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“Jagger,” I gasped.“Oh…shit…”

“You gonna come for me again, sunshine?”he snarled.“Let me hear it, then.Let your male hear you scream his name.”

I did.I screamed his name while he held me in place, not letting up on the constant pressure of his cock against my clit.As soon as I collapsed, he lifted me, spun me to my back and, with my feet on either side of his head, wrapped his arms around my thighs, squeezing them together again and bending them into my chest.He leaned over me, his eyes locked on mine as he thrust faster between my slick thighs.

His canines slid down and his eyes shifted to red as I felt his cock grow thicker.“Jagger…what…holy shit,” I rasped.

“You feel that?”His eyes were hooded.“Only you get that, that’s only for you.I’ve been alive over a thousand years, and this is the first time this has happened, because I’m with you, because my body thinks it’s deep inside you.Every part of me wants to claim you.”He hissed out a breath.“Can’t wait for you to take my knot, my perfect little mate,” he said, his voice rough.“Locked against me, no choice but to take every drop of come I give you.”

His knot?Goose bumps lifted all over me, heat flushing through me at the thought.

“You want that, don’t you?”he said as he picked up the pace.“You want your male to make you his.”He slammed forward, and hot come splashed against my stomach as he continued to thrust between my tightly clenched thighs until he was spent.

When he finally released me, my legs fell wide, and he came down on top of me, wrapping me in a tight hug.I was covered by him, surrounded by him.He trembled against me, and I wrapped my arms around him as well.

Jagger was gruff, abrupt, often blunt, but then my once emotionless hound would say something that was so hot or sweet or romantic, or gods, heartfelt, that it had the power to steal my breath.But this?I knew hounds liked affection, that they loved hugs, but no one had ever hugged me like this, not for any reason.Jagger held me as if his next breath was reliant on it.

And with every second that passed, I felt my walls starting to crack.I drew in a breath when tears threatened, stinging my eyes.What the hell was wrong with me?Is this all it took?Someone to hold me like I mattered?Was I so broken, so desperate for affection that I could forget everything he’d said and done because he made me feel wanted?

Jagger’s phone started ringing, and he growled, his mouth so close to my ear that the rough sounds made me shiver.“That’s War’s ringtone.”I felt his reluctance as he lifted up and reached over the side of the bed to scoop up his phone.His eyes were on me as he lifted it to his ear.“Yeah?”

I made sure to keep my expression neutral.I did not want him to see how deep in my feelings I was after what we’d just done.I wasn’t ready to deal with it, not yet.So I smiled up at him, like I always did.Smiling through my fear, or pain, or heartbreak.I’d done it all my life; this was no different.

I didn’t really hear what he was talking about—except that he was obviously needed by his alpha—I was too focused on holding it together while those moss-green eyes moved over me.I felt as if he was absorbing me, pulling me deeper into himself, so when he left, he’d be taking a part of me with him.It was a silly thought, but there was no other way to describe it.

He ended the call.“I have to go,” he said.

“I got that.”

“I want to stay,” he added, sliding his hand up the side of my throat, the same spot Poe had gripped me, but this didn’t feel like a threat, this felt like comfort.“Just for the record.There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here in this bed with you.”

“It’s okay, Charming.I get it.”It was a struggle just to say that.My emotions were way too close to the surface right now to listen to him say sweet things.I cleared my throat.“I made some calming elixir for Kurgan.The blue bottle on the table.Four drops should calm him for most of the day.”

“I appreciate that, baby.”He leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to my lips.“Can I come back, when I’m done?”

This had been more than I could deal with for one night.“I have some more work to do.I’ll see you tomorrow, though, right?”

Something moved through his eyes, something that looked a lot like disappointment.“Yeah, sunshine, I’ll see you tomorrow.”He kissed me again and got up.

I watched him dress, working to keep my breathing slow and even, when in reality I was seconds from hyperventilating.

When he finally shut the door behind him, using his powers to lock the door, I grabbed the pillow and sobbed into it.

What the hell was I doing?Did I want to be with Jagger?Yes.Everything in me screamed to be with him, to let him in, and I realized that it wasn’t Jagger that I didn’t trust, it was the fates who terrified me, who made me want to run and hide and protect myself.They’d hurt me, breaking the organ currently pounding in my chest too many times.

I wanted to trust that Jagger and I could have our happily ever after.He was trying so hard.He believed the things he said to me, the promises he was making, but he wasn’t in control of what happened to us, they were.

A childhood filled with mental abuse and abandonment had altered me in ways that I was only now truly discovering.That damage wasn’t easily glossed over, and it wasn’t easily fixed.

It wasn’t Jagger’s fault that his mate was broken so badly, or that the one time I decided to trust myself and what I felt, it had blown up in my face.

I’d been trained by my family never to reach for anything good, because you’d get your hand slapped away every time.Even if I wanted to try to reach for what was mine one more time, and I realized now, I did—I didn’t know how.

ChapterTwenty-One

Sutton

I hadn’t heardfrom Jagger since he left the night before and a small, messed-up part of me was relieved.The voice inside me could talk all the shit it wanted.See?You were right.What you did last night didn’t mean anything to him.He just wanted to get off and you’re an easy mark.The fates are laughing their asses off at how pathetic you are!