"I love you. And I want you," Kagome said. "As a husband. As a lover. As a mate and the father of my child. Take me. I am yours."
She had practiced these words repeatedly since her epiphany in front of her family's graveyard. Over and over, she imagined his stunned face before it broke into a smile. Yes, she imagined his eyes widening with shock. She imagined him smiling. She imagined him laughing before he took her face in his hands and kissed her…
But, in reality, Sesshōmaru did none of those things.
In reality, he was stunned speechless. As still as a statue, he hovered above her, staring at her with an expression she could only describe as… silent astonishment. Not exactly uncomplimentary, but she had hoped for something a little more… optimistic. And joyful.
She rubbed her thumb along the magenta marking on his cheekbone and cautiously asked: "Did you… hear what I said?"
His eyes flickered, and he shifted if only to topple down, bending and burying his face between her breasts.
"Mating and breeding on the same night, Wife?" Sesshōmaru groaned, his breath hot on her cleavage. "Have mercy on this old yokai's poor soul."
"But—" Kagome's hand slipped from his head to clutch his shoulder. Laughter tickled her chest, and she had to bite down her lip to keep from chuckling. "I thought you've been waiting for this… for centuries?"
He raised his head to look at her, to cup her jaw and pull her closer so he could lock her lips with his, kissing her so passionately that her toes curled with delight. Yes… this was more like it. Her initial doubts evaporated with every swipe of his tongue, every suckle and glide.
"I have," he breathed against her lips. "I have, for longer than you would ever know. I'm just—" He swallowed. "— awed. And humbled that you agreed to be mine at last."
"Humbled? You?" Kagome repeated, touching his cheek. Emotions welled up in her chest, misting her eyes. "No, Sesshōmaru. I am the one who should be humbled. To know you have loved and waited for me all these years… It is a gift beyond my imaginings."
Sesshōmaru pulled her in and kissed her again, and she melted beneath him. He might have said he was not ready, but his body disagreed. He was hard, and she stroked him over his pants, revelling in how natural it felt to entice him like this. And, rolling his hips, he so evidently enjoyed every ounce of her attention.
"Touch me," he whispered. His tone was pleading. "Touch me. I've been waiting for you to tell me you'd be my mate."
Swiftly, Kagome unhooked the fastening of his pants and released him. Her fingers wrapped around the engorged length, stroking him the way she knew he liked. He was hot and pulsating against her palm. Sighing, he leaned into her touch, inching closer. She squeezed him, applying the perfect amount of pressure to have him rolling his hips and sliding his length in and out of her fist.
Impatient fingers divested of all articles of clothing they had left. Then, their hands freely roamed, exploring each other's body, giving pleasure as much as taking it as they caressed and teased, kissed and suckled. Foreplay was minimal, because both could no longer postpone the moment they could join as one. When Kagome lifted her hips to rub herself along his length, Sesshōmaru groaned and pinned her to the bed, restricting her movements as he lined himself up against her.
He rolled his hips, plunging deep into her, knocking the breath out of her lungs as she clutched his shoulders. They had coupled so many times, yet the stretch continued to feel like it was the first time. But when he drew his hips back, her walls clung to him, fighting to keep him inside her. With each plunge, her body opened for him. At the end of each thrust, he twisted his hips, screwing into her just a little further, pushing against her deepest parts. Every time the head of his cock kissed the mouth of her womb, she writhed, arching her spine and raking her blunt nails along his back.
"You feel perfect," he groaned in her ear as he increased the pace of his thrusts. "You are perfect."
He said so, but she knew: he was the perfect one. Kagome tried to tell him, but the way he moved robbed her of breath, of speech. She hoped she could convey her emotions with her touch, so she slid her palms over his skin, roaming the hard, rippled contours of his musculatures.
His breath hitched, and his hips stuttered, slamming hard and drawing a choked gasp from her throat.
"Kagome. Tell me again… the words I've waited for so long to hear."
She pulled his head down, whispering in his ear. With every plunge, she repeated her love words to him. With each syllable, he seemed to be losing a little of his composure and the sophistication of a yokai nobility he usually carried in his bearings. Until soon, there was no more finesse, only raw needs.
He rose onto his knees and held her legs open. "Keep your thighs like that," he told her, panting with exertion.
