Page 51

He opened the door to the bedroom on the other side of the foyer.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, then you can rest,” he said and carried me into the bathroom. He lowered me to my feet, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he stripped off my clothes and tossed them aside. “The handmaids have clothes here. We’ll get you something clean to wear in the morning.”

“I knew you’d find me,” I said, letting the last of my armor fall away completely. “I knew my mate would find me.”

Jagger stilled, then took my face in his hands. “Always,” he choked out.

I smiled up at him as he helped me under the spray.

Jagger thoroughly cleaned me, then, making a rumbling sound in his chest, he lowered to his knees and did what Brick had, but not only licking my barely healing wounds, he sucked on the red and puckered skin over and over again, until I was warm and tingly and felt no pain.

He washed my hair after that, taking his time.

His naked body was hot and slick and pressed against me.

He was hard, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry, no, he took his time making sure I was clean from top to bottom, and that every trace of Brick’s scent was gone.

Then he wrapped me in a big, fluffy towel and carried me into the bedroom.

He sat on the bed, pulling me to stand between his thighs, and slowly, thoroughly, dried every inch of me. I slid my hand along his jaw, and his moss-green eyes locked with mine. There was so much behind them. “What are you thinking?”

“Mainly, how beautiful you are, and how fucking relieved I am that you’re okay,” he said.

“What else?”

The muscle in his jaw tightened. “I’m concerned about tomorrow, if we can stop Beelzebub, and I’m worried about Kurgan.”

“Despite a bumpy start, he’s been listening to Lenny.”

“He really only shifts in front of me. This…all of this will be a lot for him. This only ends in pain for him. He can’t keep her.”

I held his pain-filled gaze, that green the exact same color as the wild hound standing across the hall. “You call Kurgan son, is he? Your son?”

His throat worked. “Yes.”

I had known there had to be more. The connection between them was impossible to miss. “What happened? Where’s his mother? Did you and her?—”

“I never met his mother. Lucifer wanted to try to breed hounds from pups, instead of creating full-grown hounds like the rest of us were. He envisioned males like Brick, I guess. More evolved in a lot of ways, and it worked when Relic was created with Lothar’s seed.

Relic is his success, his only success from that experiment. ”

“What do you mean?” I rubbed my hands along his shoulders, trying to soothe the pain I saw in his eyes.

“Lucifer created two pups with my seed. One was Kurgan. He was born smelling wrong, something not right inside him, something broken. He was wild, uncontrollable, so much so that he had to be locked away for the safety of others.”

“And the second pup?” I asked.

“He died.”

“Jagger…I’m so sorry.”

He massaged my hips. “The problem was, when they were born, I started to feel. My emotions began to develop, like they have been with you.” He gave me a squeeze.

“I felt love for my pups, and the pain of losing one and the suffering of the other, was too much. Sutton, it was too much for me to handle after five hundred years of nothing, so I…I asked Lucifer to take those emotions away.”

And he’d gone another five hundred years since without feeling much of anything, until now.

My heart ached for him. That kind of grief was hard enough for anyone, but to live your whole life not feeling that deeply, then to experience the extreme roller coaster of so much all at once?

No wonder he’d asked Lucifer to take them away.

“I told you before, the reason I took so long to realize you were mine was that I didn’t think a mate was possible for me.

There’s a reason for that. I asked Lucifer to stop it from happening for me.

” He shook his head. “I wasn’t looking for it, hadn’t allowed myself to feel it, because I didn’t believe you were possible. ”

“You did that?” God, there was so much regret rolling off him.

“After I denied you, after I hurt you, I went to Lucifer and asked what was happening. He admitted that he never did what I asked, that he couldn’t.

Only the fates made those decisions. I should have gone to you then, as soon as I found out, I should have begged for forgiveness, but I was so fucking scared.

I was terrified of losing you because, eventually, I would lose you. You’re not?—”

“Immortal?” I finished for him when he choked back his words.

He hissed through bared teeth. “Knowing that I’d lose you as well, that I’d spend eternity back in that pain?” He shook his head. “I’m ashamed to admit, I was afraid…so afraid that I hurt you to protect myself.”

I slid my thumb along that sharp jawline. “I did the same thing, I refused to let you back in to protect my heart. We both did that. We both know the pain of losing people we love.”

“We do, but the difference is, now you’re under my skin, buried deep in my heart, and I’d rather have you for as long as I can than never at all. I can’t exist in this world knowing you’re in it and stay away from you, so when you’re gone, I’ll go with you.”

I gripped his shoulders. “What are you saying?”

“I made a deal with Lucifer, sunshine. When you go, I go with you.”

I shook my head, and he took my face in his hands. “You can’t change my mind. It’s what I want. I’ve lived for a thousand years, Sutton, and none of it meant a fucking thing until I found you. Live the rest of this life with me. Don’t think about the end, just be with me here, now.”

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him with everything I was feeling, with my whole heart and soul, with all the fire that burned inside me whenever he was near. “I love you,” I said against his lips.

He lifted me, turned, and laid me on the bed, coming down on top of me.

“I love you, too, my beautiful sunshine.” His expression grew serious, his thumbs brushing over my jaw as he looked down at me.

“Before we go any further, I need you to know, I can’t…

I can’t give you pups, baby, it’s too risky. ”

He was serious. Didn’t he know? “I just want you, Jagger. Nothing else matters, I just want you to make me yours.” I wrapped my legs around his waist. “I don’t want to go another day, another moment, not being your mate in truth.”

“Yeah?” he rasped against my jaw. “You ready to take your male on your hands and knees, baby? You ready to wear my mark on your skin?”

He ground his hard cock against me, wringing a desperate whimper from my lips. “Yes, I’m ready. I want that, more than anything.”

One moment his big body covered me, the next he’d lifted up, taking me with him, and flipped me onto my front.

He hoisted my hips up, then bent over me, his mouth at my ear.

“I’ll make love to you, baby, I’ll make you come all night long.

I’ll worship this sweet, soft, perfect little body until the day we die, but tonight, right now, I’m going to fuck you, Sutton.

I’m going to make you mine like the animal I am needs me to. ”

I shivered. That’s exactly what I wanted. I wriggled my ass against the hard, hot length resting between his tight stomach and my ass. “Do it,” I demanded.

I’d transformed, a red haze shifted through my sight, my black nails sliding from the tips of my fingers and digging into the mattress. He rubbed his face, his jaw over my throat and shoulders, marking me with his scent as he slid his fingers deep inside me.

Gasping, I rocked against his hand.

“That’s it, sunshine. Nice and wet for your mate. You’re gonna take all of me, aren’t you, baby?”

All I could do was whimper and nod as those thick fingers thrust into me faster, hitting the spot inside me that made my eyes roll back over and over. “Oh fuck.”

“Give it to me.”

I cried out, coming all over his fingers, and as soon as I stopped clutching wildly, he slid his fingers free. A moment later, I felt the thick head of his cock at my entrance and I squirmed, wanting him inside me so badly.

“You ready to take my knot?”

“Yes, I’m ready. I’m so ready.”

He chuckled low and sexy. “Better dig those claws deeper into the mattress, sunshine.”

I shivered with excitement.

“Breathe,” he said in a rough voice, pushing the tip inside me. “Relax that pussy and let your male in.”

I did. I breathed in through my mouth and out my nose, and on every exhale, I forced my body to relax, and Jagger pushed a little more, filling me deeper, claiming me more and more with every inch he took.

He groaned. “You feel so fucking good, you’re gripping me so tight. Fucking hell, I hope you’re ready ’cause I need to fuck you now, baby, before I lose my damn mind.”

I pushed back, taking the last inch inside me in answer, a needy cry bursting from me.

Jagger’s arm immediately snapped across my chest, locking me in place underneath him, holding me immobile, then he slid almost all the way out, making me shudder, and slammed back in, growling against my ear.

I cried out.

“Fucking made for me.” He grunted and did it again, thrusting deep. “Every inch of you was made for me, my beautiful sunshine.”

With every thrust, my body accommodated his. I was impossibly wet and each thrust took me higher, driving me to heights I didn’t know were possible. The feeling was too big, too good. I felt as if I were losing my mind.

“More,” I groaned. “Harder, faster.”

Jagger cursed viciously and gave it to me, slamming into me, claiming me in a way we both needed. He slammed deep one more time and I screamed, coming around him. He snarled as his cock grew bigger inside me.

I tried to rock forward, but I was locked in place by his knot. He hooked his arm around my waist, holding me to him, not giving me any room to move, and swiveled his hips.

“Ready?” he asked huskily.

“Yes.” I was so ready.

His fangs sank into my shoulder, marking me as his, and I came again so hard that my arms gave out. I was stuffed so full of him, while his thick cock pulsed inside me over and over, flooding me with hot seed until it slid down my thighs and dragged out my pleasure.

I lost track of how long I floated in that space of unimaginable bliss, but, finally, he wrapped his arm around me and fell to the mattress, holding me close to him.

“You did so fucking good, baby,” he said as he gently licked the bite mark he’d given me. He nuzzled my throat. “Fuck, my bite looks good on you.”

I reached back, grazing my claws along his hip, and loved the way he shivered. His cock was still hard, but his knot finally released me, and he gently eased from my body, more of his seed sliding out with it.

“I’m sorry, sunshine. This time you had to take my knot, but I’ll sort something out for next time. Is there something witches can take to prevent pregnancy? Human males can have something done to stop them from impregnating their females, maybe I can?—”

I turned and placed my fingers over his lips. “I want to have babies with you someday, Jagger.”

Pain filled his eyes. “I told you, my seed, it’s no good. I’d never want to watch you suffer while our pup dies in your arms. I could never do that to you. And Kurgan, with how wild he was?—”

“Kurgan’s situation, the pup you lost, I know it had to be so incredibly painful, but that was different, we have no idea what will happen if we have a baby together.”

“I want to protect you from that pain,” he said roughly.

“You can’t protect me from everything, Jagger, and if we do have a baby born with challenges, we’ll face it together, and we’ll love them anyway. We’ll help them the best we can.”

There was pain in his eyes, a wariness. Jagger wasn’t convinced, not yet. He didn’t say no, though, he pressed his mouth to my forehead and wrapped me tight in his arms.

“We’re in this together,” I said against his chest. “Whatever happens in the future, we face it together.”