What he hadn’t expected was the way his wolf had risen and refused to back down. He needed to claim her. Being separated when she was in such an emotional state had pushed him to the breaking point. The wolf had let the man handle it for a week, but now it was time to let the man know he wasn’t human and his mate was unclaimed.

Claimed, he could protect her better. Claimed, he’d have a tie to her that would enable him to soothe, comfort and defend. He knew she’d had a lot to manage in the last week. Knew the bond would add more to that list. And yet, he also knew the thing between them was real. Knew the bond would make things better. Not totally, she had a lot of grieving in her future, he understood that too.

After he’d prowled the grounds and before the cops got called due to a man hanging around the area, he headed back to his car to wait for her to wake up. He wanted her to get as much rest as she could.

He did some work and tried to not look up every two minutes toward the building where her apartment was. And like magick—he supposed it was magick of sorts—he knew when she’d woken up. Even without the bond he knew it. He got out and walked to her door, knocking after he’d taken a deep breath to try to gain some control.

She shuffled into her kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She’d need to call Josh in a bit, let him know she was awake and also that she’d missed him. Just hearing his voice would make her feel better.

Being back in Roseburg, even after that short time in Portland, had made everything far more clear. Now that Allie was gone, she had nothing holding her in town and everything beckoning her to Portland.

What she had now, well it wasn’t logical really, though she had known him a very long time. She could tell herself it couldn’t possibly be love. And she could tell herself that in the face of the knowledge that she did love him. But what would be served?

Allie would have told her to shut up and accept it like the gift it was. Sometimes you just knew things. Another thing she knew was that his wolf chafed at the inability to claim her. Gina had broken down and told her how difficult it was for any male to not seal a mate bond, especially when they were living with and having sex and intimacy with their mate. She didn’t want that for him. Not any longer. She wanted him to be able to take that step with her.

They’d talk about it when she got back to Portland.

She peeked into her fridge and pulled out a yogurt and then heard the knock on her door. With a sigh, she headed over. She’d slept in her sweats and a T-shirt so she was relatively decent.

One look through the peephole had her turning off the alarm and yanking the door open to find Josh on her doorstep. Joy filled her at the sight of him.

She smiled but then noted his eyes. Holy shit, his wolf was right there at the surface. She’d seen him change, knew that look.

“I need you,” he said in a low growl.

She knew without a doubt that if she let him in he’d claim her right then and there. There was no turning back from this moment. If she said no, he’d go and eventually find someone else.

But she didn’t want that. She wanted to be his all the way. Damn everything else. This was a gift and she had no intention of letting that go.

She stepped aside, and he came in, kicking the door closed, locking it and pulling the security chain. She set the alarm again, her gaze not leaving him as he circled her like prey.

“I’d ask if you were okay but I know you’re not. And I’m sorry. Sorry for all you’ve lost.”

“You came to me.”

He stepped close and pulled her to him, his arms sliding around her and making her feel as if she’d truly come home. Her body to his, his scent in her nose, his heartbeat against her cheek.

“I will always come to you. Always. Do you accept that? Accept me and what I am? What we are? I know I said I’d wait as long as you needed, but holy shit I need you so much right now it’s sort of scary. My wolf is out of patience.”

She smiled and pulled back, taking his hand and leading him to her bedroom, turning off the coffeemaker as she passed.

He paused and took a deep breath once he’d entered the room. “Smells like you in here.”

She smiled. “I should hope so. Now it’ll smell like you too.”

He held out a hand and she took it. “Come here. You’re all sleep warm. Sad though. I’m sorry.” He brushed the hair away from her face.

She shrugged. “You’re here. So I’m a little bit less sad.”

He pulled her shirt up over her head and hummed, running his hands all over her skin, bending his head to take her mouth. She opened to him immediately, sucking his tongue, delighting in the way he pulled her to him tighter. He kissed down her neck, over her shoulder and then shoved her sweats down so she could step out of them.

When she opened her eyes, he was already on his way to naked, and she frowned a moment before deciding it was okay that she hadn’t seen him start to get undressed because that’s how she wanted him anyway.

She kissed across his chest, licking over his skin as she got his jeans undone and halfway down his thighs. “Off.”

“Impatient.”

But she heard his wolf in his voice, and she knew she wasn’t the only one impatient.

“In me,” she spoke against his mouth as he moved in for another kiss.

“First things first. I’m going to lick your pussy until you come. Get you nice and wet. Relax you a little and then I’m going to fuck you.”

She swallowed hard and fisted him, pumping up and down, smearing her thumb through the bead of precome at the slit. She licked it, and he growled, pushing her to her back on the bed, and settled in between her thighs. “Wait on that. I don’t want to be right on the edge before I even get inside you naked the first time.”

He went straight for her pussy, and she had no complaints, though she didn’t have his cock in her hand any longer. She arched, rolling her hips as he slid his tongue up and into her over and over before surging to her clit, moving his tongue and lips back and forth across it, sending her to the edge immediately.

So good. Damn he was so good at this. Fast or slow, he knew her body and did all the things she liked. Did them hard and soft, gently and not so gently, until her climax began to settle in. She dug her heels into the bed, her hips churning against his mouth as she tugged his hair, hard, to keep him exactly there. He hummed, and that vibration was the last little bit she needed before she fell over and orgasm consumed her as he kept devastating her with that mouth of his.

A smaller aftershock orgasm stole through her, leaving her boneless, and then he moved, looming over her, his mouth on hers, her taste on his lips, and it stole her breath.

He brushed the head of his cock against her, through the heated slick of her cunt, and snarled. So. Good. With a condom it had been good, but this? This was exquisite sensation. Inferno hot and so wet he slid in, easy at first but then she gripped him tight.

He paused as his heart beat in his cock for long moments. Throb-throb-throb. She tightened around him and he shook his head. “Careful there, beautiful. I’m so very close, and I want your cunt around me for a while before I blow.”

He thrust all the way in and sloooowly retreated. Over and over as it became nearly hypnotic, that slow and deep fucking. She drew her knees up to his sides, getting him even deeper. He dropped down to lick over her nipples, taking in her taste.

His woman.

His mate.

His.

Her hands roamed over his shoulders, nails digging in, urging him on. The prick of pain shot through him as it did when she lost the veneer on her control and her claws came out.

“I want you to mark me again,” she whispered, and he groaned as he skittered even closer to climax at the sound of those words.