My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

Chapter 21 - Aligned

August felt his lips ignite hers tenderly at first, filling her with that fuzzy fluttering feeling that was gradually making itself at home in her mind. Instead of pulling back this time, Graeme seemed to let himself become untethered as he pressed himself deeper, exploring the silky heat of her mouth where something bright and sweet bloomed between them, stealing her breath.

As before, her whole being seemed to recognize him. As if every cell shifted to attention with his body near hers, and their movements became easy and fluid—naturally finding one another.

She had kissed other guys, sure, but could that even be considered kissing? When the mind works overtime to gauge how to move and what to do? Unlike now, with Graeme's mouth on hers that spread a warmth through every part of her in such a way that her body seemed to move of its own accord—seeking him, moving deeper, wanting more—to become more entangled with him whom it seemed to recognize as its own.

The intensity that encircled them now brought tears to her eyes as she kissed him back, chasing his tongue and delving deeper, wanting to be engulfed and to reach that deepest part of him.

With her eyes closed it was if she could sense him better, feeling him spin together with her as one being, and all the encroaching insecurities fell away. Nothing else mattered but honoring this union—this safety that called to her and wrapped itself around her protectively.

Graeme pulled away from her lips, widening the hood around her head and burrowing in to gain access further down, kissing under her chin and down her neck before nipping her where his mark was meant to be. 'Safe. Mine.' The words growled instinctively in his mind, but he fought them back, opening his lips to linger at that spot in a slow, sensual kiss rather than the bite he felt clawing to get out.

August arched at the sensation, offering more of her neck to him, the heat spiraling down within her and making her suddenly dizzy with want. Soft gasps escaped her mouth, and she gripped his arms as if bracing for something. The solid, warm arms that held the strength she had felt unfurl in her own limbs and yet had been so gentle with her. The arms that had carried her through the wild.

"Why do you make me feel safe?" she whispered and tears welled in her eyes, because it was true. 'Why do you feel like home to me when I barely know you?' It was terrifying. He propped himself above her and studied her, smoothing the hair that had fallen around her before tracing her jawline and the graceful curve of her neck.

There was fear and need in his eyes and something else. Love? Wonder? She wasn't sure, but she knew it was reflected in her own. At that moment they were like symmetrical puzzle pieces that had been cut out of the fabric of the universe, and now—facing each other—they aligned. And that feeling of everything clicking into place overwhelmed all else.

Graeme seemed to make a decision internally, pulling August toward him and slipping her out of her sweatshirt before swiftly pulling his shirt off with one hand. August sucked in a breath as his perfectly toned broad chest was offered to her. She ran her hand over it reverently, doubting this reality all over again.

Graeme watched her caress him, shivers running down his abdomen at the soft trails she was leaving on his skin, and her gaze climbed back to his eyes in surprise.

"I make you tremble," she whispered.

"You do," his voice was gravelly as he stifled a groan in his throat.

A soft smile perked on her lips, and she ran her fingers lower, forcing his groan free. She dipped her fingers just inside the waistband of his pants, and he closed his eyes tight, keeping his desire in check even as she was teasing it further to the surface. With eyes still closed, he cupped her face and kissed her hungrily until their breaths were consumed by it, leaving them panting but pressing further.

"Goddess, August," he groaned again as he pulled back, finding the hem of her shirt and pulling it slowly over her head, watching her face with eyes soft and burning.

He returned to claim her mouth, slowly trailing the skin from her waist up along the side of her breasts with his fingers where he broke the kiss, panting, and gulped, watching her skin pebble under his touch. His thumb teased the pink peak of her nipple that had turned hard, taunting the hardness in him that reached for her.

As the softness of August arched into his touch, Graeme bowed his head to trail kisses below her ear, his hand sliding up along the other side of her neck before gripping her hair and pulling her head further back.

Her neck was open to him, and he couldn't help but let his teeth graze the soft skin there where the heat of her pulse concentrated her scent. "I'm yours, August," he whispered against her neck, and she gasped softly beneath him.

With his other hand at her lower back, he pulled her hips against his, wrapping her legs around his waist until she was fully against him and all she could smell and feel and see was him.

She ran her fingers over his face, memorizing the sharp angles and curves. The angle of his dark eyebrows and the sweep of his eyelashes. The coarse hair that recorded the time since they had met. His lips were full and soft, and she whimpered slightly at the intensity of the fire between them that threatened to burn everything.

"Are you okay?" Graeme breathed, caressing her hair and searching her face and her eyes that were glazed over with desire. She nodded. His chest warmed at the realization of how powerfully she felt like home. And now that he had found it, he never wanted to leave.. 'Mine.'