clutched and released his shaft, milking him as wave after wave of pleasure tore through her. Once it was over, she collapsed onto his chest, gasping for breath. She found his cougar head pendant with her hand and held on to it.
“That was pretty intense,” Grady said.
Lost in the moment, Sage blurted, “I love you.”
Grady cupped her face and brought her lips to his. He kissed her slowly. “And I love you.”
His pendant warmed even more. Sage opened her hand and looked at it. “Why are the cougar’s ruby eyes glowing?”
“They are?” Grady asked with something akin to hope in his voice.
“Yeah. Look.” She sat up and lifted the pendant for him to see. “And why do I have this almost overwhelming urge to put it around my own neck?”
She couldn’t see what made the rubies glow. The light was dim at best in the room since the curtains were closed and it was getting dark out. It being the middle of January, the sun set around four thirty in the afternoon.
“Take it.”
“What?”
“Take the pendant. You’re meant to have it. I want to see you wearing it.”
The way Grady spoke, it was if the idea of her doing what he’d said was something that would mean a lot to him. Sage couldn’t deny the fact she really, really wanted his necklace. And she wasn’t even one for wearing jewelry.
“Take it,” Grady whispered.
Sage gripped the pendant again and slowly pulled it over Grady’s head. She turned it over and looked at the glowing eyes before she focused back on him. He lay there intently, watching her with a look of anticipation on his face. She took hold of it by its chain, turned it so the cougar head would face out, then slipped it over her head.
Grady held his breath as Sage lowered his pendant around her neck. Once it settled on her chest just above her cleavage, he sucked in a breath. The mating bond formed in an instant, joining their souls. From the look of surprise on her face, he guessed she felt it too.
Katarina had been right. Sage was the one. She was now his mate since she’d claimed him when she took his pendant as her own. Not that she knew that, but Grady did. Seeing her wear it, the love he had for her solidified. She was his. The moment the bond formed between them, he’d gained not only a mate but a nephew as well.
“What was that?” Sage asked as she searched his face. “I felt something—”
He cut her off by sitting up and taking her lips in a heated kiss. His cock went instantly rock hard inside her. He wanted her again. He needed to show her with his body how much he loved her and was glad she was his.
Grady held Sage close, then took her down to the mattress on her back. He pumped between her legs, glorying in the feel of her pussy taking his cock. She clutched his ass and pulled him in tighter as she lifted her hips to meet each thrust.
He already knew he wasn’t going to last long. Grady hooked one of Sage’s legs over his arm and spread her wider. He sank deeper. He angled his cock in just the right way so it hit her G-spot. She moaned, her fingers digging into the tops of his shoulders as she held on to him.
Then she panted his name as her inner muscles squeezed and released his shaft. As she came, his balls rose closer to his body and his point of no return tried to rush to the surface. He pushed it back. He wasn’t ready to come just yet.
Grady waited until Sage settled under him after her climax ended. He pulled out of her, then shifted to her side. With gentle hands, he urged her over onto her stomach, then up onto her hands and knees. Once he had her in that position, he came up behind her and stroked his hands down her back to her hips.
He held her still as he probed her slick entrance with the head of his cock. Grady purred at the feel of her wetness bathing the tip of him. He stroked her pussy without entering her, rubbing her clit with each pass. Sage pushed back and moaned.
Grady kept hold of Sage as he pushed forward and seated himself to the hilt inside her with one stroke. He stilled as her pussy spasmed around his length. After it ceased, he stroked in and out of her. She took more of him in this position, and his balls slapped against her with each thrust.
He reached around her and found her clit. He rubbed it as he surged into her. It ended up being enough to send her into another orgasm. She moaned with her release and that pushed him over the edge. Grady pumped his hips faster, then with a groan that bordered on a growl, he climaxed, filling her with his cum.
With no more left to give, Grady wrapped an arm around Sage and took them down onto the bed on their sides. Both of them were breathing as if they’d run a marathon. He was satiated and didn’t know if he could move again. All he wanted to do was hold his mate in his arms.
After what had just happened, there would be no getting around telling Sage about him being a cougar shifter later that night. He should have had that conversation with her once the ruby eyes in his pendant had glowed, but he’d wanted to see if she would take it from him. Hopefully she would accept him for what he was and not get too angry with him for not telling her before the mating bond formed between them.
Sage and Grady arrived at his house twenty minutes after they’d made love at her place. She helped him haul all the things they’d brought inside. Olivia had greeted them and informed Sage that Josh had gone down for a nap and that she’d put him upstairs on the bed in the master bedroom with pillows around him so he wouldn’t roll off. Olivia had then asked how everything had gone at the funeral home.
“Good,” Sage answered as she set down the bag she carried.
“And will Josh’s grandparents be coming for dinner?”
“Yes. They asked me to thank you for the invitation.” Sage shrugged out of her winter jacket.
“Oh my goodness,” Olivia said as she looked at Sage, then at Grady and back to Sage again.
“What?” Sage asked, not sure why Grady’s mother looked awfully happy all of a sudden.
“You’re wearing Grady’s pendant.” Olivia’s smile grew even bigger. She then gave her a hug.
Sage tentatively hugged the other woman back. “Ah, yeah, I am. I didn’t realize it was that big a deal.”
Olivia let go of Sage and looked at her son. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”
Grady gave his mother a pained smile. “It happened really suddenly. I sort of didn’t want to spoil the mood. I’d already decided we were going to have a talk with the rest of you. I figured it would be easier that way.”
“Be sure you do, but I have to say I couldn’t be happier. Now I get my wish.” Olivia gave Grady a kiss. “I have to go tell your father, Jase and Katarina.” She then headed up the stairs to the upper level.
Sage turned to face Grady. “What was all that about? The way your mom talked, you’d think we’d just gotten engaged or something.”
“I’m going to leave it at you taking my pendant is a bigger deal to my family than you know. The rest I’ll tell you later tonight once Josh’s grandparents leave.”
“Okay, I think.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of what had passed between Grady and his mom. It was obvious they were keeping something from her for some reason. They didn’t appear to think it was bad, since Olivia had been happy about Sage wearing Grady’s pendant. That could stem from the fact the other women of the house wore the same necklaces as well. Maybe in their eyes Grady giving her his pendant was tantamount to him asking her to marry him, and she, not knowing the significance, had accepted while in the dark about the whole thing. She guessed she’d find out one way or the other later.
Sage spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of Josh. Since they were eating dinner in the early evening shortly after the baby went to bed for the night, she made sure she had him bathed and in his pajamas before Hank’s parents arrived.
Bathing a six-month-old was a new experience for Sage. She probably would have done a quicker job of it if Grady hadn’t offered to help by getting into the whirlpool tub with Josh to hold him while she did the washing part. Her nephew had a ball splashing them both, and he moved around so much Grady said it was like holding on to a
