Page 62 of Fourth

His hands locked around Brotha’s throat. The air shimmered between them, the heat flashing brighter.

The next breath would decide everything.

Riv’En squeezed. Heat pulsed outward from his core, not a controlled flare but a blatant surge, an unleashed reaction. His vision bled white around the edges as Final Flight clawed up through his bones, but instead of consuming him, it funneled outward. Through his arms. Through his hands. Into Brotha.

Brotha’s eyes widened, shock overtaking rage. His skin darkened first, blistering beneath Riv’En’s grip. Then flame erupted from within, abrutal, searing light that turned muscle and bone intoash.

Brotha screamed. His body arched once, alast convulsion, before it collapsed into glowing embers. Smoke curled into the sky, twisting in gradual, elongated spirals. Riv’En watched it rise, his breath releasing in a deep sigh. Not with relief. Not with triumph. But with a quiet finality, as if an onus he had carried for far too long had finally burned away with Brotha.

He stood still for a long moment, lungs dragging in air as thick and acrid as molten metal. His body trembled on the edge of collapse, skin slick with sweat, hair dark with heat, every muscle taut as if caught between fire and frost. His heart hammered against his ribs in a relentless rhythm, but he refusedto fall. This was not surrender. This was a fight carved from the edge ofruin.

He turned toward Maya.

She hadn’t run. Her breath came fast, her cheeks flushed, not just from fear. Her eyes locked onto his, wide and unblinking.

“It is done,” Riv’En spoke, voice rough as stone. His gaze seared into hers, every edge of him still burning with the remnants of Final Flight. “Now,” he added, stepping closer, voice dropping lower, darker, brutal and certain, “I am going to take you, Maya. Until there is no doubt. Until all you want is me inside you, around you. Until you’ll never run again.”

Her body twitched as if to take off again, the primitive part of her brain screaming at her to flee. But she didn’t move. Her feet stayed rooted. The heat in Riv’En’s voice wrapped around her like a tether, holding her fast. And when her eyes lifted to his again, there was nothing left of fear. Onlyneed.

Riv’En closed the remaining distance in a single step. His hands came up, rough and steady, cupping her face, his touch both searing and fortifying. Maya didn’t pull back. Her palms flattened against his chest, the scorch of heat still radiating from hisskin.

Her voice came in a whisper, low and breaking. “Riv’En...”

That was all it took. He caught her mouth with his, the kiss hard, claiming, fierce. It wasn’t sweet. It wasn’t careful. It was the culmination of everything—the bond, the fight, the near-loss. His grip slid down her back, hauling her up against him as her fingers fisted in his hair, pulling him closer still.

Her taste filled him—salt and heat and something uniquely her—and Riv’En knew he wouldn’t stop. Not now. Not until shecarried his mark. Until her scent was layered with his. Until the Mating Flame claimed themboth.

He backed her toward the nearest tree, every step deliberate, pressing her against the rough bark. Maya’s pulse kicked hard against his, her fingers curling tighter in his hair as her back met the trunk. Riv’En didn’t pause. His mouth trailed from her lips to her jaw, to her throat, marking her with each heated kiss. His teeth scraped over her pulse.

Her legs wrapped around him without thought, automatic and hungry. He gripped her thighs, hauling her up, aligning their bodies. Heat radiated off him in waves, searing through them until there was no point in restraint.

Riv’En’s mouth trailed lower, tongue flicking against the hollow of her throat, down to her collarbone, then lower still. He caught one nipple between his lips, drawing it in with exquisite pressure. His tongue circled, tasting her, teasing her, before his teeth grazed lightly over the sensitivepeak.

Maya arched into him, asharp sound escaping her, her hands clenching in his hair. He moved to the other, giving it the same focused attention, sucking gently until her entire body trembled beneath him. His hands framed her hips, steadying her as his mouth worshipped her breasts with single-minded intensity, until her skin flushed hot and her voice caught in hisear.

His hand slid between them, fingers slipping through her slick heat. He found her clit without hesitation, circling it with forceful, unhurried strokes that made her body jerk against him. Maya gasped, her voice catching in his ear, shifting as she pressed harder into his hand, chasing the sensation.

When he finally lined himself up with her, it was not a rush. It was a slow, relentless slide, inch by inch, stretching her around him until there was no space left betweenthem.

Maya cried out, her voice stark, her body clenching aroundhim.

Riv’En’s grip tightened, holding her in place as he drove deeper, claiming her fully. The bond snapped taut between them, every thrust echoing in the link, amplifying sensation until their very blood hummed withit.

Her nails raked down his back, scoring faint red lines as her entire body shuddered beneath him. Riv’En’s mouth dragged across her cheek, hot and relentless, before finding her throat again. His teeth grazed her pulse point, lips sealing over it, sucking gently until her breath hitched. Then he bit—not hard enough to break skin. Not yet. Just enough to make her feel it, to let her know exactly how close she was to being his in every possibleway.

“You belong to me,” he growled against herskin.

“Yes,” she gasped, voice breaking.

Her hands gripped his shoulders, nails dragging across heated skin as if she could brand herself into him. Her legs locked tighter, pulling him deeper, her entire body shivering with need. She wasn’t just holding on, she was wrapping herself around him like a second skin, her body pressed to his in complete surrender. There was nothing else, no thought, no world beyond the two of them entwined in rhythm and flame, bound by heat andbond.

When Maya’s climax hit, it wasn’t quiet. Her cry echoed through the trees, primitive and wild, her body tightening around him in pulsing waves that dragged him deeper with everybeat. Her back arched, head thrown back against the tree, hair tangled and wild as her nails scored down his back one final time. Her voice fractured on his name, shivering with each pulse of release, until her entire frame trembled, clinging to him as though nothing else existed.

Riv’En followed her over the edge, his entire body locking as he bit down—this time for real. His canines sank into her shoulder, pressing through her skin until the pulse of her blood throbbed against his tongue. The heat of her life seared into him, sealing her to him in a way that was deeper than impulse, sharper than pleasure. His grip tightened, holding her as though he could fuse them together from the inside out, every muscle drawn tight with the force of it. His eyes slid shut as the bond snapped into place with undeniable finality, her scent flooding his senses until there was nothing left buther.

At the same instant, Maya’s teeth found him. Her mouth opened in a gasp that turned into a growl, her lips sealing over the base of his neck. Her bite landed hard, canines digging in as though reflex had taken full control of her body. The sharp sting of it shot through him, her breath hot against his skin, and something inside him shifted—deeper than pain, sharper than pleasure. It was recognition. Her fingers clawed at his back, anchoring herself as she sank her teeth in deeper, holding him there, sealing their bond with blood and flame.

The Mating Flame ignited.

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