Page 124 of Hate Mates

“I’ve loved you since the day you took my hand while watching that bird fly away.”

He’s sheathed inside me, buried to the hilt, and keeps it there, kissing me, touching me, whispering words of affection, making sure I stay with him. That he has my body…and my mind.

His movements are slow, controlled, his eyes on me—always on me—wiping away their filth with each loving stroke.

It’s bittersweet, to have him inside me, completing me, erasing their hurts and shadows.

I reach up, my hand running through his hair, in a plea to continue. To never stop. This is a cleansing we both need. One that will bind us together forever.

He holds me close, moving inside me, like he’s memorizing every second, like he’s carving himself into me.

His lips trace my temple, my jaw, my throat. “You’re mine. No one else. Just me.”

“Just you,” I breathe, my body wrapping around him, my nails digging into his back, anchoring myself to him as he pushes me higher, deeper, until I unravel in his arms, gasping his name as pleasure crashes through me, washing away every touch before his.

He follows, burying himself inside me one last time before he groans into my neck, his body shuddering as he comes, filling me, his shoulders pulled taut.

I don’t even know I’m crying when he flips onto his back, pulling me against him, clutching me so damn tight. The sobs wreck me, splitting me apart. I don’t know how long we lay there before silence settles, before his fingers begin tracing soothing circles on my back.

His lips press to my hair. “No one will ever hurt you again. That’s a promise I’ll carve into the bones of those who try.”

That was the moment the rest of our lives started.

And a few years later I give birth to our sons. Twins.

Nicoli…and Alexius.

The END.

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