Chapter 47

DOE

^TEN DAYS INTO HEAT^

I woke up to the feeling of Ace’s fingers lightly tracing over the mark on my neck, lighting my skin up with pleasant, warm sparks. I hummed and shifted closer, seeking his warmth.

My eyes blinked open, and I was greeted by the sight of my strikingly beautiful mate smiling down at me, his face lit up by the golden rays of the early morning sun.

“Hi,” I whispered.

“Hi.” He wiped my greasy hair out of my face with tender movements. “Have you come back to me?”

I stretched my stiff arms over my head and groaned. “Yeah, I…I think so. Is it over?”

His lips formed a wolfish grin. No pun intended. “This is the first time in ten days you haven’t woken up whining for my knot or trying to swallow my cock, so, yeah, I would say it’s over.”

“Ten days?” My cheeks heated. I hadn’t realized I had been out that long. “I…I’m sorry if I was a lot to take care of or—”

“Hey.” He grabbed my chin in his huge hand and forced me to look at him. “None of that. You know you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Not with me.

“They were ten days of bliss. You were perfect, and I loved every second. You listened to your instincts so well.” He leaned forward and left a feather-light kiss against my lips. “My perfect omega.”

He claimed my mouth in a tender kiss. For the first time, there was no urgent heat in the way his tongue tangled with mine—just love. So much love that I felt like my heart could burst.

Ace pulled back a minute later and melded his forehead with mine. “How do you feel? Sore?”

“Yeah,” I groaned, shifting my tender limbs around to try to get some life back into them. There was none to be found.

I felt like I had bathed in quick-drying concrete. Every inch of me felt weighed down by tens of pounds of cement. “Everything hurts.”

Muscles I didn’t even know I had ached, and don’t even get me started on my pussy. The poor girl was going to need some serious TLC. Ace wouldn’t be going near the thing for quite some time.

As if he could sense the direction of my thoughts—because he probably could—Ace growled and let one of his hands travel down the span of my back and toward the spot between my legs.

His semi-hard cock shifted against my stomach. “I can fix that ache for you, baby. You won’t be hurting after I lick it all better.”

As tempting as that sounded, I knew letting him “lick it all better” would only lead to other things, and my body couldn’t handle it at that moment.

I slapped his hand away and gave him the most threatening glower I could muster amid my euphoric mood.

“Don’t even think about it, mister. I seriously don’t understand how you can still want me. Aren’t you tired?”

Ace was the one who had done most of the work after all. He had to have some aches and pains.

Ace pouted while moving his fingers to trace indistinguishable doodles on my ass cheek. “Baby, the day I say no to mating with you is the day that I’ve died. And that’s only if my wolf lets me.”

I rolled my eyes. ~What a man.~

“Plus, my stamina is through the roof after completing the mate bond. I feel like I could run a marathon. Maybe even fifty.”

Right. I forgot werewolves gained power and strength after claiming their mates. ~Well, isn’t that just wonderful for him?~

I sat back and studied him. The man was practically glowing. It looked like he had regained all the weight he had lost and then some. But not with fat. No, he was pure muscle.

I used to think of him as my own personal Adonis, but he was more like Adonis on steroids.

Every inch of him was defined, hard, and sharp—handsome in a carved-from-stone sort of way that nearly made me want to forget all about my previous resolve to resist him.

His shoulders were broader, and his arms and chest had expanded. His skin was clear and tanned to golden perfection as if he had just come back from a trip to the Bahamas.

Even his already perfect, messy brown hair seemed thicker, shinier.

As if the man wasn’t already handsome enough.

And all my human ass got from our mating was matted, greasy hair, aching limbs, and a pussy that would probably take weeks to recover.

~So unfair.~

“You’re…bigger,” I sputtered.

The smile he wore was so dazzling—it hit me straight in the stomach. My core clenched.

“It’s doing something for you, huh?”

I wanted to scoff and disagree if only to knock his ego down a few pegs, but the truth was, it ~was~ doing something for me. Everything about him did it for me.

So, this time, when his hand started to wander again—slowly making its way between my ass cheeks—I didn’t try to stop him.

I squeezed my eyes shut and burrowed my face into his neck. “Ace, I’m sticky and gross and haven’t had a shower in days. How could you possibly—?”

Before I could finish my sentence, Ace pushed me back.

~“Ooh,”~ I moaned.

“You’ve got it all wrong, gorgeous,” he whispered in my ear right before dragging a long lick down to the place where he bit me and sucking on the spot.

My toes curled.

“My naked mate is under me in her nest, my mark fresh on her shoulder, and she smells like my fucking cum.”

He inhaled and let out a deep groan. “And omega slick and fucking mating pheromones.

“And don’t even get me started on the blissed-out, thoroughly fucked expression you’ve worn on your face since the first time I knotted you ten days ago. Do you know how damn sexy that is?”

“~Ace.~ Please.” My legs parted, and I tilted my hips up toward his now fully erect dick.

My pussy was so sore that every clench of my inner muscles hurt, and I wasn’t sure if I could take another one of his brutal fuckings, but I truly couldn’t bring myself to care.

“I’m not going to fuck you, baby,” Ace assured me. “I know you’re too sore for that. But I do think this little pussy deserves my love and attention after everything I put her through.”

The hot laps of his tongue were slow and diligent, meant to make me relax and soothe rather than writhe and whine.

“Christ, I love that I can still taste myself on you.”

My eyes drifted shut, and I let out a contented sigh as I melted into the mattress beneath me.

“That’s it, beautiful,” Ace said. He wrapped his arms under my thighs and pulled my core closer to his sinful mouth. “You just lie back and enjoy.”

And, oh boy, did I ever.