Page 28 of Fourth

The Mating Flame pulsed bright against her collarbone, brushing against his chest with every breath. It wasn’t just light. It was heat. It burned between them, driving deeper than instinct, deeper than blood. Each flicker of that glow pulsed with his heartbeat, matching him rhythm for rhythm.

Her legs locked tighter around him. Her fingers tangled in his hair, yanking his head back until their eyesmet.

Maya wasn’t just taking him. She was claiming him rightback.

Riv’En’s breath shuddered. His hands slid under her thighs, lifting her higher, angling her perfectly as he drove into her again. Her entire body arched, the Mating Flame blazing bright enough to light the clearing aroundthem.

Her mark called to him, and Riv’En answered.

His mouth found the glowing flame, teeth scraping over the pulse of light. He didn’t bite. Not yet. But the urge to seal it, to finish what had started, roared in his blood.

Maya’s body writhed beneath him, caught in the same storm. Her head fell back, mouth open in a shriek that hit him like a physicalblow.

He was losing himself inher.

Riv’En’s pace turned punishing, every stroke a brutal claim. He relished every squeeze of her inner muscles around him, her body slick and impossibly tight as he drove into her with relentless force. He slammed forward again and again, the sound of skin meeting skin sharp in his ears, layered with the primal cries spilling from Maya’s throat.

She clenched harder around him with each thrust, the ridged mounds along his shaft dragging over her sensitive walls, sending shudders through her body that made her jerk up to meet him stroke for stroke. Her breath came in sharp, irregular gasps against his ear, her entire frame trembling beneath him, caught between wild surrender and overwhelming pleasure.

When her body tightened, clenching down around him, Riv’En lost the last thread of focus. His teeth sank into her mark, sealing the bond in one final, violent moment as his release tore through him and his knot locked her againsthim.

They fell together, trapped in heat and light and the intense pulse of the bond burning between them, inevitable and absolute.

But it wasn’t over.

Riv’En didn’t move away. Couldn’t, thanks to the knot. It locked him in place, not just as a physical hold, but as something older than training, deeper than discipline. His body had movedon a primitive need, but now that the knot held them both, he was fully aware. Aware of the way her body tightened around him, how the pulse of the bond vibrated through both of them like a second heartbeat. It wasn’t just desire anymore. It was a choice sealed in muscle and heat and light.

His chest ached with it. Not pain. Possession. Bond. His arms locked around her, holding her close as her body trembled through the aftershocks. Her skin shivered beneath his hands, muscles twitching in tight, involuntary pulses. Her breath stuttered, wild and broken, against hisneck.

The pulse of her Mating Flame still burned hot against his chest. The bond wasn’t just a brand. It was a living thing now, wrapping through every inch of his body, rewriting the cadence of his senses.

And still, he wasn’tdone.

Riv’En shifted again, slow but steady, his cock still thick and hard inside her. The bond didn’t just heighten his craving. It fed it. Made it impossible to stop. The pulse built again already, her body clenching around him in response.

Her eyes opened, dazed and bright, locking onto his with unguardedneed.

“Again?” she whispered, voice jagged. “Riv’En?”

Riv’En froze, suddenly aware she was pronouncing his name correctly. Because of the bond? He didn’t know, but it gave him immense satisfaction. Then, he just moved.

This time slower. This time deeper.

His hands braced against the grass beside her head, his entire bulk caging her in without crushing. Every thrust now was a slow, grinding drag, filling her completely before pulling backjust enough to make her tremble. Each movement forced her body to react—aquiver along her inner walls, asharp, wet clench that dragged heat up his spine.

Her slickness coated him, making each push-glide deeper, smoother, but never losing that tight, eager grip around him. It wasn’t only the heat of her body or the fierce friction. It was the pulse of connection, the constant tight grip that made each stroke sharper, feeding that deep drive insidehim.

It was the living rhythm of the bond now wrapped through them both. She trembled beneath him, every slow retreat making her whimper, every return making her shudder and gasp, tightening herself around him as though she couldn’t bear even the smallest distance betweenthem.

She released her hold on the grass and her hands slid up his chest instead, fingers tracing along the hard lines of muscle with unhurried pressure. Every drag of her touch left molten heat in its wake. It wasn’t just contact, it was connection, the quiet claiming in each movement.

As her hand shifted higher, aspark of something deeper clenched low in his chest. This wasn’t about dominance anymore. It was about her choosing him back, about Maya linking them in a way nothing else had. Then she cupped his face, pulling him down into a kiss that was nothing like the frantic pace of before. It was deep, searching, the kind of kiss that made his chest tighten and his body slow for a single, uneven breath before reflex took hold again.

She continued to hold him, one hand cupping his jaw, the other sliding down to rest over his chest, fingers splayed wide as if she could absorb the steady rhythm of his heart beneath her palm. Her touch wasn’t frantic anymore. It was steady, certain. Anchoring him as much as he anchored her. The bondshimmered hot and alive between them, crackling under her skin, and still she kept him close. Like she wasn’t just holding on fornow.

She was holding on for always.

The Mating Flame pulsed in steady rhythm with every movement, light brightening then fading like a heartbeat caught in sync with their bodies. Riv’En felt it as much as he saw it, asteady pulse that wasn’t just hers. It was histoo.

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