Page 46 of Third

For one breathless second, he hovered there, drinking her in. The hunger in his face appeared stark, but it was the reverence that undid her—the way his fingers traced the curve of her cheek, the way his thumb tenderly traced her lowerlip.

“You are mine,” he rasped.

There was no question. No demand.

Just truth.

He kissed her again, slower this time but no less desperate. His hands stripped away what little clothing she had left, baring her inch by quivering inch. Every time a new piece of skin was revealed, he paused—as if memorizing her with his mouth, his hands, his breath.

When he laid her bare before him, he froze. His gaze devoured her, dark and possessive, drinking in the sight of her naked body with raw, unapologetic hunger. Every muscle in his massive frame flexed as he fought the brutal instinct to cover her, mark her, claim her in a way no force could undo. His amethyst eyes gleamed, savage and unrelenting, as he let her see the feral hunger he could no longer contain. Awarrior stripped of logic, reduced to the most primitive truth he had ever known. She was his, and no power in existence would changethat.

“Perfect,” he said, so quietly she almost missedit.

Anya reached for him, needing to feel him, needing the weight of him against her. Her hands slid under his shirt, pushing it upward, and Tor’Vek let out a low, broken sound as he yanked it over his head and tossed it aside.

His body was a study in bitter perfection—massive, scarred, beautiful. The black and white streaks in his long hair caught the low light, giving him the look of a fallen star or some dark, ancientgod.

She ran her hands over the hard planes of his chest, over the thick cords of muscle in his arms, and he shuddered under her touch. It felt as though her hands branded him, her touch claiming him in ways that no oath or law ever could—an unspoken demand he would never, could never, refuse.

“Anya,” he growled again, almost as if warning her. Almost as if begging her to understand what she was doing tohim.

But she knew. And she wasn’t afraid.

“Please,” she whispered, the word trembling withneed.

He groaned—asavage, wrecked sound—and surged over her, claiming her mouth again as he pressed her down into the mattress. His body covered hers completely, the heavy heat of him searing through every inch of her. His mouth left hers only to blaze a desperate path down her throat, across her collarbone, lower still. He cupped one full breast in his rough palm, weighing her, his thumb grazing the stiffened peak until she whimpered, arching helplessly into his touch.

Tor’Vek growled low, the sound vibrating through her body, and lowered his mouth to her breast, drawing one tight peak into the heat of his mouth. He suckled her with slow, devastating pulls, his teeth lightly grazing, nipping just enough to make her cry out—abroken sound of pure, frantic urgency. His hand moved to her other breast, massaging, kneading, marking her with the heat of his possession. She writhed beneath him, every nerve ending sparking to life under his mouth, his hands, his worshipful brutality.

She parted her legs instinctively, welcoming him, and he settled between them with a low, primal sound that vibrated deep in his chest.

He kissed her like a man dying, kissed her until she was drowning in him, until there was nothing left but the frantic beat of their hearts and the unbearable pull of their bond. In a few swift, abrupt moves, he shed the last of his clothing.

When he finally—finally—pressed inside her, it was with a brutal, desperate thrust that tore a gasp from both of them. Anya cried out, the sheer width and force of him stretching her beyond anything she had known. His cock vibrated against her most sensitive flesh, the ridged mounds at its base throbbing with a maddening pulse designed to stimulate, to drive her higher until thought itself burnedaway.

Every pulse sent a new shockwave tearing through her, her inner muscles clenching uncontrollably around him, desperate and greedy for more. The relentless vibration scraped her nerves raw and sweet, her body trembling violently as she surrendered to the overwhelming pleasure he wrought insideher.

He held himself still for a fraction of a heartbeat, his jaw grinding as he fought for restraint, his forehead pressed tight against hers, their breath mingling in shattered, broken gasps. His body shook with the effort to remain gentle—but the bond between them had shattered civility.

When he surged forward again, she felt it—the slow, ominous swell of the knot beginning to build at the base of his shaft, locking him deeper, tying him to her in a way no one or nothing could undo. The vibrating mounds pulsed harder against her slick walls, driving sharp, exquisite shocks through her core with every shuddering heartbeat, until she was gasping, writhing, unable to escape the relentless pleasure he tore fromher.

“Iwill not hurt you,” he rasped against herear.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, dragging him deeper, her entire body straining toward him, welcoming him, needinghim.

“You won’t,” she whispered, and it was the truth.

With a low growl, Tor’Vek began to move—slow at first, almost gentle, each thrust careful and controlled, as if he was terrified of breaking her. But it wasn’t enough. The bond between them demandedmore.

He surged deeper, harder, his control unraveling as Anya met him thrust for thrust, her own body desperate for the devastating fullness of him. Her nails raked down his back, and he snarled against her throat, his teeth scraping lightly over herskin.

“Mine,” he growled again, the word a vow, abranding.

She felt it, deep in her bones. Felt it in every savage, reverent touch, every desperatekiss.

When she shattered beneath him, Tor’Vek followed instantly, roaring her name as he slammed deep, his knot swelling, locking them together in a primal, unbreakable hold. The vibrating mounds on his cock throbbed in tandem with their bond, sending waves of pleasure crashing through her until she was sobbing his name, lost in him, with him, utterly claimed. Their bond flared white-hot and endless, binding them in a connection deeper than flesh, beyond logic, beyond any force in the universe.

They collapsed together, tangled and shaking, the aftershocks rippling through their bodies, through their bond, which now hummed quietly between them—out of sync but achingly close, their rhythms struggling to find true accord. Anya could hear every frantic beat of his heart, feel every trembling breath he took, the sensory flood overwhelming her until there was no separation between her pulse and hisneed.

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