Deke entered the cave after a long day spent hunting. Annie had tried to convince him that they could buy food like most everyone else in Otter Cove, but he’d have none of it. He’d been a cave lion far too long to become a pampered house cat. He would provide for his mate. They’d had a bit of an argument about it this morning, mostly because Annie hadn’t wanted to brave the cold, but had chafed at his insistence that at least two of Zak’s men be posted outside. He entered the cave expecting to pick up where they’d left off this morning.

Hanging the meat he’d caught, killed, and field dressed, he entered the house, bracing himself for an altercation with his mate when all he wanted was to take a shower, gather her in his arms, and take her to bed for the next few hours.

Entering the cave, he could barely detect her presence. Much as he hadn’t wanted to, he began to teach Annie how to shut down parts of the link. She couldn’t cut him off completely any more than he could, but she was getting better and better. She might have decided that discretion was the better part of valor and retreated to another part of the cave.

Growling, he stripped out of his clothes as he headed into the bath. He closed the door and turned up the heat in the shower as well as the aromatic steam. He’d always had a steam shower, but Annie had wanted to incorporate an aromatic component. He had snarled and bitched about it, but had eventually given in. He couldn’t, however, find it within himself to tell her he really liked it.

He scrubbed his skin clean, using the loofah she had insisted they have. He smiled. All and all, Annie had brought a lot of creature comforts into his life, and he pampered himself by making it sound as if he was doing these things for her. He imagined the church, when fully renovated, would be spectacularly indulgent and resplendent with creature comforts.

Thoughts of Annie made him purr down the link. She made him happy in ways he had never imagined she could. They were fated mates, and even when angry with one another, they had learned to trust that bond.

He opened the shower door into the steam-filled bath; her presence within was palpable. She was waiting for him, and nothing in her body language or anything coming down the link indicated she had any interest in continuing their argument. She was kneeling, her legs spread just enough that it was easy to scent her arousal. Her nipples were pebbled like sweet, ripe raspberries just begging to be suckled. His cock, which had already been semi-erect, came online, becoming fully engorged.

“You may not have noticed, but I can have a rather nasty temper,” she said, looking up at him.

He chuckled, enjoying how her body shivered in response to the feelings of lust and love he sent flowing down the link to her. “I had noticed, but then, I’m not exactly known for my sunny disposition and patience.”

She laughed low and ended the sound in the sweetest purr that seemed to envelop him along with the aromatic steam. Her hair, finally dark and long once again, cascaded down her back and Deke moved closer, reaching out to run his hand through it.

“I know how you could make it up to me,” he rumbled.

She grinned up at him. “So do I.”

She gazed up at him, her eyes never leaving his as she opened her mouth in silent invitation. Far be it from Deke to deny her… or himself.  He thrust his almost painful cock past her lips and deep into her mouth. She closed her lips around him, swirling her tongue all around him before focusing on the underside of his dick and sucking deeply as he drew back and groaned.

He grasped her head with both hands to steady her and to let her know he didn’t intend for her to be in control. He’d found giving Annie too much control resulted in neither of them being happy. His mate needed his dominance, just as much as he needed her surrender. There were times when sex between them was a mutual thing, but right now he needed to use her for his own pleasure. After, he would scoop her up and take her to bed, where he would ravish her body until she was screaming with need.

During the year they had been apart, Deke had questioned why his fated mate had to be such a pain in the ass. He no longer questioned that. She was intelligent, challenging, courageous, and she loved him with a ferocity that rivaled his own.

“Mine,” he growled, knowing that despite her protests to the contrary, his possessive, caveman tendencies turned her on. By the time he took her to their bed and pulled her beneath him to shove his dick up into her, her pussy would be weeping with need.

Deke fisted her hair as he thrust his cock in and out of her mouth. He watched her intently as she sucked his dick, trying desperately to keep it inside her mouth as her tongue rolled over his flesh, making maintaining control increasingly difficult. Watching his cock disappear and reappear from her beautiful mouth was incredibly erotic. He would pull back until only the head of his cock remained inside her mouth before driving back in to reach the soft, velvety place at the back of her throat.

He plunged his cock in and out with a relentless, barely controlled fury until he felt his balls draw up before shooting his load down her throat. She continued to suck on him until his cock quit twitching and spurting the last of his cum into her mouth. Her tongue swirled all around him as she licked him clean.

When she rocked back, he leaned down and lifted her into his arms to carry her back to their bed.

“You really are a neanderthal,” she said with a smile.

“Good thing for me, cavemen turn you on.”

“Lucky for both of us.”

“Agreed.”