Joindre (verb) to put together; to link, to connect

Was I ready for him?

My hand came to rest on the swell of his chest as I gazed into the depths of his eyes. My thumb stroking over a thick band of scar tissue that slashed across his muscle.

His skin marred with scars that told the story of war.

If he was made for war, and I was made for him, what did that say about me? About who I really was?

So many questions, but the pull of desire heating my core was undeniable. I wanted to be filled. To be satisfied. To know what it truly meant to be mated to him.

"Yes, I'm ready," I whispered.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Bastien melted against me. His desire unleashed. His hands slid into my hair and tilted my face to deepen our kiss. Our tongues twining together in a seductive dance I'd never tire of.

I gasped with pleasure as a sense of surety rocked through me. This was what I wanted.

I was so wet, the feel of him was intoxicating. Frictionless as he slid over my damp flesh, slightly parting me.

I couldn't imagine anything would feel better than his fingers, but I was wrong.

Breaking off our kiss once again, Bastien held my gaze, both of us breathing heavily, as he slid himself inside me. 

Deep. So deep.

As far as he could be buried inside me until there was no space between the two of us. We were joined. Completely.

Lights exploded behind my eyes as I cried out in the most deliciously satisfying pain I've ever felt. My nails sank into his skin. Needing to ground myself before the pain and pleasure had me swooning.

Our connection was blown open wide, and I could feel the blinding passion, the lust, the need to fuck me hard-tempered with the fear he might hurt me.

The love.

I felt it all.

But, he had to know he was perfect. He fit perfectly inside me. Just like he was made for me. And I wasn't afraid of what he might do.

"I'm not hurt. I—I want more," I said. Aloud. Letting my words whisper across his skin.

Bastien held himself inside of me, grinding himself against the swollen little bud of flesh at my center. The one that was throbbing with desire. Needing release.

"Are you sure?" he asked through his teeth. His desire and need to hold back tempering him.

"Yes, I'm sure. I want more."

As soon as I thought one sensation was the best I'd ever felt in my life and nothing could be better, Bastien proved me wrong.

With his face buried in my neck, he slid out slowly, dragging himself out of me inch by inch, only to slide back in, harder and faster than before.

I screamed this time, not in pain but from the unexpectedness of it. How full I felt with his thick, hard length filling me all the way up. Holding himself there again.

"Claire, you're so tight around me. So tight. So good. You did so good taking me."

My hands wrapped around his neck. My fingers tangling in his hair as I moved my hips to feel him in every way. Our bodies sliding over one another. Sweat dampening my hairline.

Bastien held perfectly still, allowing me to explore every sensation. Gasping when I found the place that felt so good I knew if I kept moving...

A throaty groan escaped his lips. "You can't hold still, can you?" he asked in a deep voice. "Look at you, already squirming around on my cock. Trying to make yourself come again."

He slid out slowly once more, lingering just barely since my entrance, teasing one spot until my eyes rolled back and my throat ran dry from panting more over and over again.

Another hard thrust back inside me. Filling me. Taking me. Consuming me mind, body, and soul. As he held himself still again.

"Go ahead," he rasped. "Rub that little virgin pussy all over my cock again. Don't hold back. Make yourself come like a good little girl."

Everything inside me was trying to obey his command. To find that sweet, hot release that was building inside me. Gripping his shoulders, I worked myself up and down on him. Breath hitching and moaning his name the closer I got to oblivion.

Bastien's hands melted around my waist as he flipped us over, and I was positioned on top of him. Breathless and so needy, I stared down at him and saw the hunger in his eyes as they drank in the curves of my body.

His bloodstone throbbing with my erratic pulse.

Sitting astride this vampire, covered in scars, I felt so powerful. So wanted. So...loved.

And so hungry for more.

Pressing my hands into his shoulders, I found that place again, the warm spot that begged for release and felt so good.

"I love watching you use me," he said. "Because this cock is for you. Only yours. Always yours."

It was coming. My release. I could feel it cresting like a wave. Harder and faster than I'd ever felt it before. A torrent of pleasure and deep emotions that I had only dared to dream of.

He gripped my hips and helped me work myself on him. Moving me up and down, circling my hips until the pleasure came to a head and I fell forward, clutching the strands of his hair in my fist as I came undone for him.

Every part of me touching every part of him.

"Very good. Very good girl," he purred in my ear when I finally finished.

He smoothed back my hair with his cool hand then let it travel down my back, gliding along the furrow of my spine and over the swell of my backside, eliciting a whole new kind of pleasure.

Slowly, he touched the place where we were joined.

His fingers teasing me.

Kissing the side of my cheek,  Bastien said, "Look at you, so wet for me."

He thrust his hips up, making the space between us disappear once again, filling me up until I lost my breath.

"I love hearing all the little sounds you make when you take me."

Another thrust of his hips. Another moan I couldn't hold back. Now that I'd come, I felt everything so much more. And as he thrust into me again, I realized that once or twice wasn't enough.

Pleasure was an addiction I had no desire to end.

I was a woman now. Sitting astride my vampire mate. If he was a warrior then I wanted him to unleash every bit of his fury on me. To give me that pleasure I so badly wanted. To make it his crusade.

