My mate giggles so hard she snorts as she takes the second staircase, her marking dancing across the open back of her strapless mating ceremony dress, the phoenix and dragon practically smiling at me, taunting me the same way my beloved is.
She looks absolutely breathtaking, my Josephine. Gorgeous everyday but even more so knowing that she is completely, undisputedly mine in all ways.
Some of Posey's curls have come loose from the vintage style knot in her hair, the chestnut brown wisps gently caressing her neck and shoulders, barely brushing over my mark on her throat.
She looks back at me, a wicked gleam in her vibrant emerald eyes, a smile I'll never deserve but love all the same directed my way and it grows as I undo my tie and the first few buttons of my shirt.
"You're not running, my perfect mate." I grin as I reach up and take my hair out of the strip of leather holding it in place. "I believe I gave you a command, one you'll regret disobeying."
Posey giggles again, moves faster up the stairs but just as she's about to reach our floor, my sweet uncoordinated mate stubs her toe on the top step and nearly goes down to the ground, but not on my watch.
No, I move quicker than that and catch my beloved just before she connects with the marble floor, sweeping her into my arms before any damage is done.
And my Josephine throws her head back and laughs, the musical sound warming my heart and causes it to squeeze in my chest.
"My hero!" Posey laughs as she wraps her arms around my neck. "Whatever would I do without you?"
I growl as she kisses her mark on my neck, running her tongue along the beautiful design signifying how I belong to her yesterday, today, and always. "You would suffer a great many unnecessary injuries, I'm afraid."
She laughs again then bites my earlobe and I practically sway on my feet before I kick open the doors to our wing.
"Between you and your brothers we are going to have to replace those more often than I'd like."
"Don't care," I grunt, my cock straining against my slacks, begging to be freed while my mate sucks on the spot just below my ear, kissing a path along my jaw. "I just want them to shut and lock right now."
"Mmhmm," Posey hums with my bottom lip between her teeth. "I'm so glad we snuck away early."
Today is our mating day, the day we had our ceremony in front of our friends and family, the day we exchanged vows of eternal love alongside my brothers and their mates for all to see.
Hank officiated while he cried, cried tears of joy over his girls but especially his Josephine, my Josephine that looked like an angel on earth.
The ceremony was beautiful, everything we'd all secretly hoped it would be and Hank read the most meaningful passage from the Dragovihk Clan chronicles, one written by our father to our mother on their own mating day.
Needless to say us males cried almost as much as our females did and it is a day that I will keep close to my heart always.
After the ceremony was complete, we sat down to an enormous feast prepared by the females of our clan, a tradition all shifters share and one we happily embraced while we stuffed ourselves full of the most decadent food.
Dancing commenced once we were done, the ceremonial dance of a mated pair followed by one where all mated couples in attendance joined us in celebration of love as a whole.
Thankfully for us, Grace opened the floor for everyone to dance and even brought out her karaoke machine so once they began singing terrible covers of modern hits, Posey and I slipped away to consummate our mating properly in the final act.
I lower my beloved’s feet to the floor of my den, groaning as she slides down the front of my body then growl deep in my throat as she grips either side of my shirt and rips it open, the buttons flying in all directions.
Posey kisses the designs on my chest, the marks of my fallen family as well as the newer ones that speak of our mating and life together, her palms skimming down my stomach until her fingers dip below the waist of my trousers before she tugs my belt loose and unzips my fly.
And like the male crazed by unconditional love and unbridled lust that I am, I shrug out of my shirt while I toe off my shoes and socks just as she drops my pants to my ankles.
Then my beautiful mate, my beloved Josephine, places a kiss right over my heart before she backs up slowly, a seductive grin on her face as her hands move to the zipper of her dress.
Oh gods, and when that silky material falls to the floor, pools around her feet in a pile of ruffles and beading to reveal my love was wearing nothing but a black and red garter belt on her thigh, I growl so deep it's distorted.
"You've been hiding this from me all day?" My eyes flutter closed, nostrils flare as I scent her arousal so heavy in the air. "Hiding that gorgeous naked body and sinful accessory from your mate for twelve hours?"
Posey nods as she steps out of her dress and backs up toward my hoard. "I wanted to surprise you."
My cock grows impossibly harder, juts from my body and points to my mate like a divining rod seeking her wet heat. "Consider me surprised."
Her smile widens, becomes blinding as her eyes drink me in, pupils blown wide when they watch my hand palm my cock, giving it a few slow pumps.
