Free Web NovelChapter 20: The Claiming
Pain.
White-hot searing pain that should have made me scream except I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs to make sound, just gasping while Kael’s teeth stayed buried in my neck and the bond between us roared to life like lightning in my veins.
Then pleasure crashed through on the heels of the pain, so intense I stopped being able to tell where one ended and the other began, just knew that every nerve ending in my body was on fire in the best and worst way possible.
Kael pulled back, licking over the bite to seal it, and through the haze I registered the mark blooming on my skin — his claim, permanent, visible to anyone who looked.
"One down." His voice was wrecked. "Three to go."
I didn’t have time to process that before Riven’s mouth found the other side of my neck and his teeth broke skin in a claiming bite that sent the bond between us snapping into place with enough force to make my back arch off the bed.
Different from Kael’s bond — this one felt patient and steady and absolutely certain, like time had stopped mattering because we had all of it.
When Riven pulled back his eyes were black and satisfied and the mind-link between us exploded wide open, no walls, no distance, just his presence flooding through me warm and real and mine.
"Beautiful." He licked over the bite. "You’re so fucking beautiful when you let go."
Draven moved before I could catch my breath, his cool fingers tilting my head to bare the junction of my neck and shoulder, and then his teeth sank in and the third bond formed with precision that stole what was left of my sanity.
Control wrapped in care, his emotions bleeding through the new connection — desire and possession and fierce protectiveness that made my chest crack open.
He sealed the bite and pulled back to examine his work, and the look on his face was pure male satisfaction.
"Three." His thumb traced over the fresh mark. "One more."
Thorne growled low in his chest, the sound vibrating through both of us, and then he was pulling my leg up over his shoulder and his teeth found the inside of my thigh.
The claiming bite there sent shockwaves straight to my core and the fourth bond snapped into place with enough force to make me see stars, primal and possessive and absolutely feral in a way that matched everything he was.
Mine mine mine, the bond sang through all four connections, and I didn’t know if that was them claiming me or me claiming them back but either way it was done, sealed, permanent.
Four bonds.
Four alphas.
All mine.
The heat in my body shifted, no longer painful but demanding in an entirely different way, and I reached for Kael with shaking hands.
"Please." I didn’t know what I was begging for. Just knew I needed more. "I need—"
"I know what you need." He positioned himself between my legs, his body covering mine. "And I’m going to give you everything."
His mouth found mine and I tasted copper and claiming, felt the bond between us pulse with approval.
When he finally pushed into me I shattered completely, coming apart on a broken sob while he stayed perfectly still and let me adjust to the stretch.
"God, you feel—" He couldn’t finish the sentence. Just dropped his forehead to mine and breathed harsh and uneven. "Perfect. You feel perfect." freewebnøvel.com
Through the bonds I could feel the other three watching, sharing in the sensation through the connections we all had now, and that should have made me self-conscious except it just made everything more intense.
Riven’s hand found mine, lacing our fingers while his satisfaction bled through the bond.
Draven’s cool palm pressed over my heart, feeling it race.
Thorne’s grip on my thigh tightened, possessive and grounding.
Four of them. All connected to me. All feeling what I felt.
Kael started moving and coherent thought became impossible, just sensation building and building while the bonds amplified everything until I couldn’t tell where I ended and they began.
"Let go." Kael’s voice in my ear. "We’ve got you. Let go."
The orgasm hit like a freight train, ripping through me with enough force to make me scream, and through the bonds I felt the others follow — Riven’s sharp inhale, Draven’s control fracturing, Thorne’s feral growl — all of us connected, all of us coming undone together.
Kael’s knot swelled inside me, locking us together, and the sudden fullness sent me over the edge again immediately.
"That’s it." His teeth grazed my claiming mark. "Take everything. You’re ours now. Completely."
I came again just from his words and the sensation of his knot stretching me beyond what I thought I could handle.
The heat finally broke.
Not gradually — just gone, like my body had gotten exactly what it needed and decided to stop torturing me.
What replaced it was bone-deep exhaustion and satisfaction so profound I could barely keep my eyes open.
Kael shifted carefully, rolling us so I was sprawled on top of him with his knot still locked inside me.
"Sleep." His hand stroked through my sweat-damp hair. "We’re not going anywhere."
"Knotted for at least twenty minutes," Draven supplied helpfully, and I felt rather than saw his smirk through the bond.
"Longer if he keeps making her come," Riven added, and yeah, I definitely felt his amusement.
Thorne’s hand settled on my ankle again, grounding and possessive, and through his bond I felt simple contentment.
Mine. Finally mine. Safe.
"Love you." The words slipped out before I could stop them, directed at all four of them through the bonds.
Silence.
Then Kael’s arms tightened around me. "Say that again."
"I love you." Clearer this time. Certain. "All of you. I don’t know when it happened but I do." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"I’ve loved you since you walked into my study,"."
"I’ve loved you since I felt your signature from seventy-three miles out," Riven added through the bond. "I just knew."
"I’ve loved you since you looked at me like I was worth choosing,".
Thorne’s grip on my ankle tightened. "Mine." Still just the one word. But through the bond I felt everything he meant by it — love and possession and fierce protection and home.
Tears slipped down my cheeks and I couldn’t even be embarrassed about it.
"We love you too," Kael finished. "More than you know."
The bonds pulsed warm and certain and absolutely permanent.
I was claimed. Mated. Bonded to four alphas who’d looked at a broken hybrid running from her past and decided she was worth fighting for.
And for the first time in two years, I let myself believe I might actually deserve it.
The knot showed no signs of going down and exhaustion pulled at me with relentless weight.
"Sleep,"."
"Promise?"
"Promise." Through the bond I felt his absolute certainty. "Forever."
I closed my eyes and let sleep take me, safe and claimed and finally home.
