“None of this was your fault.”
“I should have waited for you to come get me from my parents’.”
His lips firmed. The last few hours had been so terrifying, he vowed not to chastise her for such foolishness, but he had to ask. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”
A sad smile trembled to her lips. “I missed you.”
The simple confession rained over him like a cleansing baptism. He laughed with relief. “I missed you too.”
She scooted over and waved for him to join her on the bed. He could deny her nothing. Sliding beside her, he pulled her close and she nestled into his side.
“I saw my sister-in-law. She’s quite pregnant and beautiful. It got me to thinking that I might like to…” She looked up at him with a shy smile. “It would be nice to have children close in age to my brother’s.”
A possessive need to kiss her crawled through him. Nothing would please him more than to see her body flourish with life and his line continued. “Last night was horrific. Let me at least hold you in one piece before we put your body through any sort of trauma again.”
Her smile wilted. “Oh, Eleazar, I’m so sorry to have put you through that. You must have been terrified.”
“Only of losing you.”
Her arms tightened around him. “Well, I’m here now. Safe with my mate.”
He pressed a kiss to her hair. “Mine.”
She glanced up at him and smiled. “Yours.”
His mouth found hers and traced a slow kiss. Her body softened beneath his touch as he caressed her luscious curves. She nipped at his lips and he growled hungrily. “Frisky little lioness.”
Her nipples puckered as he removed the sheet and kissed a trail down her front. The scent of her arousal called to him, and he groaned with dark desire. “Ah, what you do to me,” he whispered, scooting lower as he licked her curves, sending goosebumps across her belly.
His fingers teased and her body arched, a look of pure temptation on her face. Gone was the skittish little mouse—in its place, the female he loved.
Larissa’s eyes widened, and she shifted into a seated position. “What was that?”
He pressed his lips tight, but it was no use. Her body was a distraction that left his mind vulnerable, but he no longer felt the need to hide his true feelings from her. He trusted her to care for him as endlessly as he would care for her. “I love you, Larissa.”
She blinked rapidly, tears rushing to her eyes as she smiled. “I love you, too.”
He pressed a kiss to her shoulder and nuzzled her throat. “Let me make love to you.”
She shut her eyes and eased back into the pillows. Her entire essence radiated peace and contentment. He kissed lower and smiled against her honeyed flesh as she moaned.
He teased her for some time, licking over her most sensitive peaks and delving his tongue into every secret she hid. There wasn’t a single part of her she could keep from him.
She whimpered, drenched with need and pleading for him to fill her. Dragging his rigid body over hers, he aligned his hard cock with her soft and welcoming sex.
“Please, Eleazar. You’re torturing me.”
His scent filled the room, strong, rich, and heady. Daylight filtered through the windows, bathing them in morning light. Her tapered legs curled around him, pulling him close, and their tongues danced in a fiery kiss of passion that quickly heated to demanding.
He plunged into her heat, burying himself to the hilt. Her body arched, angling him deeper. He thrust hard and, together, they cried out in ecstasy.
Claws scraped over flesh and mouths bit and pulled. Her moans of pleasure echoed his as, together, they wove a tapestry of passion and desire. They reveled in the absolute freedom of their love and he never wanted to let her go—even an eternity would not be enough.
Her body was heaven, and her mind was an endless maze of provocative opinions he could never imagine on his own. His soul entwined so intricately with hers, they would never untangle from each other.
Lacing his fingers with hers, he pushed her hands over her head and buried himself deeply, thrusting hard. He wanted to possess every inch of her being and then some. He wanted to give her all that he was and would ever be.
Looking into her dilated eyes, his vision changed and his fangs extended. She desired a family and he would give her one. Anything she wished for, he would provide.
Her bite punctured his skin and she drank from his vein. His body shuddered with euphoric satisfaction and his seed spilled deep within her womb. Her body clenched around his, milking every ounce of pleasure from his soul.
But he would never run out of joy to share with her. As sure as the sun recreated the dawn for all of eternity, his love would forever grow for his mate.