With his thumbs, he parted her folds to see her better. Kagome wanted to wrap her legs around his waist and clasp him to her core, but seeing how his fevered golden eyes stared at that wet place where she took him, parted for him, aroused her to an even greater height.
His thrusts quickened, veined length rubbing along the sensitive walls of her insides. Her orgasm arrived fast and unexpectedly, like a clap of thunder on a sunny day. She came under his gaze, fully open and vulnerable. Toes curling, her thighs shook from the force of her climax, and still, he drove that unrelenting hardness into her.
The hooded clit stood, needy for his attention. Sesshōmaru rubbed it with the rough pad of his thumb, each little contact prolonging her climax. He remained still inside her, pulling out only when her fluttering subsided. Her slick dripped from her onto the bedding below. He moved down to line his face with her mound. With his tongue, he lifted her clit, swirling the tip around the needy morsel before he took her entirely into his mouth and sucked. A deep rumble emanated from his chest as he devoured her, grunting and moaning with delight every time she tensed and clenched around his tongue.
Soon, when she begged him to penetrate her again, her hands alternating between trying to push his face down onto her core and shoving him away. Undeterred, he plunged two fingers inside her, curling upwards to stroke the front wall of her sex; his mouth never stopped suckling her. Her hand fell away as she came again upon his tongue, hips undulating underneath his forearm.
Sesshōmaru waited until Kagome came down from her high before he coaxed her to sit up. Her breasts were still heaving from exertion; her heartbeat was still a gallop, but she took his hand and let him maneuver her to climb onto his lap.
His hands caressed her sweaty back as he kissed her gently. He asked: "Do you remember when I told you I could not stop thinking about where I'm going to mark you?"
Her blush deepened. She must remember. They had only been married for one night when he told her. It felt like a long time ago, but he would never forget the day he decided where he would place his mark.
"You told me it would be a very special place," she said, eyes peering up with a look that spoke of both shyness and excitement.
Sesshōmaru nodded. "It will be." He stared at her, golden eyes deepening to a shade closer to molten amber, thinking of what would take place shortly. "Do you also remember what I told you about the mating ritual? There will be… excruciating pain as our souls are joined together."
Kagome reached out to rub the magenta stripes on his cheekbone. "Yes, I remember," she murmured. "And… I know you worry, but I am not afraid. I am ready."
He turned his head to place his lips on the center of her palm, his chest cinching with tenderness. "Do you trust me?"
She cupped his face as her velvety brown eyes bore into his. "With my life," she said fervently.
Their lips met halfway, gliding in slowly, languorously. Her arms encircled his neck as her breasts rubbed against his chest. Their bodies moved together sinuously, entirely in sync. He lifted her hips over him, positioning himself underneath her. She slid down, spine arching with a long, shuddering moan as she took the entirety of him, not stopping until she was settled upon his lap. His thighs supported her as she began to rock against him. She whimpered when she found an angle that had her clit rubbing deliciously against his pelvis, sending sharp frissons of pleasure all over her body. His hands curled around her waist as he guided her to bounce up and down his length.
As Sesshōmaru watched her take her pleasure, he set his mouth on the inside of her left breast, on that spot he had thought so much about for the last few months, where he would plant his mark – right above her beating heart. He lapped at the soft flesh, lavishing it with long strokes of his tongue. His teeth lengthened in preparation to mark her. Just thinking about it had his mouth watered.
He knew she was ready when her fingers clutched around a handful of his hair. He sank his fangs into her flesh. Her reiki lashed out, surprising him with how familiar it felt, even though he had not felt it since the days of chasing after Naraku in the feudal era. The force of her power slammed into him as it surged to protect her. It sensed a foreign presence that tried to invade her; it did not yet understand his intention, but it would. Soon. His yōki answered, rising to meet her reiryoku. Their energies swirled, intertwining in a complex dance.
The moment their souls ripped themselves apart to make room for the other, heat seared him. Excruciating pain up his spine — like someone had reached into him to grab hold of his vertebrae and pulled. Panting with exertion, Sesshōmaru held Kagome. Her pain made her sob, fat rivulets or tears coursing down her face, but she grabbed him as desperately as he grabbed her.
Kagome thrashed, clawing at his shoulders, chest, and back. He weathered her blunt nails, grabbing her hips and holding on, keeping her impaled on his lap as much as his fangs impaled her breast. His yōki flowed from him, entering her body through the puncture wounds he created just for her, fusing into the bloodstream that coursed through her body.
