Page 51

Watching her carefully, Theon said, “Axel and Katya are in his rooms. You knew he was staying with us.”

“This house is huge. There’s no other rooms he could stay in?”

“Not without attracting unwanted attention.”

“Because your father won’t find it suspicious that Axel is sleeping in this wing when his rooms aren’t here?”

“We are dealing with it.”

“But in this bed?”

“It’s designed for three people, Tessa.”

“There’s a bed in that room designed forone. Or a sofa. Or the floor.”

Theon sighed, slipping from the bed. “I don’t understand why you’re upset, other than that you two seem to be in the middle of some kind of stand-off. He wasn’t going to leave us alone with you basically unconscious and me drained from the last Mark.”

“I’m not upset. I just…wasn’t expecting it,” she retorted. “What are you doing?”

“Coffee,” was his only answer before he left the room.

With a huff, she shoved her hair back from her face as she crawled out of the massive bed. She could smell herself, and whatever was coating her tongue was like sandpaper. After brushing her teeth twice, she stepped into the large shower. She’d been hoping the warm water would wash away everything she was feeling, but it was doing the opposite. Her magic buzzed, trapped beneath her flesh, and she was turning the water to cold. The bond was pushing for her to go find Theon, and she sank down onto the bench, forcing herself to take a deep breath. There were ways to block the bond. Theon had done so, and she’d found ways to take subtle control of the thing, but she couldn’t block it like he could.

And gods, she wanted to block it. She didn’t want him knowing that she was wanting and hating every second of it. She didn’t want him knowing that even the cold water was doingnothing to ease it. She didn’t want him knowing that even as she found release again with her own fingers, it did godsdamn nothing. Only made the want increase rather than give her any sort of relief. There was no distraction in this. It did nothing to keep her thoughts and feelings from becoming too much.

With a frustrated sigh, she finished her shower. After drying off, she grabbed a silk robe that hung nearby, and gritted her teeth at the smooth fabric against her still oversensitive skin. She almost wished for the agony she’d experienced with the first Mark when she couldn’t handle fabric against her skin because ithurt. This was arguably worse.

Tessa fiddled with one of the bands, contemplating taking it off, even if just for a minute. She could control it for a minute, right?

Of course she couldn’t control it. Taking it off would just create another mess she wouldn’t be able to clean up herself. She didn’t have Dex here, and she didn’t want Theon knowing she could remove the bands herself.

Dex.

She missed him, despite her suspicions that had surfaced finding him with Lord Jove. It wasn’t just Dex she missed, but Corbin and Lange. Brecken and even Oralia. Kat being around helped some, but she hardly saw the female. Dex always found a way to get her off the estate, found a way to let her forget about her life for just a little bit.

It was too much. All of this was too much.

“Tessa?”

She had her hands braced on the vanity, her head hanging as she tried to get control over just one godsdamn thing, but she couldn’t even manage that.

She sucked in a sharp breath when she felt his touch. Just a single finger. That was all it was that dragged down her spine. That was all it was, but it pushed her over an edge ofdesperation, and when she lifted her head, those were two tears slipping down her cheeks as she met Theon’s gaze in the mirror.

“Let me give you what you need, Tessa,” he murmured, his voice rough in a way that made her squeeze her thighs together even more.

“And what is it you think I need?”

That finger was trailing back up her spine now, and when it reached her nape, his hand slid around her throat. The grip was loose, a thumb running along the underside of her jaw.

“Something only I can give you.”

“Or you could let me get it from someone else,” she retorted.

His eyes flared, the dark in them intensifying. “You and I both know it wouldn’t be the same, and it certainly wouldn’t be enough. Just like your fingers weren’t enough earlier. Again.”

“You don’t know that.”

His lips twitched. “Lies,” he whispered into her ear, before he slowly lowered his lips to her neck. He held her eyes in the mirror the entire time. Until he started mixing the soft kisses with sharp nips and bruising sucks. Then her head fell back against his shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed.