ELRETH

Elreth was… awed.

Images flashed through her mind, things she'd seen and felt—Aaryn rearing over her, his head thrown back. The tingling, irresistible sensation of his body within hers. The aching hunger within her that he'd sated—and the rush of love, and desire that hadn't abated, even now.

She finally understood why her parents called it making love.

Gar was going to mock her so hard…

She shook off the thought, returning her mind to her gorgeous sexy mate, whose body covered hers as he tried to catch his breath.

Her entire skin quivered in the wake of that overwhelming experience. Her heart pounded until it throbbed in her skin, in her ears. Her hands trembled when she reached for his back and began to stroke it. She felt shy, and yet never less self-conscious. She was… she was whole for the first time.

As they lay there together, their hearts slowing until they beat in time, Elreth found herself close to tears—and yet, brimming with joy. It was a confusing, heady mix. But she didn't want it to end. She'd been absently stroking Aaryn's back, marveling at her own stupidity for not seeing him earlier, not realizing who and what he was to her. For missing out on this for so long.

No wonder everyone had rolled their eyes when she said she couldn't understand why they were all so obsessed with mating. She wanted to slap herself.

Aaryn shifted his weight and pushed himself up to lean on one elbow, staring down at her, smiling. His silver-white hair was mussed and it stuck out in several directions from the many times she'd clawed her fingers through it.

She reached up and combed it back for him with her fingers, twice to get it to lay almost flat, then she let her fingers trail down his jaw, to his neck, to his collarbones, then his broad chest.

She swallowed. Just looking at him, naked and glorious, made her belly coil again.

She traced the lines of his muscles, the small circles of his nipples. The rippling planes of his shoulders. "You're beautiful," she murmured.

Aaryn snorted and leaned his temple on his fist. But she saw him shift as he flexed his muscles for her and she giggled.

Aaryn sucked in. Still inside her, her laughter made her clench around him. Elreth blew out a breath, her heart pattering again from a mixture of embarrassment and joy.

"This is all really… overwhelming," she said quietly, trailing her fingers along the lines of muscle over his ribs.

"Overwhelming good?" he asked, his eyes searching hers.

She stopped playing on his skin and met his gaze. "The very best overwhelming I've ever experienced."

He leaned down to kiss her slowly, softly, then used a finger to stroke a strand of hair back off her forehead.

He was shaking, she realized. "Are you okay?" she asked. She'd assumed because he'd done this before, that to him it wouldn't be a big deal. But he seemed as blown away as she was.

"I've literally never been better," he breathed, staring at her. "I'm just… I'm struggling to believe we're finally here. That this isn't some kind of joke or… I don't know. I keep thinking that tomorrow I'm going to have to get up and go back to my life without you. I have to remind myself that you're mine. Truly mine."

Elreth swallowed the pinch that had appeared in her throat. "You've never had a life without me, Aaryn. I've always loved you."

"Yes, but… this… Elreth, I've been dreaming of this since you were fourteen years old."

She blinked. That meant at least five years, maybe six? He'd seen this for them so long ago?

It hit her then, how easy it would have been for him to give up. How he might have found someone else in that time and decided to pursue them instead. How she might never even have known, had the chance to look at him.

She pulled him in, and he came willingly, covering her with his body, kissing her temple, whispering love and joy. And she clung to him, tears threatening.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" he whispered.

"I just… I just realized that I almost lost you. Almost didn't ever get… this." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Aaryn, I'm so sorry! I was so blind."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "The Creator had a plan. I think… I think if you'd seen me sooner things would have gone really differently, Elreth. You needed to dominate first. You needed to find your place in the people."

"But six years? You could have found someone else… mated… had offspring by now! I can't believe you waited that long for me!"

He braced on both arms, either side of her head, pushing himself up so they could see each other clearly. His hair fell down over his eyes and cheeks, and his shoulders rippled the tendons standing proud as he held up his own weight.

Elreth swallowed for a new reason. But she was still fighting the emotion, the fear of almost losing him. It felt real. Tangible. As if she'd just watched it happen.

But he was shaking his head. "El, there was never anyone else for me. That made waiting… inevitable. It was only hard because I didn't know if you'd ever feel the same. I… I kind of imagined that I'd just pine for you for the rest of my life, to be completely honest."

With a little sigh, she leaned up and kissed him, holding onto his neck and shoulders to get herself high enough, her lips tracing his, her tongue just barely tasting his. It was a kiss of love, not heat, and she shook with it.

She'd almost lost him. Almost never had him.

That strange sensation in her veins, the bond, began to curl and stretch again, but this time instead of making a demand, instead of reaching for him, she felt her heart throb with the presence of him.

When he pressed her back down into the pillow and kissed her deeply, she sighed with relief. He was here. He was really here. And they had forever.

Then he leaned on his elbow again and put his other hand flat between her breasts, feeling her heart race behind her ribs.

"Do you feel that—the bond?" he asked softly.

She nodded. "It's like… it's like I have a piece of you now."

"You do. You always have, truth be told," he said dryly. "But it feels that way to me too… like I carry you with me."

She put her hand to his chest in the same spot, felt the pounding of his heart under his skin—but more.

With her palm flat on his chest, but fingertips pressed in, it was like she felt the shape of him, his heart. His love.

As if she could pull it out and examine it. It was a tangible thing that looped around her own heart and tugged at her.

She blew out a breath.

Then Aaryn's smile grew and his eyebrows went up.

"What? What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"I just remembered, I have a present for you," he said excitedly.

Elreth beamed. "I think you already gave me a present!"

He laughed, but leaned in to kiss her, then pushed himself back up. "Don't move," he said. "Don't move."

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