The torturous heat continued as pieces of their souls were rebuilt, joining together, weaved into a tapestry of tangled threads that no one could disentangle. No gods or creatures on this earth could separate them. Not even themselves. She owned a piece of his soul now, as he did hers. They were tied together in this world and beyond.
He could feel her inside him now, and the closeness, this intimacy prompted joy to well up inside him, the kind he had never known. Her soul thrummed to life within his chest, like a newly awakened butterfly breaking free from her cocoon. Shy, uncertain, but curious and… eager for more.
"I feel you," Kagome gasped, holding his head to her breasts. "I feel you — here, inside my chest. It feels so… full. Complete…"
He put his nose to the crook of her neck, inhaling. Her scent gradually changed now, shifting from that of a lover to that of a mate. Her struggles mellowed as she began to recognize him as her mate, as hers, at her deepest, basest level. The jerky movements of her hips turned slow and sensual, languid. Knowing she was ripe for breeding, his body and beast went into overdrive to keep up with her.
Now that they had mated, it was time to breed. His beast had not forgotten about this part. It had been patient as it set aside lust for love and devotion as they forged a new connection with their mate.
And Kagome, sensing the beast's awakening, looked upon him with a heavy-lidded gaze, lips twitching in a sultry smile as she tightened and released her inner muscles around him. Then, her hands on his shoulders, she raised herself until only the head of his cock remained within her before she slammed down onto his lap, crying out when he butted against the door to her womb.
He held her, kissed her breasts as she arched her beautiful back and rode him. Her raven hair spilled over his thighs, the soft tips tickling his skin.
She could get drunk on the way he looked at her, the way he cupped her body and moulded it to his. Love, passion, devotion, worship. Everything she had ever dreamed of in a lover, a partner, a mate — everything she had ever wanted and thought would never obtain — was now laid bare in front of her. In his gaze alone, she found it all.
When he lifted her with inhuman strength and flipped her over, swiftly arranging her on her hands and knees, Kagome gasped with mounting excitement. Her core felt empty, and she wanted her mate back inside her.
She whined with need, and he covered her in no time, sliding into her in one smooth motion that had her throwing her head back. Spine bowed into a taut arch, she let out a keening cry, arms stretching out to hold her body upright.
"Tell me you want this," Sesshōmaru growled in her ear. "Tell me what you want."
She never thought she would be ready to get pregnant again so soon. Her past experiences warranted her to shy away from the thoughts of having another baby. But, with Sesshōmaru, the prospect was no longer frightening, but exciting. There was no more fear, no more hesitation. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what a wonderful mate he would be — what a wonderful father he would be.
"Sesshomaru," she panted as he drove into her, her fingers clutching the bedsheets underneath her, so hard the tips of her fingernails turned white. "Give me a child."
Swiftly, he pinned her beneath his larger frame. Deep down in the marrow of her being, she knew this was where she needed to be, meant to be. She parted her thighs further and lifted her hips, inviting her mate to come into her a little deeper with each wriggle of her body. He grunted, his response utterly primal in how he bore down, lending his body weight to drill deep into her body. He pulled out only to drive himself in, snapping his hips so hard she saw stars burst behind her eyelids.
The slapping of his skin against hers punctuated every thrust. Her cries rose into a crescendo as he quickened his pace.
Sesshomaru thought his mind would splinter at any moment from sensory overload. He felt like he would go mad with love and lust, most likely both.
He held her beneath him. His mate. His mate. Draping himself over her, he pulled her earlobe into his mouth, biting gently. He whispered love and sex words into her ear as one hand gripped her quivering hip while the other clutched at her breast. She lifted her head to soak up every single word and quivered in response.
After more than five hundred years, she was finally his in every way. And soon, she would be the mother of his child. His hands rubbed her belly, his mind conjuring images of her growing round with his — their child. The thought of this momentous gift made his passion for her climb even higher.
He moved his mouth to her nape and set his teeth there, creating imprints without breaking her skin. His hips would not stop moving. Shaking all over, he could barely contain himself. He knew he was unravelling, his consciousness being pushed aside to make room for the bestial instinct that was taking over. When Kagome cried out and reached back to claw at his pistoning hip, he distantly wondered if he was being too rough.
