Page 26 of Fool's Gold

"And what's stopping you?" I teased, lips brushing wickedly against the throbbing pulse at his throat.

Kaelith shuddered, fingers tightening convulsively on my hips. "We are still in a public place," he muttered. "I would not put on such a depraved display."

"Pity." I nipped at his collarbone, delighting in the way it made his eyes blaze. "I was rather looking forward to seeing how much of this gown you could tear off me with your teeth."

A rumbling chuckle shook his broad chest, the sound vibrating through me in delicious waves. "Insatiable female. Very well, let us retire to more private quarters. For we have a matter of urgency to discuss."

"Oh?" I pulled back just enough to study his expression, searching for any hint of distress. "Is everything all right?"

Kaelith's features softened, his calloused thumb brushing a reverent caress along my cheekbone. "More than alright. I believe you are finally strong enough for the claiming bite."

My breath caught, heart thundering behind my breastbone. After all this time, all these months of waiting and regaining my health...could it truly be happening? I searched his gaze and found only a solemn promise.

"Are you sure?" My fingers drifted to the blue whorls etched into his cheek.

"Arana's scans confirm your body has recovered." He caught my hand, pressing a fervent kiss to my knuckles. "You are hale and whole, my strong resilient mate. And I can no longer deny my overwhelming need to bind you to me utterly."

A breathless laugh escaped me, tears of joy stinging my eyes. "Yes, Kaelith. Yes, I want this more than anything. Claim me, make me yours in every way."

His touch was pure possession as he crushed me against him, claiming my mouth, leaving me weak and dizzy with wanting. When he finally released me, I was trembling, boneless with anticipation.

"Get your pretty dresses," Kaelith rumbled against my lips. "We have both waited far too long for this."

* * *

Kaelith's muscular body moved over mine with an achingly slow rhythm, every glide of his skin against mine sending tendrils of pleasure spiraling through me. His lips trailed hot, open-mouthed kisses along the column of my throat as his hips rolled in a sinuous, maddening grind.

"Gemma..." he rasped against the thundering pulse at the base of my neck. "Are you ready, my mate? Ready to be bound to me utterly?"

Despite the urgent throbbing between my thighs, I sensed the thread of hesitation in his voice. Reaching up, I cradled his face between my palms, staring deep into those blazing crimson depths. "I've never been more ready for anything, Kaelith. Please, don't hold back any longer."

His features tightened with a complex tangle of emotions - longing, hunger, fierce protectiveness. "If this is not what you want, if you have any doubts at all, speak them now. Once the claiming is done, the changes will be irreversible."

"I have no doubts." Arching up, I brushed my lips across the sharp line of his jaw, teasing him, loving his reactions. "Only a need to be yours, in every way."

His arms tightened around me in an unbreakable embrace. "Then you are mine, Gemma. Now and forever."

The words were scarcely out before his weight pinned me to the bed, his hips surging in a deep, claiming thrust that punched the air from my lungs. I cried out, nails scoring down the rigid muscles of his back as shockwaves of pleasure lanced through me.

Kaelith set a brutal pace, each powerful snap of his hips driving me higher. I was drowning in the scents and sensations of him, the silk of his skin gliding against mine, the exquisite stretch and fullness as he took me again and again.

Just when I thought I couldn't bear another moment of delicious torture, his mouth found the juncture of my shoulder and neck. Those lethal fangs grazed my flesh, first a teasing scrape and then piercing deep as his release pulsed inside me.

White-hot ecstasy detonated through my veins, the world shattering into kaleidoscopic shards around me. I heard Kaelith's hoarse shout as if from a vast distance, dimly aware of the strange, burning ache spreading from the bite. Flames licked along every nerve ending, searing and transformative.

Then everything went black.

I drifted in a warm, peaceful oblivion, cradled by the steady thrum of a powerful heartbeat against my cheek. Reality slowly reassembled itself, crystalline shards knitting back together into solid form.

Kaelith's arms enfolded me, his skin like burnished steel beneath my palms. The clean, mineral scent of him filled my senses, overlaid with the intoxicating musk of our mingled arousal.

A soft keen escaped my lips as the bite throbbed, not painful now but deeply satisfying. Like a missing piece clicking into place, a profound sense of completeness settling over me.

"Gemma?" Kaelith's voice was low, worried. "Can you hear me?"

My eyelids fluttered open and the world blazed into hyper-focused clarity, every sight and sound amplified to an almost overwhelming degree. I could see every sculpted ridge of muscle standing out in sharp relief on his chiseled face, hear the steady pulse of his heartbeat like thunder in my ears.

"Gemma?" His brow creased, those compelling crimson eyes searching my face with naked concern.