Chapter 99: Marked: Part 2

“Maybe I won’t bother... think I might have changed my mind.” With a serious look on my face, I joke and sit back to put my hands on my hips instead.

I’m feeling playful now I’m in control and calling the shots up here.

Colton rolls his eyes and presses his pointer finger on my nose, like I’m a juvenile, before nestling both his hands around my hips.

“You won’t be wanting sex from me again then, huh? I’m not that kind of guy anymore. No mark equals no mating. Even when the haze comes.” He shrugs playfully.

I shake my head at him and make a “hmm” noise as though I’m considering it. I like the teasing, it’s cute, and I like Colton’s playful, cheeky face even more now that I have no more doubts about us.

To be honest, the first time was maybe quick, and I’m suffering a little from it, but I definitely want to do that again and explore how much better it can be.

I always heard the first time is nothing compared to when you master it and do it a few times, which means I am in for a lifetime of amazing sex because Colton has skills.

I don’t want to miss out on that, and besides, I can’t have this sexpot unmarked when the haze moves in. Femmes might kidnap him from me and hold him hostage until they get their fill.

I need to mark my man.

“Such threats should be punished, Mr. Santo. I might just go to sleep.” I smile as wickedly as I can at him and cast him a raised eyebrow smirk, warm and cozy in the security that this is real, and he’s mine.

“Go ahead. I’m kinda beat. I could use the sleep.” He casually folds his arms behind his head as though he doesn’t care and closes his eyes.

It riles me enough to slap him on his pecs with impulsive anger and sudden fury that he might not be joking, causing a minor internal temper tantrum.

“Hey!” It’s absolute outrage, but that chuckle he expels is an instant dampening tool.

Colton opens his eyes and grins at me, chasing away any doubt that he was not playing, and he strokes his thumbs over my thighs, cooling my fire and bringing me back to heel with a taming touch.

“Stop messing and make me your bitch already. You know I love you, and this... it’s holding up everything else. Mark me, woman, before I smother you against me and make you do it.”

There’s a tone of seriousness in that, even if it is in good humor, and I know I’m only delaying because I’m nervous about this final step.

It’s been a lot, and I’m finally going to do it. Not just mark him but unbind something I’ve been trying to master for weeks, and that’s terrifying to me.

When I bite him and taste his blood, it will finalize everything. I’ll not only get the last memories we have of being a part of a fresh imprinting but a chance to harness the powers I possess entirely.

I’ll be luna, just like that, from one bite, whether I’m ready or not, whether I’m going to be a good luna or not. It’s a big step, and I am not prepared for any of it, but I need to take a leap of faith.

Fear won’t make this easier. It will only make me work myself up into complete anxiety and make him think I have changed my mind.

I lean down, inhale slowly to calm the inner trepidation, close my eyes, elongate my wolf teeth, and sink into his chest in a similar area to where he marked me.

There’s a moment of complete abhorrence as I bite into the soft, salty flesh of the man I adore, hating that I’m inflicting pain and wounding him.

The taste of his blood almost makes me gag as it fills my mouth, choking me with its consistency and metallic saltiness.

My fangs sink into tissue that’s both warm and smooth like hot liquid, thick and disgusting, hitting my tongue.

It’s awful, but I’m almost wholly distracted a moment later when I am yanked away from what I’m doing.

My mind fills with thoughts, feelings, memories, images, and whizzing moments of time all spinning around my head, just like the first time we ever imprinted, only with less ferocity, less shock at the assault.

It’s a do-over, only with more potency in other ways.

I lose all sense of space and time as it happens, and I’m not even aware I’ve pulled my teeth out of him until his hand catches me by the wrist and then the other to steady me so I don’t fall.

I’m breathless and feel like I’ve just been hit by a train for the second time in my life. The dizziness sends me reeling sideways, unable to hold myself taut.

The room spins and slumps as Colton steadies me and gently helps me lie on the bed as reality comes back before he pulls me in against him and wraps me in his arms.

I take a moment to recover and come back to the land of the living, where my focus clears from hazy darkness back to reality.

Unlike the first time we imprinted, this time has a wave of surreal and dreamlike that lingers.

And the taste of his blood trickles down my throat, warming me, filling me up with insane emotions before finally fading away to a gentle stroke down my legs.

It’s almost like a mental orgasm with less severity, and I blink my eyes open to find Colton pushed up against me, doing the same thing.

Nose-to-nose, we open our eyes almost in unison before he breaks into a smile and kills the eerie silence.

“That was… interesting. I feel drugged.” His voice is low and husky, and he looks utterly exhausted now.

Dark shadows form under his eyes, which are a little lackluster in color, even in this dim lighting. It’s mirrored in me, and my body has given up any hope of getting back out of bed anytime soon.

That’s precisely what it feels like, as though we’ve been inhaling potent vapors that render us completely relaxed and giddily happy so that we lie around chilling like hippy stoners.

Satisfied in every way, we want to lie here and revel in it. I feel light and free, yet delirious in happiness, as though there are no worries left inside my brain.

It’s like a chemical high, and it leaves me temporarily content with everything in life.

“Me too.” I sigh, fully sated and curling up in his tight embrace as he slides his arms around me firmly and pulls my body to fit his from toes to nose.

His skin is on mine, close contact in the best way, sharing air, which feels completely natural and so right, like I was always meant to be wrapped up with him.

There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be than here, and I want to stay this way forever.

My heart is healed, my soul complete, and now I can sleep safe and secure beside him and never again know that kind of loneliness.

Colton reaches down and pulls the sheets over us, up to my shoulder, and reaches over his head to press something attached to the headboard.

