The sun was already sinking down on the horizon when Adam returned.

This forging takes a prolonged amount of time. I’m uncertain that I like the idea of him being away from me for so long.

Adam swam towards her. She felt her core quicken with desire again as his hooded gaze met hers. She bit her bottom lip as her eyes gazed upon his dark, chiseled chest and bulging biceps. When he finally reached her, he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull the length of her body against his. With his free hand, he cupped her cheek and traced a line over her bottom lip with his hard, calloused thumb.

“It drives me crazy when you do that, love. It makes me want to fill you with my seed so we can have many babies together.”

Lilith sucked in a shaky breath before Adam’s lips crashed down on hers. He parted the seam with his tongue and explored her mouth. Lilith laced her fingers through Adam’s thick, dark locks. She hoped it was a sign to him that she enjoyed this intimacy he was currently giving to her. His lips trailed to her chin, neck, and collarbone before they kissed the tops of each breast. He then cupped her right breast and took it in his mouth, sucking on the nipple. Heat rushed directly to her lower belly.

“You are so beautiful, Lilith, and are mine in every way. I want nothing more than to give you the pleasure you deserve.”

Lilith cupped his cheeks and rubbed her thumbs along his rugged jawline. She couldn’t help but smile at the man. Sure, she wasn’t sure about his over-protectiveness, but it was indeed coming from a love that she could be sure of.

“Come with me. I’ve gathered wood for a fire and some fruit for a meal. Tomorrow morning, I will leave at first light to hunt for a wild game so we can have a feast and celebrate our union.”

#

Adam was already gone when Lilith awoke. She settled on gathering some kindling and wood for the fire pit Adam had made yesterday evening. Once she was done, Lilith cleaned around the fire area to clear away hard pebbles that were digging into the soles of her feet. She stepped back and smiled, pleased with her work. Next, she added the wood to the fire so it would be ready to cook whatever game Adam was hunting for. The sun was leaning toward the horizon when Adam returned with a deer.

She smiled as he approached, but his gaze lowered from hers as he rushed to embrace her. And instead of pulling her into his muscular arms, he cupped her breasts instead.

“I’ve missed you, woman. Come, let’s celebrate my kill by taking a bath together in the water.”

His grip was gentle but firm on her chest, something she was used to, but only while they were making love, and never before had he held and kissed her in his arms in his greeting. This possessiveness seemed different. For the first time since Yudi breathed life into her, she wasn’t sure if she liked the proprietorial hold Yudi gave Adam over her. Sure, Adam was a male and practically a different species than her. He spoke before he thought and mostly reacted to the things around him rather than acting accordingly. At least, as far as she was concerned, anyway. Adam always had an opinion about how she did something, and lately, that didn’t settle well with her.

Lilith contemplated the issue at hand before she ever spoke a word. She understood Yudi gave her this gift to compliment Adam’s alpha approach to the world around him. All of it made sense to Lilith. Adam and his sons she’d raise with him would need the alpha and cunning behavior to hunt wild animals for food. They needed these gifts to help them all survive.

But Lilith still wished he could turn off that possessive alpha part of his brain when he came home to her, especially since she was trying to become the woman Adam wanted and needed once he returned from a long day of hunting. She didn’t think she was asking for too much—a simple give-and-take was all she needed to feel special and appreciated.

“You must be tired from your journey—why don’t you rest, and I’ll make some stew from the meat.”

Lilith placed a hand on Adam’s chest and tried to gently put some distance between them, but he wrapped his arms around her tighter.

“Nonsense! We will bathe together, and I will make love to my Lilith, so you know how loved and adored you are.”

His eyes were dark as they raked over her body. This seemed to become more and more of a ritual, with him claiming her. Usually, she didn’t mind. Despite his Neanderthal ways of doing things, she knew he cared about her. But all she wanted to do was crawl up into a little ball next to him and sleep for days. She craved that type of intimacy with him this evening.

He was making her feel strange tonight, just as he had for the previous two. Each night he’d come back to their dwelling later and later, complaining about the hunt for food taking longer and longer than the day before. He’d often come home immediately after his fresh kill and wanted to celebrate with wine, food, and love-making.

But tonight wasn’t a time that Lilith wanted him to think merely of himself. Especially after his eyes darkened like he was viewing her as an object he possessed rather than a woman he cared for and treasured. He scooped her up in his arms, and as soon as he placed her in the water, his hands pawed at her chest. They seemed to have a mind of their own as they seared her skin and branded hers as Adam’s.

“Adam, please. Let’s enjoy some dinner and conversation first.”

She didn’t mind his possessive touch. It made her feel wanted and needed. But tonight, all she wanted was a doting, tender touch.

His body grew ridged, and his eyes screwed shut before he sucked in a breath.

“I’m sorry. Does my holding you not please you? I can be more gentle.”

His hands trailed from her breasts up her arms and shoulders before cupping her cheeks. A warmth washed over her as electric heat prickled her skin from his touch. It immediately changed from possessive to doting and loving, and Lilith found herself melting into a puddle of mush that resembled the fruit she’d been mashing up for her babes to eat earlier in the day. Her emotions went from course to sweet in a matter of seconds once Adam went from grinding his hips into her inner thighs to brushing the tip of his manhood over her entrance. Her lips curled as he touched them with his own.

Adam brushed her lips with his once more before sucking on her bottom lip. The sensation was a mixture of the feather of a dove grazing her lips before a fish from the river she bathed in nuzzled at her ankles. Such a tender touch, something she’d been craving from him for the past three moons, and if she hadn’t tasted the sweat on his upper lip, a gorgeous blend of rain and sea, she would have thought he didn’t touch her lips at all. He’d become that in tune with her within seconds. Lilith, for the first time in a while, understood why Yudi called the Garden of Eden a paradise. Everything seemed to be falling into place.

Finally.

“I love the taste of you. It’s a sweet combination of gentle rain and the unpredictable sea.”

His eyes softened, and a smile spread across his face before one of his large hands encompassed her right cheek.

“I’m glad my sometimes unpredictability pleases you.”

“It does.”

“I love you, Lilith.”

“And I love you.”