Startling Roni, he suddenly withdrew his cock. “What the—” She gasped as two long fingers pushed inside her. “What’re you doing?” Then one of those fingers slid to the puckered hole at the back, circling it teasingly.

“Has anyone taken you here?”

“No. And neither will you.”

He chuckled. “Oh, yes I will.” He gently pushed his finger inside, and she bucked, hissing. “Don’t pretend you don’t want it. You’ve thought about it, imagined it.” His pretty little wolf was too inquisitive to not wonder about it. He pulled his finger out of her ass and slowly thrust it back inside.

Okay, she could concede that she was curious. And she could concede that, surprisingly, the sensation was . . . nice. It hurt, but there was a bite of pleasure to it. After a few more thrusts, she started to relax around his finger. But then a second finger probed, and she tensed.

“Ssh, it’s okay. You can’t take my cock there just yet. We need to stretch you first.”

“You’re too big.” How lucky was she to be able to say those words and mean them?

“You’re my mate. You were made to take me—anywhere and everywhere.” He repeatedly thrust two fingers in and out of her ass while licking over his claiming mark. She was soon moaning and squirming, so he added a third finger. He’d expected her to tense again, but she didn’t. “That’s it, sweetheart.” He gently slid three fingers in and out, until she began pushing back to meet them. “I think you’re ready for me.”

As Roni felt the thick, round head of his cock press against her ass, she did her best not to tense. Instead, she pushed out as he began to very slowly sink inside her. It felt like . . . she couldn’t describe it. It was a combination of pleasure, pain, and pressure as he fed her inch after inch of his cock, stretching and filling her. “It hurts,” she rasped, though she wasn’t complaining.

Marcus paused and kissed her shoulder. “Shh, you’re doing so well.” Again, he pushed forward. Fuck, the feel of her, the sight of his cock disappearing into her ass, those frustrated moans she made . . . it was a shock that he hadn’t come already. Once he was finally fully sheathed, Marcus groaned. “Fuck, you’re tight.” Blanketing her back, he spoke into her ear. “You okay?” Through their link, he could feel that she was fine, but he wanted the words.

She nodded once, panting. “I’m okay.”

Cupping her ass, Marcus slowly withdrew until just the head was inside her. Then he smoothly drove back in, seating himself to the balls. “You know I love your ass. It’s the tightest, sweetest ass. And it’s all mine.” Again and again, he slowly thrust in and out. “Feel good? More?” At her moan of assent, he upped his pace a little and hardened his thrusts. She reared back to counter each one. “That’s it, take it.”

“Harder.”

Growling, Marcus locked his teeth on her nape and began punching his cock in and out of her, giving her exactly what she wanted. Every whimper and moan spurred him on, drove him further and further to the edge of his control until he was slamming into her. She groaned his name—it was a sound of total frustration, and he knew she was close.

Sliding one hand underneath her, he pumped two fingers into her pussy. “Give it to me, Roni. Come.” He sank his teeth into her nape deep enough to draw blood and growled as her ass tightened around him. He drove himself inside one last time and held still, pulsing deep inside his mate—claiming her all over again.

Feeling the force of both her climax and his, Roni screamed. Tremors shook her entire body as pure and utter bliss whipped through her. It was so good, it almost hurt. When her climax finally eased off, she slumped onto the mattress, and a big, solid body folded over hers. Minutes or hours later, he disappeared from the bed and came back with a wet cloth. Without moving her, he cleaned her up and then blanketed her body once again, pressing kisses to her spine.

It was then, while she was still happily floating on that post-climax cloud, that her wolf snapped her teeth at her. Not in anger. The wolf wanted her attention. She was . . . gloating, and she was annoyed with Roni for missing what she had so easily sensed. “Our scents have mixed.”

“I know.” He’d noticed it the second his brain had switched back on . . . which had been somewhere between rising from the bed and cleaning himself up in the bathroom. Like his wolf, he was reveling in the whole thing. It meant that their mating bond was advancing, which was amazing in and of itself. It also meant that shifters would know Roni was mated the very second they scented her. It massively appealed to the possessive streak in him.

“What caused it?” From what she knew, it took certain steps to make the bond advance.

“Do you see any sense whatsoever in mating ceremonies?”

“None at all.”

“But you went through with ours. Why?” He already knew the answer.

A small shrug. “Because I thought it was important to you.”

“It was very important to me. For you, parties and being the center of attention is a nightmare. But you did it for me.” If she understood why, he wasn’t sure. Marcus kissed the back of her shoulder. “I’ve never submitted to anything or anyone in my life. But I did it for you.” He hadn’t done it quietly or easily, but he’d done it. Because it was Roni. There wasn’t anything—big or small—that he wouldn’t do for her.

“I love you, Roni. I know you’ll find it hard to believe, because you have this stupid idea that there isn’t anything about you worth loving, that you’re nothing but annoying and awkward. You don’t see what you mean to the people who really know you. You don’t see what you mean to me. So I’m telling you. Because to hold the words in . . . it’s just stupid and unfair.”

He pressed a long kiss between her shoulder blades before continuing. “I don’t think I’ll ever be someone who’s upfront about what I’m really feeling. But I don’t want to be that way with you. I don’t want you to ever wonder how much you matter to me. That place where you wonder if someone who you love loves you back . . . it’s not a nice place to be. It would be selfish and gutless to let the feelings that run up and down the mating link do all the talking for me.” He rested his forehead on her back. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”