Beyond the Grasslands (Mirage Islands Mates #2)

15. The Claiming

Chapter 15

The Claiming

NIKA

A fine powdery layer of snow blanketed the ground around us as we stood before Janella and Warren, our only two witnesses to the mating ceremony Thorin and I agreed on. When we both agreed to keep the ceremony small and intimate, I didn’t think either of us realized it would boil down to us and our two closest friends. It seemed perfect though. I trusted everyone in our little circle.

We had a party set for later in the evening with the rest of the pack. In the end, we decided to piggyback off of the Celebration of Dionysus. As the pack celebrated the birth of a different type of hybrid being, half God-half human, we would also announce that our mating had been completed and that I was officially the Luna of the Grasslands Pack. I had been acting Luna of the pack all along, so neither of us thought it would be that big of a deal to the pack.

“Are we supposed to say anything?” I asked as the four of us stood in the clearing together. Janella and Warren laughed.

“None of us are mated, but it’s my understanding that the bite is the important part, not the words people might say,” Warren explained. Thorin nodded his head and leaned in to me. His arms remained wrapped around my back as I stared up into his dark eyes.

“I love you, Thorin Greywolf, and promise to always treat you with the respect due the person I love most in this world.”

I could have sworn there was a sheen of moisture in Thorin’s eyes as he continued to stare down at me. “And I also promise to always treat you, Nika Mayweather, with the respect due to the person I love the most in this world - in this life and those we may live beyond.”

“You had to one-up me, I see.” I rolled my eyes as I teased him to keep from bawling like a baby. He pinched my ass and then leaned in further so our lips were only a breath away.

“It’s time to make things official, my love.”

I didn’t bother with agreeing verbally. Instead, I leaned forward and kissed my mate on his lips as my canines extended with the ache to claim him. When I pulled back we both smiled at one another before he dipped his head to the side of my neck that didn’t hold the remnants of his wolf’s bite. I moved to place a gentle kiss on the opposite side of his neck and then we each pulled the other closer as we bit down and committed to the moon-blessed union Selene had shown me was a possibility a year ago that very day.

The completed bond wrapped around us in a zinging warmth and energy that took my breath for a minute. I was able to catch my breath again momentarily before the floodgates opened and the link between Thorin and me formed fully. His elation was the first coherent thing I experienced and then the love he had for me filled me up to overflowing.

“Thorin,” I whispered in awe.

“Sweetheart, feeling the way you love me is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced.”

He verbalized what I couldn’t do at that moment. Tears flowed freely down my face as we clung to one another. It wasn’t until I heard the light crunch of snow under boots that I remembered we hadn’t been out there alone. I glanced to the left to see that our friends had already started to walk away to give us a little space to bask in our newly formed bond.

“We really should have done this inside,” Thorin lamented as he glanced around.

“Why? It is beautiful out here.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think you want your bare ass to hit that cold snow when I plow into you, and sweetheart, I really don’t want to fight this need to be buried deep inside of you any longer.”

We had been intimate a lot over the past few months, but the one thing we hadn’t done was have sex. For some reason, it seemed right to wait on that until we fully committed to our bond. While I was glad we did, Thorin was right. The time for waiting was over and I wanted to experience every bit of our bond together, especially as we linked our bodies together.

“Isn’t there an old heat house nearby?” I asked.

“Have I mentioned lately that you’re absolutely perfect?” Thorin asked as he lifted me off my feet and carried me, with my legs wrapped around his middle, to the heat house that was a little further than my memory served, but definitely closer than the pack house had been.

The old heat house had been created for females who hadn’t found their mates yet, but needed a place to go through their heat cycle without attracting every single shifter in the pack to their doorstep. The heat houses were rarely used anymore, since a heat suppressant had been introduced to the shifter community. Lucky for us, the relic of an older, more difficult era for female shifters still remained and we were about to put it to good use.

“We’ll be late to the party,”I murmured as Thorin yanked my shirt up and over my head.

“They’ll understand when we make our announcement.”

I pulled the button on his jeans loose and unzipped him before I used my legs and feet to push the fabric down over his ass. At the same time, Thorin removed my bra and realized that he would need to put me down to get the rest of my clothes off. Never in my life had I wished that I’d worn a dress to have a ceremony in the snow before. The choice of pants to stay warmed seemed frivolous and counter productive.

Still, Thorin managed to strip me of all my clothing within seconds and then he laid me down on the somewhat dusty full-sized bed. I sneezed and then we both laughed.

“Shit, this probably isn’t much better than the snow.”

I shrugged as we laughed at our circumstances. “Turn that heater on and I’ll strip the bed down.”

Thorin did as I asked with the heater but then immediately turned around and picked me up. He had me pinned against the wall in a move that my brain couldn’t even comprehend. It should have been impossible for him to move that fast, especially as he had to lift me to do it.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure nothing gets in our way ever again.”

Well, there was no way I would argue with that sentiment. Thorin shocked me again as he leaned me against the wall and draped his arms underneath my thighs to leverage my weight. It had the added bonus of opening me up even more to his thick, hard cock. I’d never imagined having sex against a wall before and as Thorin slid his cock through my slippery folds, I wondered why the hell my imagination wasn’t a better place.

I moaned loudly as he not only bumped my clit but immediately retreated and lined himself up with my entrance. “Feels like I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” he murmured before his entire cock plunged into my depths and made me see stars. Pleasure and pain melded together in a dance that made me ache as my mate licked across the newest mark he left on my neck.

“Thorin, please!” I begged him but couldn’t for the life of me articulate what I needed until my mate began to pump in and out of me in a rhythm that had me hypnotized. “Yes, like that,” I cried into the crook of his neck as I clung to him for all I was worth. And I wasn’t worth much more than a boneless husk of a shifter who had been liquified by ecstasy of coming together with my moon-blessed mate for the first time.