Page 86 of Nansar
"I love you," I said, the words emerging rough and unpracticed, like a language I'd forgotten how to speak. But they were true—truer than anything I'd said in years. "I've loved you since the moment you looked at me without fear. Since you trusted me when you had no reason to. Since you made me want to be worthy of that trust."
Her smile bloomed like dawn breaking over a dark horizon, tears catching the light. "Then stop trying to push me away."
"I don't know how to do this," I admitted, vulnerability scraping my voice raw. "How to be... this. With you."
"We'll figure it out together." She rose on her toes, closing the distance between us until her breath ghosted across my lips, warm and impossibly sweet. "That's what mates do, right?"
"Yes," I breathed, my hands finally—finally—reaching for her, drawing her into me like she was gravity itself. "That's what mates do."
And then I kissed her.
This wasn't like before. This was a promise written in the language of touch. A claiming. A threshold crossed.
She melted into me, her body finding every hollow and plane of mine like we were pieces of the same whole. Her arms wound around my neck as I pulled her closer, desperate to eliminate even the whisper of space between us, needing the proof of her solidity, her reality, her presence.
That she was here. That she was mine.
And somehow, impossibly, I was hers.
When we finally broke apart, both gasping, she looked up at me with eyes darkened by desire and something that ran deeper—love, trust, acceptance of all my jagged edges.
"I almost lost you," she whispered, her voice fracturing. "When I saw Declan shoot you—when I thought—" The words died in her throat.
"I'm here," I murmured, pressing my forehead to hers, drawing her scent deep into my lungs where it could anchor me. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise me." Her fingers dug into my shoulders with desperate strength. "Promise me you won't leave me."
"I promise." I kissed her again, this time with reverence, like she was something sacred. "You're stuck with me, Chloe. For as long as you'll have me."
"Forever, then." She pulled back just enough to capture my gaze. "I want forever."
"Forever," I agreed, the word transforming into an oath.
She pulled me down into a kiss that blazed with hunger and demand. I responded with matching intensity, years of isolation and loneliness crumbling like ancient walls. My hands found her waist, pulling her against me as her fingers tangled in my hair, tugging in a way that sent lightning cascading down my spine.
"I need you," she whispered against my mouth, the words igniting fire in my blood. "I need to feel you, to know you're really here."
"I'm here," I promised, guiding her backward toward the bed. "I'm yours."
Her hands were already working at our clothes with urgency that mirrored my own, fingers fumbling with fastenings and fabric. I helped her, desperate to eliminate every barrier, to feel nothing but her skin against mine. When we were finally bare, I paused, drinking in the sight of her—committing every curve and shadow and soft line to permanent memory, etching her into my soul where nothing could ever erase her.
"You're beautiful," I breathed, my voice rough with wonder. She was perfection. Mine. "So beautiful, my mate."
My eyes traced over her naked body hungrily—the swell of her breasts with their tight, peaked nipples, the soft curve of her belly, the glistening wetness between her thighs that told me exactly how much she wanted this. Wanted me. I could see her cunt, pink and swollen and slick with arousal, and the sight made my cock throb painfully.
She reached for me, drawing me down onto the bed, her body warm and yielding and absolutely right beneath mine, fitting against me like the answer to a question I'd been asking my entire life. "Show me. Show me I'm yours."
I kissed her deeply, pouring everything I felt into it. All my love, my devotion, my desperate gratitude that she'd chosen me despite all my flaws and failures and broken pieces. That she'd seen something worth saving buried beneath all the damage, all the blood on my hands, all the terrible things I'd done. My hands explored her body, tracing every curve, every dip and valley, every place that made her gasp and arch into my touch, every sensitive spot that drew those beautiful sounds from her throat, committing it all to memory so I'd neverforget this moment, never forget the gift she was giving me. The softness of her skin beneath my calloused fingers felt like a miracle—proof that something as gentle and pure as her could exist in a universe I'd seen be so cruel and unforgiving.
"Nansar," she moaned, her nails raking down my back, leaving trails of fire in their wake. "Please. I need you. I need you so much it hurts."
My hand slid between her thighs, fingers parting her slick folds, and I groaned at how wet she was, how ready. I circled her clit with my thumb while two fingers pushed inside her tight heat, feeling her clench around me. She was so fucking wet, her arousal coating my fingers, dripping down my palm.
I positioned myself at her entrance, the thick head of my cock nudging against her slick opening, meeting her eyes, needing her to see the truth of what this meant, the gravity and weight of this moment. Her pupils were dilated, her breathing rapid, her lips swollen from our kisses. She had never looked more beautiful, more vulnerable, more trusting. The magnitude of that trust nearly broke me.
We'd been together before—shared pleasure, shared our bodies in moments of passion and desperate need. But this was different. This wasn't just physical need or the seeking of comfort in uncertain times. This was a claiming. A binding. A covenant written in flesh and sealed with devotion. This was the moment that would tie our souls together in a way that could never be undone, in a way that transcended species, transcended logic, transcended every boundary that should have kept us apart.
After this, she wouldn't just be the female I loved—she'd be my mate. Mine to protect, mine to cherish, mine to stand beside for whatever time we had left in this universe, however long or short that might be. And I would be hers, completely and irrevocably, bound to her in ways that transcended mere wordsor vows. My soul would recognize hers across any distance, through any trial, in any lifetime.
