Page 137 of Stream Heat
“I want that,” I told him, and it came out raw. “I spend so much time fighting old battles or preparing for the next disaster, I miss… everything else.”
His expression eased, not into a smile, but into something open. “I know. Most people do. It’s not a flaw.”
Something in me loosened. Not because the ache of need was gone, not because of the bond humming at the edge of my awareness, but because he’d given me permission to be messy, imperfect, unarmored.
“I want your bond,” I said, the words clear as glass. “Not to stabilize me. Not because I need it to survive. Because I choose it. I choose you. I’m not running anymore.”
His pupils blew wide, scent spiking richer, still controlled, but edged now with unmistakable Alpha intent. “Then I’ll claim you,” he said, voice steady. “Not because I have to. Because we both want it. A conscious choice.”
He drew me into his lap, every movement unhurried. Skin on skin. His scent deepened around me, warm and grounding, until my instincts sighed into it.
When he finally pushed inside, it was slow, careful, until he was fully seated. He stilled there, forehead against mine, letting our bodies adjust, letting the heat between us settle.
“Feel this,” he murmured. “This connection. Nothing else exists.”
It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, to not move, to not chase friction. To focus only on the solid heat of him inside me, the stillness, the hum of rightness threading between us. My body wanted more, but Malik refused the urgency, keeping us in the moment.
“There’s no goal,” he said, voice soft but anchored. “Nothing to achieve. Just this.”
Minute by minute, I let go of the need to rush. I tracked every micro-shift: the flex of his thighs under me, the slide of his hands up my sides, the warm exhale across my cheek. It built slowly, not like a blaze, but like heat soaking into every layer until I was saturated.
When he began to move, it was in deliberate thrusts, almost slow-motion, making me feel every second. My breath caught, my body shivered, but I held to the pace he set.
“Stay with me,” he reminded me, when pleasure began to crest. “Let it come to you. Don’t chase it.”
I stayed. My fingernails scored his shoulders, his name on my lips breaking into a whimper.
“I know,” he said, never losing his rhythm. “You’re almost there. Let it take you.”
And I did. The release began low and wide, spreading through me in waves until every nerve was lit, the pleasure not sharp or greedy, but whole.
“Yes,” Malik groaned, his own control starting to fray. “That’s it. Don’t miss it.”
His teeth closed over the inside of my elbow, precise, claiming, where the blood ran close to the surface. The bite sent a warm rush through me, triggering another pulse of release that tightened every muscle around him.
The bonds inside me lit up, all the threads snapping into harmony at once. It was so immediate, so right, I wanted to cry out, and maybe I did. The circle was closed, the final piece slotting into place.
When he pulled back, the blood ran lazy and slow, and the world felt cleaner. I was shaking, but not from exhaustion, from connection. I was here. Really, really here.
“Malik,” I whispered.
He knew before I finished. “Yeah. I feel it, too.”
The bond was different from the others but not in a way that fought, it fit. Malik cupped my face, wiped tears I hadn’t even noticed.
“That’s what I give you, Kara. Not just in sex, but always, for the right to live your own life. To have every moment, even the ones that don’t seem important.”
It was the simplest thing I had ever been offered, but the hardest to accept. I swallowed hard, nodded once.
“Thank you,” I said. It was barely enough. I hoped he knew what I meant.
Instead of brushing it off, he pressed his forehead to mine, whispering words so soft only I could hear them. “No. Thank you for seeing me, too, for choosing me for who I really am and not just as a link in a chain.”
And then I felt it, the steady, insistent swell at the base of him. My breath caught. “Malik–”
“Stay with me,” he said again, one hand at my back, the other stroking my hip. “Let it happen.”
The knot pressed deeper, stretching me slowly until it slipped past the last tight resistance and locked inside. The fullness was profound, anchoring us together in a way that made my Omega instincts melt into him entirely.