But a whiff of her scent allayed his worries. There was only desire and joy there, no pain or sadness.
She was his mate. He would know her as much as he knew his own body. He rocked against her, keeping himself deep inside her, lifting his hips only an inch before he drove her into her again. Her happy mewls when he began to spill were music to his ears. His seed already made her so sensitive inside, she would feel every jet of his come like a physical thrust.
Sesshōmaru had never been this rough with her before. His lovemaking, though passionate, had always been in check. Now, he was unfettered, like the yōkai he was always meant to be. She could feel him transforming, just slightly, growing larger above her and inside her body, pushing the soft tissues that were already so stretched, to begin with. It would have been a cause for concern if she had not prepared herself properly. But, as it was, the added girth only made her wetter.
Her vision swayed as he continued to pump into her with wild abandon, his teeth on the juncture of her neck, breasts bouncing, and her nipples chafing against the bedsheets. Her womb felt full, but she could not get enough. Already, she could feel herself racing into another climax.
"Sessh…" She was trembling all over. He laced his fingers with hers, anchoring her. Her mouth fell open around a silent moan as she felt him burrowing even deeper. He stretched her, testing her limits. If he had been any larger, he would not have fit at all. Still, the thickening ring of flesh at the base of his cock — his knot — hindered his progress. When he tried to push it in, she whined, overwhelmed.
"It's okay," Sesshōmaru whispered against her nape. He sounded different. Guttural, as though his mouth was full of teeth. "Do not move. Just relax and let me—" He moaned softly and shuddered as her body began to suck him in.
At his pleading, she softened beneath him, around him, and let him work himself slowly into her. His expanding knot pressed against sensitive nerve endings that made her clit pulse underneath his teasing thumb. She let out a long, quivering whine as she came helplessly around him, again, clenching around the thick ring of flesh that stuffed her full and would continue to do so until he was replete and empty.
Sesshōmaru paused when Kagome tightened during her orgasm, groaning deep in his chest as he tensed and shook, striving to keep still while she fluttered around him. Her orgasms were long and close together now, blending into one another that she could hardly tell when it ended before the next one began. She knew if he had his way, he would make her come continuously while they were locked together.
The mating mark on her breast pulsed too, as though that spot was connected to her pussy by a taut, invisible string which he continued to tease and pluck with every twist and roll of his hips. She rubbed it with the tip of her forefinger and felt that taut string growing tighter as their bond thrummed to life. She felt him twitch in response inside her. Every little movement sent pulses of pleasure to radiate from her womb. Writhing beneath him, she felt so full, yet her needy body kept drawing him in, hungry for more of him. Her walls fought to hold onto his length whenever he pulled out, not wanting to let go.
His yoki thrummed under his skin, swishing through their bond, reaching out for her, and she gave in to him. Her reiki welcomed him, embracing his yōki as much as her body accepted him.
Everything she thought she knew about sex, about love, was no more. Because this act, with her one and true mate, was so much more than she could ever think possible. When they came together, their orgasms shook them — body and soul. She heard his harsh shout as though it was coming from a mile away, buried under her own cries and sobs. Her vision doubled, and she had to close her eyes to focus on the sensations. Even so, she felt him above her, inside her, the jets of his seed flooding her womb. Then, as the tremors of his climax wrecked him, his fingers laced with hers and squeezed as though she alone could anchor him through this maelstrom of bliss.
And somewhere deep beneath the waves of her peak, she felt his joy, and his pleasure that mirrored her own.
It took some time for his knot to deflate, during which he lavished his new mate with plenty of kisses and intimate touches. By the time they finished, it was nearly dawn. After her latest release, Kagome, exhausted and beyond sleepy, curled up on the bed and immediately fell asleep. A smile of contentment was on her face.
Sesshōmaru spent some time cleansing her with a warm, damp cloth, checking her bite marks to ensure they were healing properly before he curled around her, spooning tight behind her. He could not sleep, and he would not. His body thrummed with energy; all senses were on high alert as he scanned their surroundings for the umpteenth time to ensure his mate's safety.
When he was confident their location was secure and that she was safe in his arms, he finally relaxed and drew her closer to the cusp of his body. He still could not believe it. But, as he inhaled repeatedly, he knew her scent had changed.
Gently, he cupped her belly, where he felt the first stirrings of their child.
Kagome was pregnant.