speak. Just lies beneath him, the tremble of her muscles and the rapid beating of her heart highlighting the agony flooding through their bond, making his nerves fire with urgency tofix it.

AX2 swallows a growl at the idiotic impulse—there’s nofixing this, there’s nomaking it better.And yet newly awakened instincts snap and snarl in his brain, insisting that he do so.

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