[Hugh’s POV]
I can barely hold myself together.
We're standing in the penthouse, we’re at a safe place now, Claire in my arms, yet every cell in my body still screaming. My wolf claws at the edges of my consciousness, desperate and feral.
Demanding to keep her close, to never let her out of my sight, to never let go.
I verify what my eyes already see—that she's here, she's whole, she's alive. But the beast inside me doesn't give a slightest fuck about logic or reassurance.
He needs proof in the most primal way possible.
My hands won't stop moving over her, checking and rechecking for injuries I might have missed. That's when I see it—a cut on her arm, shallow but still bleeding sluggishly.
The sight of her blood makes something snap inside me.
Before my brain can engage with what my body's doing, I've lifted her arm to my mouth. My tongue drags across the wound, slow and deliberate, lapping at the blood until the cut is clean.
Copper and salt and Claire flood my senses, and my wolf settles slightly at the taste—proof she's alive, proof she's mine.
"Hugh…" Her voice is soft, but she doesn't pull away. "What do you need? Tell me, because you look like you're about to crawl out of your skin."
"You. Closeness. My wolf needs to know you're safe, I need to know that. But the only way to convince him right now is…" I break off, jaw tight. I can’t ask her for that now, not after what she experienced an hour ago. "I just need you close, as close as possible. Just stay with me."
Something shifts in her expression for a moment and before I could understand what it is exactly, she's pushing me backward, guiding me to the couch.
I sink into the cushions and faster than I can process what's happening, she's dropping to her knees between my spread thighs. Her fingers work my belt open, then the button of my pants.
She pulls my cock free, already hard and aching for her. "Claire, wait. You don't have to—"
"I want to." Her hand wraps around my shaft, stroking once from base to tip, and I groan at the contact. "Let me take care of you for once."
Then her mouth is on me, and coherent thought becomes impossible. Her lips stretch around my cock as she takes me in, tongue swirling around the head before she sinks lower.
Goddess, the woman she is…
The wet heat of her mouth is devastating—tight suction pulling at me while her tongue works the underside of my shaft. She bobs her head slowly at first, getting used to my size, then faster, taking me deeper with each stroke until I feel myself hit the back of her throat.
"Fuck. Claire…" My hands fist in her hair, not guiding, just holding on while she works me with her mouth.
She pulls back until just the tip remains between her lips, tongue flicking over my slit to taste the precum beading there, then swallows me down again in one smooth motion.
My hips jerk involuntarily, and she moans around my cock—the vibration making my balls tighten. She's hollowing her cheeks now, sucking hard while one hand strokes what she can't fit in her mouth.
The pressure builds fast, coiling at the base of my spine, and I know I'm close… And, apparently, she can read me fucking easy too.
She pulls off with an obscene pop, leaving my cock wet and throbbing, and I actually whine at the loss.
"Not yet." She rises, climbing onto my lap, hiking her skirt up around her hips, pulling her panties aside. "I need you inside me."
I grip her hips as she positions herself, the head of my cock notching against her entrance. She's soaked—I can feel her arousal coating me as she rubs herself against my length.
Then she sinks down, taking me in one slow, devastating slide until I'm buried to the hilt inside her.
We both groan and the tight clench of her pussy around my cock is almost too much. Hot and wet and gripping me like she never wants to let go.
She starts to move, rising until just my tip remains inside her, then dropping back down with enough force to make us both gasp.
"Take what you need, sweetheart," I manage, hands gripping her hips hard enough to bruise. "Take your mate’s cock."
She moans louder at my words and rides me with increasing urgency, her walls squeezing around me with every movement. I watch where we're joined—my thick shaft disappearing inside her over and over, glistening with her wetness.
The visual combined with the sensation has me fighting for control, my wolf howling to flip her over and take.
"You feel so good," she pants, grinding down on me, clenching around my length. "I love how you fill me. I love how you feel inside me. I love—"
She gasps as I thrust up to meet her, hitting that spot that makes her back arch.
"I love you, Hugh."
The words hit me like lightning. My wolf roars with triumph, and I pull her closer, driving my cock deeper with each thrust. "Say it again."
"I love you." She's bouncing on my lap now, fucking herself on my cock with abandon. "I love you, all of you, the control freak and the wolf and everything."
"You're everything." The confession tears out of me as I pound up into her. "You're mine in ways that go beyond anything I've ever understood. You unmake me, Claire."
Her nails dig into my shoulders, her pussy clenching rhythmically around my shaft as she gets closer. I feel my canines lengthen, the need to mark her becoming overwhelming.
Her neck is right there, that perfect curve where shoulder meets throat, and every instinct demands I sink my teeth in, claim her permanently, for good.
I bury my face in her shoulder instead, fighting it with everything I have.
Not yet. Too soon.
My jaw aches with the need to bite, my body trembling as I thrust into her harder, faster, trying to satisfy the wolf's demands another way. "Hugh, I'm so close— Please!"
I shift the angle, grinding against her clit with every thrust, my cock dragging against her inner walls. "Come for me. Let me feel you."
She shatters with a scream, her pussy clamping down on my cock in rhythmic pulses that milk my length. The sensation triggers my own release. I feel myself swell inside her, my knot forming and locking us together as I come with a guttural groan of her name.
Cum floods her in hot spurts, my cock pulsing over and over while I'm locked deep inside her, face still buried in her shoulder, fighting the urge to mark with every ounce of willpower I possess.
We stay like that for long minutes, both breathing hard. My knot keeps us joined, my cock still twitching inside her with aftershocks. Her walls flutter around me occasionally, drawing small groans from us both.
She's here. She's safe. She's mine.
"I love you too," I murmur against her skin when I can finally form words. "In case that wasn't clear from the groundbreaking sex."
She laughs softly, the movement making her clench around my knot. "Pretty clear, but I appreciate the confirmation."
"I'm growing as a person." I press a kiss to her shoulder—the spot I didn't bite, the final claim I’m not ready to make yet. "You're a terrible influence…"
"The worst," she agrees, and I can hear her smile.
When the swelling finally subsides and I slip out of her—both of us groaning at the loss—I don't let her go. Just shift us so we're lying on the couch together, my cum leaking satisfyingly from between her thighs, her body draped over mine.
The mark can wait. Right now, this is enough.