Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
The long sheer sleeves extend to my wrists, ending in a scalloped lace hem that matches the hem along the bottom edges and front opening of the outer layer. I clasp it in the middle, right at the bottom of my ribs, and trace the swirling edges and flowers along the split opening. The layers of sheer fabric work to hide my body from the world, but under the moonlight and in the candlelight of the temple, my mate will be able to make out almost every inch of me with his sharp eyes.
I stare at myself in the mirror, taking it all in, my heart full and my soul ready to become one with Nolan’s. The gown is more stunning on my body than it was hanging in the armoire. The glittering adornments catch the fading light and reflect it throughout the room, and I know it will do the same in the temple.
Inhaling deeply, I gather the skirt in my hand and head out the back door of the room. The sun is almost gone, the last vestiges of light clinging to the sky and hiding some stars, but the moon glows already, silver and bright against the darkening sky.
The winding trail lined with jasmine leads me to the edge of the temple grounds, right in front of the pond at the foot of the temple stairs. The open-air temple with the moon hanging above it is reflected flawlessly in the smooth surface of the water, but it all pales in comparison to Nolan.
My mate.
His back is to me, his arms crossed over his chest as he stares out at the temple beneath the rising moon. The tattooed wings on his shoulder blades ripple, and the blade down his spine sharpens as his muscles tense as he spins to face me.
His arms uncross and he freezes, holding himself still as his eyes roam over my dress before they lift to my face. They shine with love and wonder, and before I can take time to appraise him in his low-slung white linen pants, my feet are already carrying me to him, my dress flowing out behind me as I cross the distance between us in mere seconds.
“Cassandra…” he murmurs as he envelops me in his arms, pressing kisses to my neck and across my shoulder until his lips hit fabric and he makes his way back again.
His massive, firm arms embrace me with such gentleness, and once again I find myself wonderstruck by the juxtaposition of his visible strength and the tenderness with which he always treats me when he holds me like this.
“Goddess, you are so beautiful,” he whispers, leaning away to gaze down at me in his arms. I blink back tears as he continues to gaze at me with complete and utter awe, a lump forming in my throat at the pure love I feel for him and sense from him.
I slide my fingertips over his bare torso, tracing the outline of his muscles. He shudders beneath my touch, eyes closing and chin lifting as he strains his neck and holds himself back from me. “Are you ready?” I ask, even though I can tell he is by the tension in his body.
He nods and releases me from his grasp, and I back away, taking his hand in mine and leading him towards the temple to begin our ceremony.
NOLAN
Cassandra strolls in front of me, her skirt lifted in one hand and my hand clasped in her other. She glances back at me every few steps as she leads me across the stepping stones in the grass and up the stairs into the temple, smiling as she does.
A breeze blows, catching the fabric of her gown and swirling the material, making the loose, wispy tendrils of her hair dance in the moonlight. The white, semi-sheer fabric of her dress almost hides her body from view. But the moon and stars give enough light to make out the outline of her long, graceful legs, the curve of her ass, and the swell of her breasts beneath the layers of the gown.
The train rustles across the grass and up the stairs, the clicking of beadwork adding depth to the music she makes as she walks. The jeweled pins holding her hair in place sparkle and tease my eyes, disappearing and reappearing like stars in the night sky. It all combines to create an ethereal, sensual image of Cassandra, one I’ll remember for all our days.
Innumerable stars twinkle in the sky, but she shines brighter and more exquisitely than all of them combined.
My stunning, incomparable Cassandra.
Mine.
When we reach the threshold, she stops, and her breath catches in her throat as she stares at the interior, tears pooling in her eyes. I pause behind her, hands resting on her hips, gazing at it with her.
It’s dark inside, save for one large candle near us. Unlit candles line the temple, one in front of each column holding up the open-air roof. On the opposite side from us, a glass of wine sits in front of a large unlit candle matching the one to our left, and in the circular, sunken floor of the temple are cushions, pillows, silks, and furs.
And strewn about the temple, arranged in vases and small, hand-tied bundles, are daisies of every color. Just as I requested.
Cassandra inhales, her breath shaking, and she covers her mouth with a trembling hand. I dart around her, cupping her face in my hands and frowning down at her as the tears fall down her cheeks. “What is it?”
She shakes her head and wipes the tears from her face. “It’s silly.”
“I’m sure it’s not.”
She smiles through her quivering lips. “I’ve helped prepare the temple for this ceremony countless times as an acolyte.” She licks her lips and reaches her hand out to my chest, her fingertips grazing over my skin, like she’s not sure I’m real. “I never thought I’d see it set up for my own marking ceremony.” A little tear-filled laugh falls from her mouth. “It feels like a dream.”
