Page 58 of Fated Exile

He kisses me deeper with each thrust, his lips and tongue clever and skilled. I sink into the sensations of him, enjoying how our bodies meet and combine. I can feel him inside me, and not just his body, either. There's a warm pleasure that radiates through me and relaxes me that can only be the alpha-ness within him.

As his pace picks up and he presses inside me, I feel a spark from my clit and moan at the way he brushes against it from the front. Roarke catches onto my pleasure and does it again and again until I'm twisting up against him and twitching. His body pushes me down into the ground, and we part mouths to look into each other's eyes, his blackened gaze staring down at me with an all-consuming look.

At the same time our eyes meet, I swear a breeze picks up around us. I hear the trees sigh and feel a strange surge of warm from the stones beneath me. Roarke must feel it too, because his eyes widen and his hand falls to the ground beside me.

Grabbing my hand, he twists our fingers together and pushes them against the stones. Golden mating threads shoot up around our grip, twining between our shared fingers and surging against our skin.

I gasp, closing my eyes as my senses open up to everything all around me. I can feel all of it: our connection to each other, his connection to the pack, my connection to the pack, and how the land around us embraces our mating and pushes us on.

Just in that moment, Roarke moans and thrusts deep inside me, his thighs trembling. He dips his head down to mine and presses our lips together. I twist up against him, gasping as my body shakes and everything inside me falls apart.

I can feel him release within me, the trembling and shaking of his legs turning to a wetness against my thighs. Our tongues meet, and I wrap my legs tight around him as my orgasm comes to an end. He presses deep inside me, then slowly draws out, but keeps our hands intertwined and our lips together.

As we part, slowly but surely, Roarke shifts his hands beneath my body and carefully pulls me up off the stones. I sway towards him, grabbing onto his shoulders for support. He stares down at me with a naked gaze, his irises sliding towards their summer blue, deepened with the darkness of his wolf eye color.

"Everything feels different and the same at the same time," he murmurs, leaning down to nuzzle my neck. Inside my head, he silently says,I feel closer to you than ever before, and somehow whole, even though I've been able to feel you this entire time.

Same.I nuzzle him as well, sensing it as his presence sinks into my mind and spreads out. While Finn and Lance feel like bright, specific spots, Roarke is more like a light blanket that covers everything.I can feel that you're... satisfied? And maybe getting a little chilly.

He points out, "The night is growing long, and the sun hasn't been up for hours. You can't blame me for being alittlecold. And you're the one who tore my clothes apart."

Glancing down, I get a good look at him. "You're not doing half-bad, considering the chilly temp."

Roarke makes a noise of protest. "Not fair to judge a man in poor conditions."

"Oh, I saw it inexcellentconditions too," I remind him. "And felt it. Trust me when I say that you have nothing to worry about."

"Good thing I'm not worried, then."

We kiss again, Roarke drawing it out, slow and sweet with a tenderness that melts my heart. It's hard to believe that for so many years, I didn't see him standing beside me, or all too often behind me, supportive, funny, and patient.

As he draws back from the kiss, he reminds me of his old prankster ways by reaching down to tweak my nipple as he starts to say the sacred words. "Earth and sky, land and prey—"

"Hey!" I swat him, scowling up at him. He chuckles, low and sweet with a lopsided smile. "Not like that. Give it the proper ceremony."

"Okay, okay."

Bending down, he sweeps his still-intact pair of jeans off the ground—and I get a good look at his ass, which is muscular and strong. Feeling wicked, I smack him, and he jerks up with the jeans dangling off his fingers and an astonished look on his face. I just laugh as he pulls them on and runs a finger through his hair, glancing out at the few remaining pack members still gathered here.

I suppose they went off to dream of mates of their own, or be with the ones they have. It's rare for a Mating Ceremony to form more than one or two mate bonds. Usually the night would've been long over, but instead there are two more rounds.

"We should shift into our wolf form," I remind Roarke, stopping him as he clears his throat to say the words again. "Or at least I know I should. I don't think I have the energy to keep going otherwise."

As I say it, though, I realize the words aren't true. I feel a thriving energy deep inside me, and my body isn't worn out yet, even though it should be. Maybe my powers are giving me energy—or maybe the Mating Circle, knowing how important this is, has given me strength. Either way I'm grateful for it, because I don't want the one of my guys who goes last to feel like he got the short end of the stick.

Roarke and I shift into our wolves together, and it's great fun to race across the stones together and complete a circuit of the Mating Circle. As we finish the first lap, a familiar shaggy white wolf joins us, then a red-and-black wolf, a tan one, and a playful black one.

Others come along too: older, more stately elders, who swerve in from watching. We throw our heads back and howl, running faster and faster, enjoying the strength beneath our feet and the connection that pulses between four of us.

Hearing our voices, other wolves return from wherever they went off to, many of them coming in from not far away. The warriors patrolling the area race through and back out again, returning to their duties as soon as they left them. I grin and yip excitedly at the sight of their strong, furry bodies, my heart lifting at the thought of so many more joining us soon enough.

I try not to think about what we have to face—what Iwillhave to face—before then. Delphine is a looming threat, one I barely understand, that can't be easily defeated. But I'm determined not to let her ruin this night, so I shake the thought off as soon as it enters my mind.

We come to a natural stop after a while, and shift back into our human forms. Roarke climbs the platform in the middle of the circle to say the words this time. As he does, I realize that I barely even feel my nudity anymore, and can no longer muster any embarrassment about it. I look out into the waning crowd gathered here, find Bastian and then Kieran's eyes, and it's as if we're the only ones here tonight.

My pulse picks up as it occurs to me that we're not quite to the finish line yet. Vivia said I have to mate with allfivemates during the Summit to lift the curse. I glance towards the moon; we have hours yet, plenty of time to complete things, but I worry.

The last two of my mates have had the roughest time getting here. Each of them have their own reasons to be concerned. I've barely banished the darkness from Bastian's mind, and Kieran has only recently come out of the fog of addiction. Fate may have picked them for me, but what if they're not ready? Or worse, what if they're not strong enough?

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