All the lights in the room go off in unison, every single lamp, and dim glow, leaving us illuminated by the moon coming in through the window behind him as the curtains sit open.

The darkness makes this seem more intimate somehow, and I lay my head against his chest, inhaling his unique smell, making me feel complete. Content. Home.

“So much for reading to your mom,” I point out with a soft, almost inaudible tone, smiling as his arm comes back around me.

He nuzzles his chin on top of my head as he gets comfy and yawns, stifling it with a fist over his mouth. I can feel genuine fatigue coming from him and how desperately he needs to sleep.

This was a big thing between us.

Even though we should mark the occasion by staying up and talking about what this was and how momentous, I want to experience sleeping in his arms and waking up to him in the morning to start our lives as mates.

“I’m sure she’ll forgive me, considering I not only marked my mate but restored the powers we lost. That deserves sleep, in a bed, with my new luna in my arms.”

He yawns again, straining his voice, and then buries his face back in my hair with a deep exhale.

“My powers!” I squeak and shoot up to a sitting position, forgetting all about being too tired to move.

I extend my hands and stare at them as though they will suddenly look completely different, and I would somehow know.

I didn’t feel anything that was explicitly power-related, but then again, what would that even feel like?

I blink at them, turning them over in the dark until I catch Colton looking at me oddly. He’s focused entirely on my face with that hint of amused adoration I sometimes notice in him.

Colton seems happy, which makes me all bubbly and gooey inside because I know I did that for him.

“What is it you expect to see?” He laughs at me and sits up to prop against the headboard to watch me, giving in to the fact I’m not about to let him sleep, and I shrug.

“I don’t know, maybe glowing or something like…”

I casually flick my hand toward the cabinet across the other side of the room, not sure what I’m doing.

Then I shriek in utter surprise when the contents on the top swipe off to the floor in a clattering heap that almost makes me have a heart attack.

I gasp in shock, staring at the mess and then my hands before turning to him like a kid who found a dollar in the street.

“Like that?” Colton looks impressed and not the slightest bit mad I sent a whole array of bottles and whatever onto the floor, making a substantial unsightly mess.

I gawk at it and gently push the same motion at the already broken remains, willing myself to do it again and squeal when they spread across the floor by about a foot as though an invisible brush swept them away.

It’s almost like breathing. I can willfully extend my touch and move things in ways I could never dream of before, and it excites me on a whole other level.

My insides are bubbling like a mini volcano, and I jiggle on the bed, unable to contain my glee.

The vapor energy, or whatever it is, is clear now, and I can’t see it the way I did in the forest because I’m no longer battling the spell trying to bind it.

“It’s your turn!” I bounce at him, grab his hand in excitement, and yank him a little, dying to see ~he’s~ now unleashed whatever it is.

Maybe he might have Sierra’s blue glow, which would be totally cool, and perhaps a bit of a turn-on, but Colton shakes his head at me, despite my juvenile attempts to haul him up with zero success.

“I don’t even know what gifts I should have, so maybe that can await my mother waking up.

“Baby, it’s late. Can we please sleep before I pass out and wake up in a tornado because you get carried away with being able to move things with your mind?”

Colton tugs me back to him, despite my slight protest, and I fall against his chest and nestle in the crook of his arm.

I relent when his warm touch reminds me of how good it is to be held by him, and I exhale noisily, huffing because I just found I have a new toy, and “Daddy” Colton is telling me to put it away and go to bed.

“We still have so much to figure out and do. We have all the time in the world and a minimum of two days before my mom might wake up. Can we concentrate on us and this, for now, and sleep?

“God, I need sleep. In case I didn’t mention, I haven’t slept all that much since you left, and when I did, I dreamed about you and woke up feeling like shit.

“One good night with you in my bed might be the difference between a good day tomorrow and me strangling you to death for keeping me awake till stupid o’clock.”

He mockingly catches me by the throat, gently squeezes while smiling at me, and gets a scowl in response to the pretend threat, his eyes half-open. He looks exhausted.

“Nice. So romantic and loving. Is this what marking you brings out?” I point out with sass and get mauled with kisses scattered across my eyes and forehead for the effort.

He drags me into the sheets, hauling us down to lie flat, and brings me back to my previous snuggled-up position in his arms, where he has my nose against his, except this time in a vice grip, so I can’t go anywhere.

“My luna, you’re mine. We have so much shit still to get through and deal with. Let’s just sleep on it and see what tomorrow brings.

“You aren’t just Alora Dennison of the long-forgotten Whyte pack anymore.

“You’re Luna Alora Santo, my mate, my heart, my soul, and we have an entire pack relying on us to get through whatever storm is coming our way.

“We will need to answer so many questions over the next few days. We also need to present you to your pack. You’re one of us now.”

He’s that voice of reason and a reminder that this little bubble of ours exists only in this room. There is a bigger world out there and issues we have yet to face.

“You’re right. It’s easy to forget the threats when it seems so safe in here with you—your mom, the attacks, the future. It’s all still so unclear, except for this one thing.

“We’re never going to be torn apart again. I love you.” I relinquish the fight and slide my arms around him as best I can while lying on my side.

I curl up against him, skin to skin, and close my eyes to absorb how good he feels.

No awkwardness, no strange residual embarrassment from having sex for the first time. Just this connection and the sense of home he gives me make me feel like everything will be okay as long as he is by my side.

We can face whatever is coming together with the pack and with whatever gifts we just released.

“I love you more. You’re home, and I intend to keep you by my side forevermore,” Colton says.

He kisses me on the forehead before snuggling in close, and the heavy exhale signals he’s done with talking and looking to sleep with his mate in his arms.

For the first time, on the first day of our future lives, truly together.

—End of Book One—