Page 27

I don’t realize how tense I’ve been until the moment Max said the words, “You’re Crew now, and we protect Crew.”

Something inside me just lets go.

I’m not alone anymore.

Every single person on the Motley Crewd Ranch knows the truth now— about Michael, about what he did to me, what he still wants from me —and not one of them flinched.

Not when I told them how I had to sew up a bullet wound at gunpoint, not when I admitted I’d run with nothing but my phone and my wallet.

No judgement. No fear.

Just support. Immediate. Fierce. Uncompromising.

And then there’s Zeke.

Always Zeke.

His hand never leaves mine as we say our goodbyes, as Max claps him on the back and tells him to keep me close. He keeps it there still even as Penny and the other women all hug me tight and promise to help me make a fresh start.

When we’re finally alone, Zeke loads me into his truck again and takes me— not to a safe house or someone else’s place —but home.

His cabin.

Our cabin.

“You’re home now, Petals,” he says as we pull into the gravel drive. “You’re safe. And I don’t just mean because I’d go full Dragon and torch anyone who looked at you sideways.”

I smile, because I believe him.

He parks and cuts the engine, then leans toward me.

“For your peace of mind, I thought I’d explain we’ve got a full Draco Fortis system.

It’s a magical and technological security system unlike any other, and we have it set up, protecting every inch of this place.

The security feeds go directly to a cloud that every member of the Crew has access to.

Plus, most of us have supernatural senses.

If a mouse farts near this property line, we’ll know. ”

That earns a laugh out of me, and it feels good to laugh.

He walks me to the door like I’m precious cargo, one big hand at the small of my back.

Inside, everything smells like smoked cedar and citrus and him.

Warm. Clean. Safe.

And then I realize I’m crying. Just a few silent tears.

Zeke notices immediately. “Casey?” His voice is gentle but urgent. “You okay?”

I nod, my bottom lip trembling.

“I just, I’m used to being independent. It’s how my parents raised me. I mean, they care, but they had me when they were older and they both had active careers, so I was like a latchkey kid, you know? Always taking care of myself. But now, well, I’ve never felt this before.”

“Never felt what, Petals?”

“Never felt like I had a partner. Like there was someone looking out for me. You’ve given me so much, Zeke. How can I repay you?”

Something flares in his eyes.

Possessive and proud.

Like I’ve just handed him the universe and told him he could keep it.

“You never have to repay me, Mate. It’s my honor and my privilege to do so. Knowing how you’ve had to do it alone, realizing you’re so brave and strong that just makes it even more so. Now, will you let me take care of you, Petals?”

Heat rushes through my veins. Awareness sizzles between us and I nod my head because, yes, I really do.

I want Zeke to take care of me. He’s the only man I’ve ever trusted enough to do just that.

And I’m aware of how crazy it sounds. How impulsive and mad.

It’s too fast by society’s standards.

But not for us.

For us, the timing is perfect.

“Come here,” he murmurs.

He leads me into the bedroom, where the low afternoon light casts a golden haze across the room.

He doesn’t say a word as he starts to undress me, slowly, reverently, like he’s unwrapping something holy.

There’s no rush in his touch.

Just worship. Admiration. Devotion.

Every time his fingertips brush my skin, I feel lighter.

“So fucking soft, Petals.”

He bends his head, leaving plucking kisses across my shoulders and chest.

I’m breathing so heavily it’s a wonder I don’t pass out.

His purple eyes hold mine as he unzips his jeans and shrugs out of his clothes.

Holy. Shit.

I’ve seen him nude before, but each time it’s like the first time.

Zeke is what all those old bodice-ripper romance novels mean when they say the hero is physically devastating .

I mean, the man is built like a god.

Tall and wide, his body is made of ropes of corded muscle honed by years of hard work and acres of skin bronzed by the sun.

My gaze drops to his revealed Adonis belt, and I swear, my pussy clenches in response to the sharp lines, pointing the way to his gloriously thick, long cock.

Like an invitation I knew I would never ever refuse.

When we’re both bare, he takes my hand and leads me into the bathroom.

The water is already running, warm and steamy.

He steps in behind me, pulling me into the spray and then into his arms.

There, under the water, he holds me against his warm, hard body and I shiver in response.

Zeke kisses me everywhere he can reach, unhurriedly and with so much care it brings tears to my eyes.

My shoulders. My collarbone. The curve of my cheek.

It’s not about urgency tonight.

It’s about us.

The way his hands glide over my back, massaging away the fear.

The way his lips find mine in the steam and silence.

The way his voice rumbles low and close to my ear.

“I’ve got you, Petals. Every part of you. Always.”

His words wrap around me like silk, warm and reverent, making my heart stutter and my breath catch.

And in that moment, something inside me shifts.

I want to give him something in return.

Not just my body, but a promise.

A worship.

A kind of devotion.

So I drop to my knees.

Zeke stiffens, his chest rising and falling like he’s been winded.

“What are you doing?” he asks, his voice rough as gravel.

I glance up at him through damp lashes, offering him a smile that I hope says everything I’m feeling.

“You know exactly what I’m doing.”

