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I wouldn’t feel this way anymore after it was done. I’d be free of these impulsive feelings.

Just kill her. Just do it!

“Do you want some help?” she asked, making me freeze completely.

I could hear the ruffles of her skirt rustle as she slid off the stool and the air moved with her steps as she came up behind me. I held my breath against the sweet assault of her scent.

Her arm brushed against mine as she joined me at the counter. She reached in front of me and took another knife from the block, then grabbed a head of lettuce from the basket and began chopping it.

Slowly, I returned to slicing the tomato, lifting the knife handle and pushing it down in precise, careful movements.

It would be so easy. I could make it quick. Stabbing her would be a merciful death. Then she could move on to the afterlife and be with her parents again. I’d be doing her a favor, really. It was better than what the pack would insist on when they got here.

But every time I tried to force myself to take action, my body refused to move. My hand only tightened around the handle, my chops coming down harder and harder, and—

“Fuck!” I hissed in pain, realizing too late that I’d brought the blade down right over the tip of my thumb. Blood mixed in with the juice from the tomato on the cutting board.

“Tannin! Are you okay?” Aliya cried.

She frantically reached for a clean washcloth, then took my hand in her free one and wrapped the rag around my thumb.

Stupid. I was so stupid. I was making a fucking mess of this whole thing.

“Hold on, let me get you a bandage,” she said. “Keep pressure on it.”

I nodded, squeezing the rag in my hand, and she ran behind me to rifle through a cabinet. After a moment, she came back and took my hand in both of hers.

“Okay, let me see it.”

She pulled away the washcloth and carefully inspected my thumb. I’d cut a layer of skin clean off. But I couldn’t feel the sting anymore. The touch of her soft hands on mine and the gentle caress of her fingertips as she cleaned the cut were the only thing I could feel.

She pushed out her bottom lip fretfully as she worked, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her mouth. My lips burned to press against hers. What would she taste like? Would she gasp if I pulled her into my arms and claimed her mouth right now? Would she open those pink lips to welcome my eager tongue?

“There, that’s better,” she said, and I dazedly realized that she’d wrapped a bandage around my thumb.

She held my hand in hers, and I didn’t pull it away, unable to willingly remove myself from her touch. In this moment I was her puppet, and I had no desire to cut the strings.

Keeping my eyes captured in her gaze, she brought my hand up to her face and planted the softest, sweetest kiss over the bandage on my thumb.

Mesmerized. She had me completely and utterly under her spell.

I slowly loosened my hand from hers, keeping my thumb against her lips as I cupped my palm lightly around her jaw. Though I couldn’t feel the softness of her skin through the bandage, I traced my thumb along the petal of her bottom lip.

So beautiful. So sweet.

She parted her lips, an invitation to give me better access for whatever I wanted—and there were so many, many things I wanted to do to her. But I stayed very still, desperately grasping the last bit of restraint I still had.

She puckered her lips and kissed my thumb again and again, nuzzling her cheek into my palm. The crippling need throbbing in my cock was almost irresistible.

Shewas irresistible.

I slid my hand around the back of her head and pulled her to me, crushing my lips against hers. Fire. My whole body was on fire!

With a soft whimper, she opened her mouth, and I greedily deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth with my tongue. She tasted even better than I imagined. Like warm honey. Like bliss.

Her hands roamed down my chest, over the brim of my pants, then cupped gently over the bulge of my stiff cock.

I groaned at the need her touch elicited and pushed away from her, forcing myself to take a few steps back.