Updated Nov 6, 2025 • ~8 min read
The touching was driving Caspian insane.
Since they’d started kissing, Willow couldn’t seem to keep her hands off him. She touched him constantly—running her fingers through his hair, tracing his scars, resting her hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat. Casual, affectionate touches that probably meant nothing to her.
And were absolutely destroying him.
Because every touch made his panther roar MATE. Every casual brush of her fingers made him want to pin her down and claim her properly. Complete the bond. Make her his in every possible way.
But she wasn’t ready. She’d said she wanted to take things slow, figure out her feelings separate from the bond. And he would respect that if it killed him.
Which it might.
“You’re tense,” Willow said on their tenth day together. She was curled against his side, her hand tracing patterns on his stomach that were absolutely not helping.
“I’m fine.”
“Liar.” She propped herself up on one elbow to look at him. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
Everything. Nothing. You’re touching me and I want you so badly I can barely think straight and I’m terrified I’ll lose control and scare you away.
“Just wound up,” he said instead. “Need to hunt. Patrol. Run.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. He’d been staying close to the cave, not wanting to leave her, but his panther needed to move. Needed to chase something, catch something, remind himself he was still a predator.
“So go,” Willow said. “I’ll be fine here for a few hours.”
“Don’t want to leave you unprotected.”
“Caspian. I survived alone in the wilderness for years before you. I’ll be fine for one afternoon.”
She had a point. But his panther howled at the thought of leaving her vulnerable.
“The hunters—”
“Haven’t been back in days. You’ve been patrolling. You would have scented them.” She poked his chest. “You’re making excuses because you’re overprotective.”
Also true.
“Go,” she said firmly. “Hunt. Run. Do whatever panthers do. I’ll be here when you get back.”
Caspian hesitated, then nodded. “Three hours. If I’m not back in three hours—”
“You will be.” She kissed him, quick and sweet. “Go. Work off whatever has you so tense.”
If only she knew.
Caspian shifted and ran.
He pushed himself hard, racing through his territory at top speed, relearning the feel of wind in his fur and earth under his paws. He tracked a deer and brought it down cleanly, the hunt satisfying something primal in him.
But it didn’t help the other hunger. The one that coiled tight in his gut every time Willow touched him. The one that whispered mate, claim, ours.
By the time he returned to the cave—exactly two hours and fifty-three minutes later—he was calmer. More centered. The run had helped.
Then he walked into the cave and found Willow fresh from bathing in the underground spring, wearing only his shirt, water still glistening on her bare legs.
All that hard-won control evaporated.
“Hey,” she said, smiling at him. “Feel better?”
No. Yes. I want to devour you.
“Yeah,” he managed. His voice came out rough, more growl than word.
Willow’s eyes sharpened. “You’re doing the glowy eye thing again.”
“Sorry.” He forced himself to look away, to move to the far side of the cave. “I’ll shift back. Give me a minute.”
But when he shifted, it was worse. Because then he was naked and human and she was right there in his shirt looking like every fantasy he’d had for the past ten days.
“Caspian?” Willow’s voice was concerned. “What’s wrong? And don’t say nothing. I can see you’re struggling with something.”
He grabbed his leather pants and yanked them on, needing the barrier. “It’s the bond. It’s getting stronger.”
“Stronger how?”
How did he explain this without sounding like an animal? “I want you. Constantly. Being near you, touching you, not being able to fully claim you—it’s difficult.”
“Oh.” Willow’s cheeks flushed pink. “I didn’t realize—I’ve been touching you a lot, haven’t I?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s making it worse?”
“Yes and no.” He finally looked at her. “I love when you touch me. It’s the best thing I’ve felt in forty years. But it also makes my panther insane because we’re not mated yet. Every touch is a promise of more that I can’t have.”
Willow crossed to him slowly. “What if you could?”
Caspian went very still. “What?”
“I’m not ready for the full claiming. The bite, the permanent bond. But…” She reached for his hand, placing it on her waist. “We could still be together. Physically. If you want.”