His eyes darken, glowing faintly, beautifully, as his hands curl at his sides in an effort to hold himself back.

But I don’t worry about it too much as I focus on my prize. Zeke’s growl fills the entire shower stall as I reach for his dick.

Impressive isn’t a word I’d typically use for this part of any man’s anatomy, but his damn well is.

In fact, his cock is downright beautiful.

I position myself between his muscular legs, my breath catching as I get my first real look at him.

He is thick, long, and uncut—gorgeous in a way that feels raw and real, almost too intimate to stare at for long.

But I can’t look away.

The foreskin hugs the thick, mushroomed head, just barely, and when I wrap my fingers around him, it moves with a silky glide that makes him suck in a breath.

When I touch him, he groans— low and deep and impossibly sexy —and I feel it like a current across my skin.

There’s strength in that sound but also surrender.

He is letting me lead.

Letting me learn him.

And gods, does he make it easy to want everything.

Power fills me. A strength I never knew I had. Even on my knees, I feel it.

It’s a womanly right if ever there was one, and I lean forward to wrap my lips around him for the first time.

Zeke’s thighs tense beneath my palms, and I feel the power in them—the restraint.

He is holding still for me, just barely.

I let my lips brush over him, slow and reverent, tasting the heat of his skin, feeling how sensitive he was as I tease along the ridge.

His hands fist by his sides, and the low, guttural sound he makes sends a thrill straight through me.

I take my time, learning what he likes, how he moves, how his body responds when I curl my tongue just right or suck gently.

Then I bob my head, taking him as deep as I can until he isn’t saying words anymore, just my name, whispering it over and over like a prayer.

“Casey. Fuck, I’m gonna come.”

I take his hand, putting it on the back of my head, holding it there as I continue to suck and moan around his dick.

“CASEY!” Zeke’s roar rattles the shower door. Literally.

It should have freaked me out, but I’m so lost to the sensation and taste of swallowing his release I barely notice.

I barely have time to breathe before he’s lifting me up and carrying me to bed.

We’re both dripping wet, but Zeke doesn’t care. He just sits with me on his lap and slams his lips to mine.

Then he lays down, pulling me with him until I realize what he’s about to do.

“I can’t! Zeke, I’ll crush you,” I say, half embarrassed, and the other half so turned on I know the moisture between my thighs has nothing to do with the shower and everything to do with him.

He laughs, that deep, possessive growl in his throat sending a shiver through me.

“Need to feel you come, Petals. On my tongue. Now be a good girl and sit on my face so I can fuck you proper,” he growls the words, sounding more beast than man.

There’s no teasing in his eyes now.

Just hunger and heat and something that looks very much like love.

So I let go.

I straddle him, trembling, heart pounding in my ears.

I’m helpless to do anything but obey. If this is what being mated to a Dragon means, then I am in.

Oh boy, am I in.

His growl pulses through me as I position myself with my thighs on either side of his head, then I lower my hips and groan as his big hands cup my ass, holding me in place.

And when he shows me just how deeply he means it— how much he really wants me with his lips, his tongue, and even his teeth —my entire body trembles and I fall even harder.

His tongue traces every inch of me like he’s memorizing the shape of my soul, and my entire world tilts.

Zeke’s growls and groans reverberate through me like thunder rolling through the hollow of my chest, echoing in places I didn’t even know existed.

I cry out, the sound torn from somewhere deep and sacred.

So much more than just pleasure.

It’s devotion.

It’s need.

It’s love.

My body arches, writhes, reaching for more even as I come apart in his hands, on his mouth, under the weight of his reverence.

My fingers knot in his damp hair, clinging like he’s the only thing tethering me to this plane— and maybe he is.

Because I can’t hold anything back.

Not my voice.

Not my heart.

Not even my soul.

Because they’re already his.

Everything I have, everything I am—it all belongs to him now. And I don’t want it back.

Zeke rises from beneath me with a look in his eyes that scorches me— raw, wild, and completely unguarded .

As if he’s seeing me, all of me, and choosing me again and again.

Then he flips us— fluid, effortless strength —and covers my body with his own.

The moment he presses inside me, slow and deep and infinitely right, my breath catches.

And then I hear it.

A voice, not Zeke’s exactly, but somehow still his.

Deeper. Older.

It vibrates in my bones, a rumble through my blood.

Es meus.

The words bloom like fire inside my skull.

You’re mine.

My whole body lights up with them, every nerve ending flaring like a meteor shower. It’s more than just sensation.

It’s claiming, branding, a binding of something soul-deep and eternal.

Zeke’s pace falters for a second, his eyes widening as he feels it, too.

The connection.

The magic.

The Dragon.

My hands cup his face, thumbs brushing his cheekbones as I whisper through a smile that feels far too big for my face, “You’re mine, too. All mine.”

He groans again— this one broken, reverent —and then we’re flying.

Not literally, but it feels like it.

Like our bodies are just along for the ride while something bigger than us— our bond, our fate —takes hold and soars.

When we finally come down from that place, panting, tangled, and trembling in each other’s arms, I realize something with a clarity that leaves me breathless.

This isn’t the end of something reckless.

It’s the beginning of everything.

And there is no place on earth I’d rather be.