Chapter 253: Bite Me Again. Hottest Shit Ever.
He almost made it to his father’s study. Almost made it to the conversation that would change everything. Then Serena woke up, and the everything that changed was him.
She was awake.
He felt her confusion first. The disorientation of waking in a bed she remembered falling asleep next to, wearing a chemise she had no memory of putting on.
Dex was already moving.
He turned on his heel and covered the distance at alpha speed, pushing through the door so hard it cracked against the stone wall behind it.
Serena was sitting up in bed, white hair wild around her shoulders, eyes red-rimmed. Onyx had been startled off her chest and was now huddled at the foot of the bed, wings flared, looking personally victimized by the sudden movement.
"Dex?"
She stared at Dex in the doorway. Her lips parted, but the words died before they formed.
The thing that hit him through their matebond was devastating.
Relief so total it buckled the backs of his knees. Grief that hadn’t finished processing. Terror that was still unwinding. Joy that she was too exhausted to trust. All of it slammed into him at once, layered and raw and completely unguarded.
He crossed the room in three strides.
His arms went around her before she could speak, pulling her against his chest, one hand cradling the back of her head, the other locked around her waist.
He held her tight enough that the seam between their bodies disappeared. Tight enough that his heartbeat pressed against hers and hers pressed back, two rhythms finding each other after seven days of silence.
Serena’s arms came up slowly, wrapping around him with a grip that contradicted every fragile inch of her. She buried her face in his chest and breathed him in, and the sound she made was small and involuntary and so full of relief that his eyes burned.
This hug was different.
She knew every version of his embrace by now: the possessive grab after a fight, the protective hold during a flight, the playful tackle, the desperate grip when something had gone wrong.
This hug had weight it shouldn’t have, carrying something older and heavier. Grief that predated her. She could feel it in the way his hand pressed flat against her spine like he was memorizing the shape of it.
She didn’t understand it, but she felt it.
"Dex," she whispered against his shirt. "You’re awake."
"I’m awake." His voice was rough. Rougher than it should have been for a man who had just showered and drunk two tonics and been conscious for the better part of an hour.
He pressed his lips to the crown of her head and kept them there.
Behind her, in the doorway, a shadow moved. Fin stood leaning against the frame, arms crossed, watching them. He had followed Dex back the moment he felt Serena’s spike of consciousness through their matebond, because of course he had. He always felt her.
Serena turned her head, and caught his expression. Composed. But what she felt through their matebond and cracked her open.
He was happy Dex was awake. That part was real and true and she felt the sincerity of it. But underneath the relief was something he’d buried so deep she almost missed it. An ache, low and constant, the kind that lived in the space between the ribs and never fully went away.
Her eyes stung. She knew watching her in Dex’s arms wasn’t easy, and she knew he would never say so, because Fin Shadowclaw would sooner set himself on fire than have her worry about him.
But she could feel the bruise spreading through their matebond. The quiet, disciplined ache of a man who had decided long ago that loving her and losing pieces of her to Dex was still better than walking away.
Fin straightened off the doorframe.
"I’ll see you tomorrow, Serena." His voice was warm. Steady. Casual in a way that was entirely deliberate. He crossed the room in three unhurried strides and leaned down.
His lips pressed to her forehead. Gentle. Lingering for exactly one second longer than a friend would.
Then he scooped Onyx off the foot of the bed. The dragon chirped in sleepy protest, then settled against Fin’s chest, tail wrapping around his torso. Onyx nuzzled into his bonded’s neck and closed his eyes immediately, already falling back asleep.
Fin met Dex’s gaze over Serena’s head. Something passed between them. Wordless. Heavy. The kind of exchange between two men who loved the same woman and had stopped pretending otherwise.
Then Fin left. The door closed behind him with a quiet click.
The silence that followed was thick enough to hold shape.
Serena stared at the closed door, her chest tight, guilt curling through her like smoke. She swallowed it and turned back to Dex.
"I need to tell you something."
His brow ticked up. "Already? I’ve been awake for an hour."
The humor faded when he read her face.
"I marked you."
"I heard," Dex’s said, face stone serious. His hand went to his neck, fingers finding the mark.
"I knocked you unconscious, Dex, and I’m so sorry." Her voice cracked on the last word.
Dex flashed a boyish grin that he absolutely wasn’t bothering to hide.
"This is the hottest thing you’ve ever told me."
Her mouth fell open. "Dex. This isn’t funny."
"How hard did you bite?" His fingers traced the bite on his neck again, his grin widening in a way that made her want to hit him with a pillow.
"Dex."
"Because I’m picturing it, and I need you to know that the visual is doing a lot for me right now."
"You are unbelievable."
He tackled her.
She screamed, high-pitched and startled, and then they were both on the bed, Dex pinning her beneath him with his full weight, his arms bracketing her head, his grin so close to her face she could feel the warmth of it.
"You’re my favorite toy," he said. "And you can bite me anywhere you want."
"It’s. Not. Funny." Each word was punctuated by a failed attempt to shove him off. He didn’t budge.
"Anywhere, Serena. Anywhere at all. I’m offering a full menu."
Aegon: She MARKED us. This is the greatest day of my life.
Dexmon: Calm down.
Aegon: Our mate bit us on the NECK. Tell her to do it again.
"Stop smiling," she said, face burning. "I’m trying to apologize."
"Apology accepted. Now promise you’ll do it again."
She was trying very hard to stay upset. Her face was flushed, her eyes were bright, and her mouth was doing the thing it did when she was fighting a smile, the tight-lipped press that made the corners of her lips tremble. He loved that look. It was the look of a woman who refused to give him the satisfaction and was losing badly.
She was adorable.
She was so adorable it physically hurt.
And just like that, the humor drained from him and something darker, hungrier, took its place.
He was still pinning her. Her body was beneath his, warm through the thin chemise, her white hair spread across his pillow, her cheeks flushed, her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths that she couldn’t quite control.
He kissed her. Hard. His mouth crushed against hers with an urgency that surprised both of them. His hand slid into her hair, fisting at the base of her skull, angling her head back to deepen it.
His tongue found hers, and the taste of her flooded his senses. A sound tore from his throat that was closer to anguish than pleasure.
She pulled away from him. "I want to feel you."
The words came out before she could catch them. Her cheeks went scarlet, burning so hot she could feel the heat radiating off her own skin. She had never asked for that before. She had responded to him, followed his lead, melted under his hands when he initiated. But she had never been the one to say it.
Dex’s eyes went black with lust. "Say it again."
"I want you inside me," she whispered, cheeks burning.
Everything was different, and she didn’t know why, and the frustration of that dissonance was almost as overwhelming as the kiss itself.
She arched into him, and his breath caught.
He pulled the chemise over her head slowly, drawing the fabric up her body inch by inch, his eyes following the exposure of her skin with an expression that made her heart crack open.
"Fuck, look at you..." His voice was wrecked. "I missed you."
His jaw tightened. Something passed behind his eyes that she couldn’t name, ancient and grieving and fiercely, violently grateful. His mouth found her neck. Her mark. He kissed it with a tenderness that made her eyes sting.
A low, dangerous growl rumbled in his chest. He shoved her thighs apart with rough hands and brought his palm down in a sharp, wet slap right against her cunt.
Serena gasped, hips jerking hard at the stinging pleasure. The impact sent a jolt straight to her clit.
He didn’t give her time to recover. His palm came down again and he left it there, grinding the heel of his hand against her clit while his fingers teased her entrance.
"Good girl," he rasped, still grinding his palm against her clit. His eyes flashed molten gold. "You’re going to take all of me tonight... in every way I want you."
