Francesco didn’t say a word.

He just took my hand –rge, calloused, warm — trembling faintly with the remnants of the battle, and led me away from the others.

No one dared stop us.

The presence of the Lycan Alpha moving through the halls was too overwhelming, toomanding. The warriors and Alphas stepped baside/b, bowing their headsb, /bunderstanding that this moment was not meant to be interrupted.

men for a second.

away if he let go men for a

His grip on my hand was firms but careful, as it afraid I might slip aw

The hallways blurred past as we dimbed the grand staircase of the ckpine mansion, the world blurring around us, his pace urgent but careful, like he was barely holding himself together until he reached the private guest quarters reserved for him—a heavy oak door at the end of a deserted bhall/b.

Francesco pushed it open with one hand and pulled me inside, closing the door with a quiet but final thud.

Silence fell. Heavy, charged.

bWe /bjust stood there, facing each other. Breathing bheavily/b. bEyes /blocked.

The adrenaline from the fight still crackled in the air around him, mingling with the intense, primal pull between us–the ancient call of mates finally about to be fulfilled.

Francesco took one slow, deliberate step toward me, then another, until he was standing so close that I could feel the heat radiating from bhis /bbody

He reached up and gently cupped my face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away the silent tears that had escaped down my cheeks.

“You are mine, Eine,” he said, voice rough and broken. “I cannot–i will not let another day pass without you knowing it… without the world knowing

His forehead pressed against mine, and we stayed like that for a moment–breathing each other inb, /bgrounding ourselves in the reality of what was about

to happen.

“I will never let anything harm you bagain/b,” he whispered fiercely. “I will protect you with myst breath, I will cherish byou /buntil the bend /bof time.”

A sob escaped my throat, my heart aching with the sheer depth offove in bhis /bvoice.

“And I will stand by you, Francesco,” I whispered back, my fingers tangling in the front of his shirt. “I will be your strength when you are weak. Your light when the darknesses. Alwaysb./b”

A low, deep sound rumbled from his chest–part growl, part sigh–as he pulled me into bhim/b, crushing our bodies together.

His mouth found mine, and it was nothing like the sweet kisses we had shared before.

This kiss was desperate, devouring, iming.

He kissed me like a starving bman/bb, /blike he bhad /bbeen drowning for a lifetime and I was his only breath.

I bgasped /bagainst his mouth, my fingers threading into his wild hair, tugging him closer, needing him closer

He kissed me with the full force of everything he felt – desperation, devotion, reverence

my back, gripping my waist possessively before fifting me easily off the floor.

Francesco’s hands roamed down my

I wrapped my legs around his waist instinctively, my bbody /bmelting into his, as he carried me toward the massive four–poster bed in the center of the

brooth/bb. /b

1A

Cheplecat

was something precious, and hovered bear me, his wid golden eyes fact, nemys

“Tell me to stop,” he said hoarsely, his entire body trembling with restraint “Tell me now, or I won’t be able to

reached up, cradling hisce between my hands.

“don’t want you to stop,” whispered fiercely. “I want to be yours. Truly. Completely.”

Thest thread of his control snapped.

He kissed me again, slower this time, deeper, his hands moving reverently over my hotly as he undressed me plece by piece worshiping every inch at exposed skin with his lips, his hands, his whispered words of devotion in Italian,

“You are perfect divina… bellissima.” (divine… beautiful)

When he bared my neck, his breath hitched audibly, and he leaned down, brushing his nose along the sensitive skin where the mating mark would be.

His Lycan growled low in his throat, the sound vibrating through me, awakening every nerve ending in my body

“You are mine,” he growled, voice rough and priital And Fam yours.”

He needed me

not just physically, but soul–deep.

He stripped off his own torn battle clothes with shaking hands, revealing the full expanse of his powerful body–broad chest marked by scars of battles fought long before I bknew /bhim, muscles coiled with barely contained strength a warrior’s body, fierce and breathtaking..

bBut /bhis eyes… His eyes were soft. Vulnerable. Full of worship,

Francesco lowered himself over me, our bare skin meeting, sparking an explosion of heat and electricity.

He lowered himself over me, his warmth enveloping mine, and kissed me again–slower nowb, /bbdeeper/b, pouring all his emotions into it.

When he finally entered me, it was with a groan torn straight from his soul–slow, careful, giving me time to adjust, giving me time to ept him fully.

I gasped at the feeling–of fullness, ofpletion – as he moved inside me with a rhythm that spoke of love, not just lust.

bOur /bbodies moved together in a bdance /bas old as time, and the bond between us crackled to life, bright and overwhelming

I cried out, not from pain, but from the overwhelming flood of emotions as he moved inside me with agonizing slowness, murmuring words in Italian against my skin!

Ti amo…tiamo, mia lunasi bil /bmio destino. love you

I love y moon…you are my destiny…

you, my

Each bthrust/b, each kiss, each whispered vow stitched the shattered pieces of my heart back together.

Theld onto him, meeting every movement, matching every kiss, until the world blurred and only the two of bus /bremained.

When I was bclose/b, when my whole body trembled under him, I forgot how to breathe, my bnails /bdigging into his back, Francesco lifted bis head and looked deep into my eyes.

“Let me mark you,” he pleaded, voice breaking. “Let me make you mine forever.”

“Yes,” bIgasped/b. “Yes. Francesco, Always”

With a deep, guttural growl, bhe /bsank his fangs into the curve of my neck

–

not enoughen hurt, but enough to im me irrevocably.

A searing heat rushed through me, the bond snapping fully into ce, flooding my mind with Francesco protectiveness.

his emotions, his love, his fierce

b11:04 /b

y mate,pered fiercely y

And then that him – marking him with it

Francenem let mut a deep, broken rem, his

The bond red even brighte

ng ut snel in soul

(Guns Foreve

He rolled u

ed us gently, cradling g me on top of him, hit massher hands running soothingly up and down my hack,

Team streamed down both our faces as we held each other tightly, our bodies still trembling from the force of the

“You are my everything. Eme,” he whispered into my hair, voice thick with emotion “My Luna: My mate. My

“And you are mine, Francesco,” whispered back, pressing my lips to the fresh mark on his peck“My Alpha My mats M We stayed like that for what felt like eternity–tangled together, hearts beating in perfect synchrony, our souls atst whole

Outside, the moon rose higher, casting its bsilver /blight over us like a blessing

We were no longer broken pieces.

We wereplete. Two halves of one whole

Bound by love. Sealed by destiny.

?