I wrap my arms around her torso, tucking her against my chest and kissing the top of her head. “It’s not a dream.” I grip her chin and lift her gaze to mine. “It’s real. You and me, Daisy. Forever.”
My hand travels down her neck, and I circle her mark with my fingertips, her eyelids fluttering as she sighs. “Forever. I like the sound of that.”
I smile. “Me too.”
She reaches up and presses her lips to mine. The kiss is soft, sweet, filled with joy, and tinted with a deeper sensuality, just like Cassandra. I long to deepen it and extend it, but she backs away and connects our hands again, guiding me to the one lit candle in the temple.
Two wooden lighting sticks lay on the pedestal the candle sits on. She grabs both and hands one to me, gesturing at the candle with her chin. “This candle represents how our souls started as one before splitting into two halves. We each will light half the circle of candles until we reach the large candle on the other side,” she says, sweeping her arm out and gesturing at the unlit candles around the temple. “We light them to signify our journey to find our other half, showing how, although our souls were split, we endured our separation, growing stronger apart to become a powerful, singular entity upon reuniting.”
We gaze into each other’s eyes as she finishes speaking, and my throat bobs as I swallow back the emotion building there. She entwines our fingers, and as one, we light our wooden sticks before separating and circling the temple.
It’s silent, save for the susurrations of her dress on the temple floor. It whispers and sighs, like a lover in the night, reminding me of her steady, unchanging presence in the temple and in my life.
I light each candle on my side of the temple, taking my time to soak in the beauty of the symbolism of the ceremony and to reflect on the journey that led me to her.
My mate.
Our souls may not have been one to begin with, like the candle represents, but our journey through life to find each other did strengthen us. Our trials forged each of us into a sharpened weapon, a soldier clad in iron mail. It made it harder for us to find each other and let the other in. But it made finding each other more meaningful, because we had to work for it. We had to fight for what we wanted, what our souls knew we needed before we were ready to admit it.
The light from the candles we ignite grows brighter with each of our steps closer to each other, an outward representation of how Cassandra has brightened my days and my heart with her sunshine spirit and her wildflower soul. Our love for each other blossomed even with the barbed wire exterior I presented to her when I was too damaged to realize what I felt for her was love.
We reach the last candle at the same time, and once again we join hands, both of us exhaling as we touch. Without words, we extend our sticks to the wick, igniting the large candle as one. I take hers from her and set them both on the pedestal before wrapping my arm around her waist.
The temple is aglow with candles, lighting up every inch, every alcove, spotlighting the carved architecture and the flowers everywhere, but all I see is her. The addition of the golden light from the candles to the silver light of the moon and the stars penetrates straight through the sheer fabric of her gown, leaving little of her body to my imagination. I explore her with my free hand, gliding it over her subtle curves barely hidden by the almost sheer fabric.
“The wine,” she says with a gasp as I trail my fingers across the swell of her breasts, tracing the neckline of her gown. “We’re supposed to share it, to symbolize how we will share our hearts and our souls with each other.”
“I don’t want to let you go,” I whisper, aware of how whipped and needy I sound and not caring in the slightest.
“You don’t have to.” She smiles, running her hands over my bare torso before reaching for the glass.
She lifts it to her smiling pink lips and sips it, savoring the red wine as it slips into her mouth. Then she raises it to my mouth, tilting it for me to drink from. I arch my neck and take a sip, and a small drop falls from the corner of my lips, rolling down my throat. Cassandra darts forward, licking the wine away with a swipe of her tongue along my neck, making me groan and my dick harden more than it already is.
She sets the glass of wine on the pedestal without taking her mouth from my neck, teasing and taunting me with kisses and flicks of her tongue, focusing on my marking spot.
“Cassandra…” I grip her body in my hands, fingers digging into her hips, and I rock forward, rubbing my dick against her. “Oh, fuck that is…” Another groan cuts off any further words from me as she palms my cock through the thin linen of my pants, and all I can think of and focus on is her touch and her body in my arms.
“I choose you, Nolan,” she says, backing away from me, her hands undoing the clasp on the front of the top layer of her gown. “I choose you now, and I will choose you every day of our lives together.” The outer garment falls down her arms and to the floor, leaving her in only the dress underneath, held up by two thin straps I could easily slice through. I follow her, matching her step for step, eyes glued to her as she undresses and makes her vow to me. “I choose you because you also chose me. You embrace me as I am, accepting all the broken pieces of my soul. Bond or not, you are my mate, the other, better, half of my soul.”