I needed more.

Bastien promised that he wasn't going to make love to me like it was my first time. He promised to fuck me like I was made for him. I wanted him to make good on that vow.

"You've seen me lose control, now I want to see you take me. I want to watch you...use me."

I'd only seen Bastien come one time—the night in the feeding tent—and the image had never left my mind.

Neither had his words.

"Claire," he whispered, pumping himself harder. Spreading his legs wider. "I'm going to cum so deep inside you," he said through clenched teeth. "I'm going to give you all of me."

The more I thought about it, a deeper, darker desire swirled inside me. Something stronger than my pleasure. No, something that I knew would bring me deep satisfaction.

I wanted him to use me instead of his hand. I wanted him to do what he'd said he wanted to.

To spill himself inside me.

Bastien had been quiet for a moment, and even though he couldn't read my thoughts, I had the strange feeling he knew just what I was thinking of.

"Even though you are a strong woman," he whispered in my ear, "this is your first time. I don't want to hurt you."

"You aren't hurting me," I insisted.

Yes, there was a sweet ache in the place where we were joined but not pain.

"You wouldn't," I continued. "Just—"

My voice broke off when I felt his teeth against my neck. Scraping down the length of skin.

"You want me to use you?" Bastien said. "Is that really what you want?"

He moved inside me again. A slow, lazy thrust of his hips made me moan for more.

I could feel his thirst. For my body and for that which lived in my veins. He wanted to fulfill both of his base desires at the same time. To have me in both ways. The ultimate surrender.

Even though he'd only drank from my neck once, I wanted him to do it again.

"Yes," I breathed, staring up at the ceiling. One of my hands gripping the back of his neck. "Drink your fill of me."

Quicker than I thought possible, Bastien had me on my hands and knees, his body hovering behind me.

His hard length teased me between my legs. He rubbed his head over my sweetest spot. Teasing me with two slow strokes before tucking himself back in. Taking me from behind.

"Claire," he roared. "Fuck, you feel too good. So tight."

The new angle was very different from the first two and made me feel like I was his in a primal way that pulled at my desires.

He gathered his arms around my waist and pulled me up so my back was resting against his chest. His huge length still inside me. One of his hands cupped my breast. The other found my sex, and I arched into him as he played with me.

"I shouldn't be doing this," he breathed against my ear, "it's wrong for so many reasons, but I'm going to do it anyway and enjoy it thoroughly."

The pressure of his teeth followed. Bastien moaned against my skin and he kissed me so deep that I lost myself in him. My body limp in his arms as he drank my blood.

My pleasure deep and desirous as he kept toying with me, pulsing his finger over me in tight little strokes until I was panting out his name.

"Bastien. Bastien. Bastien. Please let me come."

Yes. Yes. My body cried out. Sweat rolling between my breasts. Slick heat dripped down my legs. His hard length moving inside me.

Bastien didn't stop. Didn't relent. He kept drinking my blood and taking me until the moment that I was seizing around him and a hot line of liquid shot out of me.

His teeth retracted before I'd finished throbbing.

"Now you're ready," Bastien rasped.

He released me so I fell forward onto my hands.

His fingers trailed a line from my neck to my backside. Then gripped my hip as he gave one test thrust.

There were no words for the feeling of this. Of him. Raw. So so deep.

"If you want me to stop, just say so," he gritted out.

I was shaking with desire, so locked in on his emotions that I couldn't think of anything but him.

He wanted me so badly, it was inconceivable. The need and desire so overwhelming that all I wanted to do was satisfy him. I wanted to give him that release.

To take him fully and deeply until his need was dripping out of me.

His hips smacked into my backside with each hard thrust. His hands mold to my flesh, squeezing me.

It was teetering on the edge of too much to take, but the ache was what I wanted.

I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming out again.

He fell forward, one arm wrapping around me as he kept up his pace.

"I'm so close, Claire. So close. You're too tight. Too sweet. Darling, I'm sorry, I wanted to make this longer for you, but I'm going to come."

Hearing how desperate he wanted his own release triggered something inside of me. That dark, wicked creature that wanted to do all the bad things.

I spread my legs wider so he could take me deeper.

Bastien moaned my name before he pulled out of me and let his hardness rest between the crease of my backside as warm liquid coated me.

Bastien shook. Holding on to me to keep himself upright until he was completely spent.

I felt the pure unadulterated pleasure course through him. Felt the bone-deep satisfaction of the moment and knew that I'd made him feel as good as he'd made me feel.

Only then did he let go of me long enough to clean the mess off my back and gently wipe between my legs.

I collapsed onto my stomach. Drenched in sweat and with an ache in every muscle.

Bastien laid just beside me, one of his legs hiked over my bottom. His arm draped around my middle

"You are mine, now," he whispered in my ear. "And I am yours. Always."

I turned to him. Wanting to take in all the lines of his face and the curve of his lips. To memorize each one. Burning the picture of him into my mind so that it could never leave.

With the knowledge that he meant every word. He would be mine, always, just like this, as I was his.

💕💕💕💕🥵🥵🥵🥵

I only took 45 chapters and 100k words, but finally, finally these two gave into each other! My slowest burn ever!