Colby looked like not hurting himself further was pretty far down on his list of priorities, but he at least nodded.
And when he started moving, he moved slowly.
He slid into her inch by inch, her body opening for him with a kind of hot, slick ecstasy. He was big, and it had been a long time for her, so she had been prepared, subconsciously, for some kind of pinch of pain. But no—this was as easy and sweet as anything she’d ever done. They were made for each other.
When he was fully inside her, he began to rock back and forth, sliding in and out of her. She knew, with a kind of fond humor—and maybe even a kind of weird shifter mate telepathy—that he was managing to take things slowly only by getting himself to treat her as delicate and fragile. And he was definitely doing that. He ran his hands over her as lightly and reverently as if she was some kind of priceless treasure.
The look on his face was like nothing Aria had ever seen before, even from him. She didn’t think it was her imagination that she could feel something happening between them. Something more than even the most loving sex.
It felt...
It felt like their souls were connecting.
Maybe this is what it’s like when someone’s your mate. Maybe this is what it’s like every time.
She clung to his shoulders and raised her hips to meet his thrusts. She could hear herself making a small, uncontrollable gasping sound. It sounded like she was begging him—but all she wanted was more of him, all of him, and she knew, beyond any doubt, that that was what he was giving her.
“I love you,” she said, digging her fingers into his back. “I love you so much.”
“You’re my heart,” Colby said, with a kind of desperate sincerity.
He lowered his head and kissed her so sweetly and fervently that that was what tipped her over into a second orgasm. She cried out against his lips, and he kissed her again.
Through the haze—no, the whirlwind—of pleasure sweeping through her body, she somehow made herself tighten her hold on him, clenching her inner walls tight around his cock. She wanted them to come together, and even more than that, she just wanted this from him. She wanted to feel the rush of him inside her.
And then she did, and she could hear him saying her name, over and over again.
A name that she finally thought actually fit her. The way Colby said it, it really did sound like beautiful music—and it really did sound like he meant her.
13
Colby’s mind—or at least whatever part of it he was left with, after all that—was torn between warring impulses.
Sleep, said the human half of him. Hold her in your arms and get some rest. This has probably been the longest day of her life too.
No, eat, his wolf said, with an insistent growl. Get up, hunt, and provide for your mate. She’s as hungry as you are.
A third part of his mind ignored both of those suggestions and chimed in, Make love to her again.
It was the last suggestion that was honestly the most appealing to him, but despite that, it was his wolf’s advice that he intended to follow. Eli Hebbert was wrong to try to live as some kind of ultra-pure, completely-back-to-nature wolf, but Colby had almost committed the opposite offense. He’d been ignoring his wolf’s needs and opinions for too long. He’d been telling it for years that they didn’t have a pack, didn’t even need a pack, and now that he had Aria, he could see what an idiot he had been.
Sometimes his wolf had some pretty good ideas. And making a late dinner for Aria, who really had to be starving, was one of them.
Does that mean you’re going to stop call
ing me mutt? his wolf said.
Colby was ready to concede that much, and then he realized that there was a weird tone in his wolf’s inner voice.
It sounded disappointed.
“Mutt” is affectionate, Colby said. So no. I do like you, you know. I’m sorry I haven’t been the best at getting you—us—what we need. But I do like you.
His wolf’s tail twitched before it could stop it, and then it put its head on its front paws and gave him a very doggy kind of smirk.
You should, it said. We are one.
Yeah, they were. And he hadn’t always taken the best care of himself. But... he guessed he was part of his pack, too.