Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
"No," Teddy growls.
“No, I’m good. Much better.” My legs are tired. That’s a good enough reason to curl into Teddy’s chest. “I want to stay with Teddy.”
He lifts me into his arms, growling, “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“All right,” Matthias nods. “I can take over from here.”
“Good,” Teddy hitches me closer. “I need to get my mate home.”
15
Lana
The aftermath of adrenaline leaves me drowsy, but I wake up when Teddy kicks open the cabin door. My arms wind around his neck as he carries me like a bride into his cabin.
“Is it safe here?” I look around. It feels like a lifetime since I left this cabin. The place already feels like home.
“It’s safe. No more Bentley, no more assassins.” Teddy sets me down on the bed and starts tugging off my hiking boots. I flop back on the bed, feeling scraped and bruised but so happy.
Teddy finishes with my boots and traces a scratch on my calf. “Babygirl, I'm so sorry. I fucked up.”
I rise up to my elbows. “Just hold me. And never do it again.”
“I won’t.” He climbs onto the bed but hesitates. I’m eager to get to the rip-each-others-clothes-off part of the night, but Teddy looks torn up, so I let him talk. “I wish I could go back in time and erase what I said.”
“What’s done is done. No more erasing things.” I tug him to lie by my side, where he belongs. “You were freaking out. It's okay. Just tell me you're freaking out next time, and we’ll deal with it. Together.”
“All right.” He takes my hand and kisses my one unscraped knuckle. “Will you forgive me?”
“You're already forgiven.”
“I should have never treated you that way.”
“You were triggered because of your memories of Tiffany. Darius told me all about it.”
“Fucking Darius. I should’ve told you.”
“It’s okay. You would’ve. In the past few days, we've been through a lot. The whole assassin thing… we never got a chance to talk.”
“Yeah. There's a lot I need to tell you.”
I brace myself, but he cups my face, looking at me with incredible tenderness.
“You're my mate, Lana. That means in all of the universe you're the only one in the world for me. I should have never let you go, Lana, and I never will again. I'm going to be at your side forever.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
“There's more.” He unzips my hoodie. My body goes still, but I'm quivering inside as he tenderly lifts my braids off my shoulders and arranges them around my face.
“Being my mate means we’ll be together, forever,” he says. “My heart belongs to you, and I'm going to show you what you mean to me.” He rests his palm on the side of my neck. “I've talked to my friends, the ones who’ve mated with humans. There’s an instinct shifters have, to mark our mates.” He strokes my shoulder lightly with his thumb. “Tonight I want to mark you. I don't want to waste any more time. My bear doesn't want to leave any doubt in your mind that you're mine.”
Teddy
Lana blinks up at me through her long lashes. I could spend an eternity looking into her beautiful brown eyes.
“Okay. How does it work?”
“I bite you, and it leaves my scent embedded in your skin, so other shifters know you’re mine. It will hurt, but I’ll try to be gentle, and the healing will be quicker than an ordinary wound.”
“I trust you,” she whispers, and it almost brings me to my knees.
“You are perfect for me. I’m going to mark you, but first I’m going to make you feel good.”
“As long as you're not too gentle.” There's a smile in her voice. She pushes herself up to bring her face close to me. I let our lips collide. I kiss her deeply, letting my tongue dart into her sweet mouth. Probing, plundering. I want her to feel me everywhere.
I kiss down her jaw, along the side of her neck. After tugging off her t-shirt and camisole, I push her onto her back and trail kisses across the swell of her breast.
“My gorgeous, gorgeous female,” I murmur.
“Am I?”
“Gorgeous? Hell, yes.”
“I meant your female.”
“You’ve been mine since the moment I caught your scent in the woods. I was just too stupid to realize it until it was almost too late.” I squeeze her breast and flick my tongue over her dark nipple, teasing it into a stiff point.
“Crazy Viking bear.” Her nails score my shoulders through my shirt, so I yank it off, wanting her to mark my skin.
I kiss down her soft belly and unbutton the jean skirt she made–my talented, creative genius. Once it get it off her, I take her panties off with my teeth then push her knees wide to lick into her.
She cries out the moment my tongue touches her core, lifting her hips to meet my face. I trace inside her lips, parting her soft flesh with my tongue, then spearing her with it. I push back the hood of her clitoris and roll my tongue around the little nubbin until it stiffens and engorges for me. Then I gently pull it between my lips to suck the tiny bud.