I close the minute gap between us again, caressing her arms to her shoulders and stopping her retreat. “I love you and I choose you, Cassandra,” I say, trailing my fingertips up her neck, making her breath catch and her eyelids flutter. “It may have taken a while for my brain to catch up, but my heart chose you from the moment you first arrived in Crescent Lake. You smiled at me, and from that second on, my heart was in your hands.”
I pluck a jeweled pin from her hair and then another, dropping them to the floor as I continue my speech to her. “You bring out the best in me, and you’ve given me something to live for, something to look forward to. Your resilience and your positivity brighten my days and bolster my heart. Your love is like a field of wildflowers—lush and dense, vibrant and untamed, the perfect combination to balance my intense stoicism.” I drop the final pin to the floor, and my arm wraps around her shoulders as her hair cascades down her back in loose waves. My lips brush a kiss against her collarbone as I weave my fingers into the hair at her nape. “You are my mate in every way that matters, and my heart is yours forever.”
Emotion fills my chest, thick and sweet as caramel. It coats my soul and pools in my eyes, and I turn my face into Cassandra’s neck, breathing her in. But I don’t force it back or hold it in. I let the tears fall onto her skin, then lift my gaze to hers. I pour everything into her with my stare—all the words I don’t have to express to her what she means to me and how she’s changed me. “I’m yours,” I say again, repeating the only sentiment that matters. “Make me yours, Cassandra.”
She angles her body to descend the small set of steps leading to the center of the temple, and I am right behind her, my hand moving to the small of her back, ready to catch her should she fall. She lowers herself and scoots backwards as I remove my pants and kneel before her, crawling over her as she reclines against the pillows and cushions on the temple’s floor, sliding my hand up the outside of her leg and lifting her skirt as I go.
The graceful curve of her long leg comes into view, her skirt pooling and billowing around her waist. I kiss across her chest and down the swell of her breasts, the edges of the lace daisies teasing my chin. I reach her bare hip and slide my hand around to squeeze her ass before I continue my exploration of her body beneath her gown. Her skin is warm and soft, and it pebbles under my touch, little shivers of desire wracking her body as I explore her suppleness.
She gasps as my fingers part her lower lips, and my cock jerks at how wet and ready for me she is. Her chest heaves and her neck arches as she supports herself on her elbows, and I gaze at her beautiful, pleasure-filled face as I slip my finger inside her, twisting it as I slide it in and out.
Her legs spread more, showing off all of her beautiful pussy to me, and my hand grips into her thigh, thumb pressing into her skin hard enough to leave a bruise as I hold her apart, keeping her open for me. She clutches at the cushions beneath her as I graze her clit with my other thumb, nails scraping against the fabric, her hips bucking into my touch, and her greedy pussy pulsing around my finger. The flimsy straps on her gown fall off her shoulders, and the bodice drifts down her chest, revealing the edges of her pink nipples.
I watch her, transfixed, as she gives in to the pleasure she’s receiving from me. She is pure sensuality, caught up in her bliss. Her eyelashes flutter, her heart races, and sweet sighs and moans fall from her lips, floating through the temple and up into the night sky. I kiss the top of her knee and down her inner thigh until I reach where my hand spreads her open, and then I make the journey back to her knee. She tenses with anticipation as I repeat the movements, over and over, never placing my mouth on the specific spot she wants me to.
A frustrated groan escapes her after the third time I tease her, and I laugh, my lips tickling the inside of her leg right next to her knee. “I know, Daisy,” I say underneath my deep, resonant laughter, leaning over her and lifting my hand to her face as I continue playing with her pussy. “But we have all night, and I want to take my time with you.” My finger drags out and swipes up to her clit, circling it in a spiraling, swirling figure eight. “I want this night to live in your memories as a magnificent, impeccable moment.”
I glide my hand up her abdomen, my eyes closing at the softness of her beneath my touch. When I reach her breast, I twist her nipple between my thumb and finger, and she rolls her body in response, her throat vibrating with her moan.
“Let me make this night special for you,” I say, lifting her dress up and over her head, revealing her gorgeous naked body to my eyes.
The dress drops to the cushions somewhere off to the side, and I lower my body over hers again, returning my fingers to her pussy and pressing my lips to her mouth. She wraps her arms around my neck, and everything is sweeter with her returning my touch. Her hands cup my neck as she deepens our kiss, our tongues dancing and tasting the hints of the robust red wine we shared. One hand slips around to my shoulder and down my chest, her palm resting over my pounding, love-filled heart.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?