Страница 73 из 89
Mairwen was mine, and this would make her even more so. I purred and found her skin against my tongue, the muscles of her throat flexing with babbling words of encouragement. So gentle. So sweet. So tender as it gave beneath my hungry teeth. Her arms clutched and she froze beneath me, the first squeak of discomfort like a distant alarm in my foggy head. Then copper and honey syrup laced the inside of my mouth, and Mairwen melted, moaned. I bellowed as tension snapped, heat and lightning racing through me, velvet softness and electric crackling. I snarled into the throat of my mate and collapsed into the cradle of her body at last.
Two crescents of little rubies fitted in slightly pink and swollen flesh. Mairwen's bruises had faded in the wake, but the mark of my bite was still fresh, blood occasionally welling as she stretched or turned her head, drawing my gazeback, as well as my lips and my tongue to soothe the spot.
"Does it hurt?" I rasped, ringing my tongue around the marks.
"Not when you do that," Mairwen murmured. I frowned and lifted my head, and she offered a smile. "It's a little sore, that's all. The books about the mating ceremony say it doesn't last long. And you're doing exactly what you ought to to help it heal."
I stiffened and then groaned, dropping my head down to Mairwen's bare chest. "Damn. I forgot you mentioned a ceremony. I should've—"
"Should've taken me out to the village square, stripped me bare, anointed me in oils, and then mounted me from behind as the isle feasted and watched you bite me?" Mairwen asked. I growled, and she laughed. "I prefer our rather more private method. The ceremonies fell out of fashion before mating did."
I sighed and started to settle back against my mate—she'd been stroking her hands through my hair like she might to a house cat, and I was not ashamed to admit I loved every second—when she sat up suddenly, nearly knocking our heads together.
"Oh, Ronson! Mating is illegal. We've done something illegal," she gasped, hands flying up over her mouth.
I gri
She slapped me gently on the chest. "Why didn't you say—"
"I'm the alpha, Mairwen. I hereby declare mating legal again," I said, sweeping my arm out in a grand gesture. "There, all settled. No one even knew that law existed anyway."
Mairwen's eyes narrowed, and she snorted. "I'm sure Niall won't have anything to say once we tell him." I blinked at that, and her lips twitched. "Ah-ha! You didn't think it through, did you? Bet you thought you could just keep it all a secret, as if no one would notice I wasn't aging—Ronson!" she squawked as I tackled her back into the pillows, wrestling my arms around her and glaring down at her flushed and magnificent face.
"Keep it a secret, mate?" I growled. Mairwen's lips pressed together as she realized what she'd said. "Keep you a secret? Not tell the island, the entire world how proud I am to be yours? To have you at my side for my life? To have my mark on you so they all know what you are to me, what you mean to me? Not likely, Mairwen."
She'd mellowed as I spoke, and she reached between us now, fingers traveling gently back into my hair. "Of course," she said, leaning up and kissing my jaw. "Of course not. Silly of me."
I purred and then curled up on top of my omega like the oversized feline she apparently knew I was, resting my cheek on her chest, sighing as we settled together once more.
"We do have to tell Niall, though. And it won't be so simple as just a
I sighed and nodded, but I refused to open my eyes. "Tomorrow," I bargained. "We'll tell Niall and Beatrice tomorrow." Let me have you today, mate, I begged privately.
Mairwen was quiet, the path of her fingers slow and steady, soothing me towards a nap. I felt calmer now. And while I was still quite tempted to cup and squeeze and roll Mairwen's breast that sat just out of the corner of my eye, to draw it to my mouth and make a feast, there was less of the sense of lust riding and possessing me and my actions now. Mairwen was mine and I loved and craved every inch of her, but I loved this too—holding her, resting with her, having her scent and her touch around me in a moment of calm contentment.
"Tomorrow," she murmured as I pet a hand over her hip.