#Chapter 426 – Cora’s Promise
Cora
I smile up at my mate, but I shake my head a little bit, not…not knowing what to do next. “Do I…,” I say, laughing a little, “just say what you said?”
“You can,” he replies, shrugging one shoulder and smiling back at me. I can feel his happiness vibrating down our bond. “Or, you can say what you want. There are no wrong answers, Cora.”
“Okay,” I say softly, and then I take a moment to consider, sitting up straight and squaring my shoulders.
“I take you, Roger,” I say softly, gazing into his perfect face. “Even though…I never expected you. I take you because you challenge me, and you hold space for me, and because…” I hesitate now, trying to find words for it. But he waits, patient, listening.
“Because you make me feel like the world is a rich and wonderful place worth exploring. And I want to do that I want to see it all, experience it all, at your side. I love you, Roger,” I continue, my eyes starting to line with tears, “because you make me brave.” My voice starts to crack now with my emotion, and he falters a bit, leaning forward, taking my cheek in his palm. I laugh a little, leaning into it but I shake my head, because I’m not finished.
“So, I promise to love you through all of it – through our whole lives, and whatever comes. But with you? I have… just so much faith that it will all be good. I love you, Roger – I am yours, and you are mine, and I think – I think it’s been that way for a long time. It just took us a little longer to figure out.”
He laughs then, and nods to me, and I feel that same golden warmth again, doubled this time, as my own promise wraps around our bond and becomes true, real, solid.
I can feel it now, singing between us, our fated mating bond ringing with our very real acceptance of it. And now the only thing that’s left is the mark.
My wolf turns an eager circle in me, lifting her face to the sky with a deep and eager howl. And Roger’s – I can feel his wolf prowl forward.
He claims me then, my mate reaching across the distance between us like he can’t wait a moment longer to have his body against me. Roger pulls me to him, his arms around me in the instant that his mouth meets mine, kissing me with a rough determination that I very much want, and need.
I again fist my hands in his shirt, turning to pull him on top of me as I lay myself down on the blanket, chills running all through my body as my mouth opens fully to him, as his tongue dips in to press against mine
Roger’s hands are intent now, one pressing me close to him as his breath sharpens, the other sliding to the center of my dress at the back, finding the top of the zipper and dragging it slowly down. His mouth follows the direction of his hand, moving from my lips to my jaw, my neck, and then further down as he presses the wedding gown down away from my body so that it settles on my hips.
“Come back,” I breathe, panting, wanting him again, and my mate complies, bringing his face back to mine and kissing me again as his hand pushes the dress further. I lift my hips, allowing it to slide completely off, to rest in a heap at the edge of the blanket.
A little frantic now with wanting him, my hands shake as they work at the buttons of his shirt. But he just growls and takes his face from mine for a second, tugging the shirt up over his shoulders and tossing it away.
The wind picks up around us, the breeze stiffening as my mate pulls me against the warm skin of his chest, his hand drifting down the naked expanse of my back to take a firm grip on my ass. He groans then, his head turning away almost as if he can’t help it, his whole body clenching with want.
My hands move again, almost of their own accord as Roger brings his mouth again to my neck, his teeth bared now, running over my skin in a way that makes me shudder, hard – because I know – I know how badly he wants to sink those teeth in there, just there now-
I fumble at his belt, at the button at the top of his pants, but I’m so distracted-
“Fuck, Cora,” he breathes, and suddenly I’m surprised to feel myself lifted, twisting against him as he sits flat on his ass with my knees on either side of his hips, my stomach pressed almost against his face as he moves one hand to his clothing, hastily breaking the button and the zipper of his pants as he forces them down. Roger turns his face to look up at me as he kicks the pants off, shaking his head a little. ” Please,” he begs, desperate, “I can’t – I can’t wait any longer – ”
I breathe his name and bring my mouth again to his as I let my body slide down against his, as I feel him position the hard mass of himself at the apex of my thighs and then, slow, insistent, press inside of me as I lower myself down onto him.
I moan, hard, into Roger’s mouth as I feel him fill me – as I feel my inner walls stretch against him, squeezing him, wanting him. My eyes press shut as my back curves unbidden, as my hips begin to pulse against him.
Roger’s own groan as he slowly seats himself fully in me has me shuddering with the pleasure of it, with how perfectly he fits me, with how – how deep he goes-
Roger begins to pulse with me now, each steady thrust of his hips sending his hard cock deeper, pressing against that building intensity within me.
Roger goes slow, indulging, letting it build in me as the minutes pass. And then, when I know that I’m close, and I can feel him shaking beneath me, wanting his release as much as I want mine, I moan, my whole body shuddering now as I concentrate everything on that point, on him my mate. I lean myself forward, tucking my head next to his, baring my throat to him.
“There, little mate,” he growls, wrapping his fingers in the hair at the base of my neck and pulling – not harshly, but no, not gentle so that my neck and shoulder stretch open before him. He presses a kiss there as our hips continue to work together, bringing me closer closer
And then he licks the spot between my shoulder and neck, the place of his intent and I moan, and shudder, my whole body starting to shake as I –
As I come so close, as I start to want it to badly I could scream –
“Ask me for it,” he murmurs, pressing his sharp teeth just to the edge of my flesh.
“Please,” I beg, hardly able to form the words – “give me your mark, Roger I want it -”
Another low growl as he thrusts, hard, up into me and then, a moment later, sinks his teeth into my skin. Everything, everything seems to explode within me – around me.
The air whips around us suddenly and the earth – I swear it shifts and shakes in time with the sharp gasp and the steady moans that pulse from me.
It intensifies, the shaking below us, the wind around us, as I feel Roger’s body go rigid and clench as he finds his own end
And there’s pain too, mixing with it, sharpening the waves of bliss and satisfaction that run through me, a sharp and salty edge that intensifies the pleasure as my head falls back, as I feel the warm rush of Roger’s seed spreading inside of me –
As I feel his teeth lift from his bite, his mark-
And then the gentle press of his tongue against it, tenderly licking the blood that swells there. He holds me then, tight, for a few long moments as the wind dies down around us, catching his own ragged breath as I continue to shake and shudder against him.
As he comes back to himself, Roger begins to murmur soft things to me, pressing me against him and slowly laying backwards, turning his body so that mine comes to rest against the blanket, his stomach and chest pressed tight to mine
And I honestly don’t know when I realize that I’m crying – sobbing, a little, with the intensity of it – with the joy, and the pleasure, and the completeness that I feel
“Cora,” he murmurs, his face close to mine, stroking my hair. “Are you are you all right?”
And I open my eyes, confused
And then laugh because – because his face is so worried “I’m fine, Roger,” I murmur, pulling him close and kissing him about a dozen times – “it was just really intense – well, you were there – ”
“It was incredible,” he murmurs against my lips, but then he pulls away again. “Does it are you hurt?”
I bite my lip a little, twisting to try to look at it but I can’t quite see he marked me high, closer to my neck. than my shoulder – “it does hurt,” I say, telling him the truth. “But – not in a bad way, if that makes sense.”
He murmurs something in affirmation, the rumbling pleasure in his chest letting me know he understands as he nuzzles his face against mine.
I let my body collapse a bit now, exhausted after everything – after all of it – and Roger lays himself half on top of me, his head tucked close to mine. I kiss his forehead, catching my breath, and then turn my face up to the sky, opening my eyes.
And then, utterly shocked, I gasp.