His brain short-circuited. “Willow. You don’t have to offer that just because I’m struggling.”
“I’m not.” Her eyes met his, clear and certain. “I want you, Caspian. I have for days. I was waiting because I thought I needed to figure out my feelings first. But I know how I feel. I’m falling in love with you. Maybe already there. And I want to be with you. Completely.”
“Without the bite?” He had to be sure she understood. “It won’t complete the bond. I’d still need to claim you eventually.”
“I know. But this feels right. Being with you, choosing you, without the bond forcing anything. Choosing this because I want to, not because of destiny.”
God, she was perfect. Understanding exactly what he needed to hear.
“Are you sure?” His hands were shaking where they touched her waist.
“I’m sure.” She rose on her toes and kissed him, soft and inviting. “Make love to me, Caspian.”
He snapped.
Caspian swept her into his arms and carried her to the furs, laying her down with a reverence that made her breath catch. He followed her down, caging her with his body, and kissed her like he’d been dying to for days. Deep and claiming and desperate.
Willow responded immediately, her hands tangling in his hair, her body arching up against his. When his hands slipped under his shirt—her shirt—to find bare skin, she gasped his name.
“Tell me if I’m too rough,” he managed against her throat. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”
“Don’t you dare stop,” she breathed.
He didn’t.
Clothes disappeared—his shirt pulled over her head, his pants shoved down and kicked away. Caspian explored every inch of her with hands and mouth, learning what made her gasp, what made her moan his name, what made her dig her nails into his shoulders.
She was beautiful. Perfect. His.
When he finally slid inside her, they both groaned. Caspian had to freeze, overwhelmed by sensation, by the rightness of it. This. This was what he’d been missing. What he’d needed.
“Move,” Willow demanded, wrapping her legs around his hips. “Caspian, please—”
He moved.
It was intense and overwhelming and absolutely perfect. Every thrust made the incomplete bond sing between them, amplifying every sensation. He could feel her pleasure like it was his own, could sense exactly what she needed.
“Bite me,” Willow gasped suddenly.
Caspian froze. “What?”
“Not the claiming bite. Just—I want to feel your teeth. Please.”
How could he deny her anything?
He kissed his way to her throat, then bit down gently on the curve of her neck. Not hard enough to break skin. Not the claiming spot. Just enough pressure to make her cry out and shatter around him.
Caspian followed her over the edge, pressing his face against her neck, breathing her scent, holding her like she might disappear.
After, they lay tangled together, both breathing hard, sweat-slicked and satisfied.
“That was…” Willow started.
“Everything,” Caspian finished. He rolled them so she was draped across his chest, his hand stroking her back. “You’re everything.”
“We should have done that days ago,” she said with a breathless laugh.
“We can do it again whenever you want.”
“Give me like five minutes and then yes, please.”
Caspian laughed, the sound rusty and surprised and genuine. When was the last time he’d laughed like this? Felt joy like this?
Never, he realized. In one hundred and fifty years, he’d never been this happy.
“I love you,” he said again, unable to hold it in.
Willow propped her chin on his chest, looking up at him with soft eyes. “I love you too.”
His heart stopped. “What?”
“I love you,” she repeated. “I’m in love with you, Caspian. Not because of the bond. Not because of destiny. Because you’re you. Because you’re kind and gentle and fierce. Because you look at me like I’m precious. Because you make me want to stay in one place for the first time in my life.”
Caspian couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. Could only stare at her as tears tracked down his face.
“Hey,” Willow said softly, reaching up to wipe them away. “Happy tears?”
“So happy,” he managed. “I never thought—I’d given up on ever having this. Having someone. And then you—”
“I walked into your forest and fell in love with a panther,” she finished. “Best assignment of my life.”
He kissed her then, pouring everything he felt into it. Gratitude and love and awe that this incredible woman had chosen him.
When they finally broke apart, Willow grinned mischievously. “So. Ready for round two?”
Caspian growled playfully and rolled them again, and Willow’s delighted laughter filled the cave.
For the first time in forty years, Caspian let himself believe in happy endings.
Because he was living one.
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