The music continued to play as Dom took her hand and led her toward his bedroom. More candles waited there, with rose petals scattered across the dark comforter.
“They even decorated the bedroom.” Valeria laughed, pulling him down for a deeper kiss.
This felt different from every other time they’d been together. The desperation was gone, replaced by something deeper and more sacred. Dom undressed her slowly, reverently, pressing kisses to every inch of skin as it was revealed. His hands were gentle but sure, worshipping her body like something precious.
“You’re magnificent,” he whispered against her neck, making her shiver. “I’m the luckiest wolf alive.”
She explored his body, memorizing the feel of his muscles under her palms, the way he responded to her touch. They took their time, savoring each caress, building the connection between them until the air felt electric with anticipation.
Dom’s hands slid down to her waist, gripping firmly. In one smooth motion, he lifted her off her feet. She gasped, wrapping her arms around his neck as he carried her across the room. He laid her gently on the bed. When he climbed on top of her, he braced himself on his forearms, his body hovering just above hers.
He kissed his way down her body, his mouth hot against her skin. When he reached her breasts, he circled each nipple with his tongue before sucking hard enough to make her arch beneath him.
“My perfect mate. I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to give you more pleasure than you can stand.”
Valeria’s hands fisted in his hair as he continued his journey downward, pressing kisses to her ribs, her stomach, the sensitive spot just below her navel that made her shiver. He settled between her thighs, his hands gripping her hips to hold her exactly where he wanted her.
When his tongue first touched her, Valeria cried out at the intense sensation. He alternated between broad strokes and focused attention on her clit that had her climbing toward orgasm embarrassingly fast.
“You taste so fucking good,” he groaned against her, the vibration sending shockwaves through her system. “I could do this for hours. Make you come over and over until you can’t remember anything but my name.”
His words combined with the relentless pleasure of his mouth had her teetering on the edge. When he captured her hands and pinned them to the mattress while he continued his assault, the display of strength and control pushed her over.
Valeria came with a broken cry, her body convulsing as waves of pleasure crashed through her. “That’s my good girl,” he praised, kissing his way back up her body. “Coming so beautifully for me.”
When he positioned himself at her entrance, his expression was raw with emotion. “I love you,” he said, his voice breakingslightly. “I love you so much it terrifies me. I need you to be mine, Valeria. I need to know you’re never going to leave.”
The vulnerability in his voice made her chest tight. This powerful alpha, this man who’d faced down professional killers to protect her, was laying his heart bare.
“I’m yours,” she whispered, reaching up to cup his face. “I’ll always be yours.”
He entered her slowly, inch by careful inch, his eyes never leaving hers. “You feel like home,” he breathed, his voice shaking with emotion. “Like everything I never knew I was missing.”
Valeria moaned at the sensation of being filled so completely, so perfectly. This was what her bear had been craving. The weight of her mate above her, inside her, claiming her completely.
“I love how strong you are,” she gasped as he began to move with deep, measured strokes. “I love how you protect me, how you make me feel safe. I want to be yours.”
Dom’s control faltered at her words, his rhythm becoming more urgent. “Mine,” he growled, his hands framing her face. “You’re mine, and I’m never letting you go.”
“Yes,” she breathed, meeting his thrusts with her own.
Valeria could feel her fangs elongating as her bear prepared for the permanent bond, and she saw Dom’s canines sharpen in response.
“I need to bite you,” he said, his voice desperate with longing.
“Please,” she whispered, tilting her head to expose her throat. “I need your mark. I need to be yours forever.”
When they struck simultaneously, his fangs sank deep into her neck while hers found his shoulder, the claiming venom flowed between them. The pleasure was overwhelming, but underneath it was something even more powerful: the absolute certainty that they belonged together, that this bond would last for the rest of their lives.
The world dissolved around them. She was floating in starlit space with Dom, their essences twining together in streams of light. The physical bedroom vanished, replaced by an infinite expanse of deep black space scattered with brilliant stars and swirling nebulae of incredible beauty.
Valeria found herself weightless, drifting in cosmic space, but she could see Dom clearly across the starlit plane, his form outlined in brilliant silver against the velvet-black horizon. Galaxies swirled in slow, eternal spirals high above them, constellations pulsing softly as though exhaling beams of light around them.
All of Dom’s memories and secrets surged into her mind in a breathtaking rush—his childhood loneliness, his military service, his desperate search for belonging, his fierce protective instincts. At the same time, she experienced the intimate immersion of her own life stories flowing into him, her struggles with family expectations, her determination to prove herself, her deep need to be valued for who she truly was.
Dom took her hand, and his voice rang through her psyche without words:I will always protect our bond. I will always protect you.
Her entire being responded. She felt her bear spirit roar awake inside her chest. Valeria’s acceptance exploded like a supernova, so bright she thought it might fill this cosmic realm entirely. Sheoffered him her complete trust, her total surrender, and Dom’s heart echoed back that devotion, weaving them into one another with threads of starlight.
