Page 96 of An Unending Claim

Her legs were splayed out on either side of mine and I carefully maneuvered each one back so she was basically lying against my thighs. My thrusts had slowed and become almost lazy while I positioned her. I wanted to be sure we kept any pressure off her baby bump. When her legs were where I wanted them, I captured her wrists and shackled them in my hands behind her back. I pulled them enough to have her back bowed, but not cause her pain.

I punched my hips up to see how she reacted and was satisfied when she shuddered and cried out. Incrementally, I sped up until I was fucking her hard and fast and she was shaking with the need to come.

“Nate! Oh, shit, right there! Yes! Yes!”

“That’s the spot, baby?” I grunted.

“Fuck, yes! Don’t stop!” she shouted.

“Never.”

I used one hand to keep her arms behind her and slid the other over her hip and down to her pussy. My fingers found her bundle of nerves and I manipulated it until she exploded around me and her inner muscles nearly sucked my orgasm from me. But in order to complete the fourth stage, she needed to be facing me. I shored up my strength and worked her through her orgasm, but before she could come off the high, I lifted her off of me and flipped us so I was hovering over her, then drove back in. “One more, baby,” I rasped.

“But Nate,” she whimpered, “I can’t.”

“Just one, baby, then we’ll belong to each other completely.”

My words were what she needed to hear because she wrapped herself around me and surged up to meet my every downward thrust. We spiraled up and were hovering at the edge when I looked deep into her passion-glazed eyes. “I love you, Peyton.”

“Love you, too, Nathan,” she replied, her tone breathless and her eyes shining with happiness.

“Together,” I reminded her and she nodded.

Keeping our gazes locked, I drove in a few more times before we fell over the edge. Instead of crying out in passion, we bit each other simultaneously.

I couldn’t imagine a more perfect moment. The bliss that eclipsed me, body and soul, was pure and bright. With our minds entirely open, we were immersed in not only our own rapture, but in the other’s as well. It was… perfect. My wolf howled, shouting his satisfaction at fully owning his mate, and I felt the same bliss and possessiveness effervescing from Peyton’s panther.

But the most incredible part of completing the final stage of our bond was knowing that I would have Peyton as a part of me for eternity. We were almost one. And I had no doubt that when the time was right, that last, final string that bonded us would snap into place.

Fate had paired our souls as perfect mates. But what Peyton had helped me see was that it waschoosingeach other, loving each other, that mattered most.

And I frequently reminded Peyton that I’d fuck up a lot, but no one would ever love her more than I did. It just wasn’t possible.

EPILOGUE

PEYTON

“Ihave to get back to work,” I laughed as I pushed against Nathan’s chest half-heartedly.

“Your lunch break isn’t over and I’m still hungry,” he growled before nipping my claiming mark with his fangs.

I laughed, then moaned when he skimmed his tongue along a particularly sensitive part of my neck, causing me to drop my head back to give him better access. “You had me for breakfast.”

His hands caressed my swollen belly before gliding around to cup my ass, then he yanked me forward, settling my center directly over the hard bulge threatening to burst through the zipper of his jeans. “Baby, you know I’m always hungry for you.”

True.

After Nathan and I completed our mating, the driving need to fuck did back off, but not nearly as much as I’d expected. We still had trouble keeping our hands to ourselves and I blamed my pregnancy hormones. I only had three weeks to go and it felt like my libido was in overdrive. However, I had a heavy suspicion that it would always be like this between us—especially after Beth told me that she and Michael were no better, just more experienced at hiding it.

I loved the thought that Nathan and I would want each other just as much in a thousand years as we did now. Even if it was a little inconvenient at times…like when people interrupted us just as things were getting good.

“Alpha.”

Nathan sighed and buried his face in my neck while I twisted my head to see Asher walking into our home office, despite the closed door.

“Asher,” Nathan growled after raising his head to scowl at his enforcer. “First, if my door is closed, you stay the fuck out until I give you permission to enter. Second, I’m positive I told you to give me twenty minutes when you texted me five minutes ago.”

Unrepentant, Asher stalked over to the seating area and plopped down on the couch. “It’s important. I tried to tell you that through our link, but you shut me out.”