Page 55 of Knot Your Basic B*tch

God, all I wanted to do was to tell him yes. I was going to move in with them. I was ready to join their pack and bond them… but it wasn’t the truth.

Why did it feel like the earth was being ripped out from under me and I was falling?

Why did this feel like a goodbye?

The enthusiasm seeped out of Kain, like the slow leak of a helium balloon. What was worse was that it was all my own fault. I was the one who had stolen that enthusiasm away from him, and Kain had done nothing to deserve it. A part of me wanted to wipe the hint of sadness away from his brilliant blue eyes—the pain that I had put there.

But I had to do this.

“I just need some space. To think.”

“But you’re coming back to us, right? After you do what you need to do? After you have some time to figure this out?”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t say anything. This hurt too much.

Kain closed his eyes, and his voice went soft. “Are you breaking up with us?”

What?

Breaking up was the last thing that I wanted to do. Is that what I was doing? What the fuck was I doing?

No.

I couldn’t lose them. That wasn’t what this was about.

I shook my head violently. “I j-just…” I started sniffling, and my eyes burned with tears that were making everything blurry, forcing myself to get the words out before I lost everything. “I don’t want to break up.”

Suddenly, warm arms were all around me. Kain held me close, brushing comforting patterns up and down my back.

I pulled just far enough away to get a look at him. Though his expression was strained, like he was forcing himself to appear composed, he wasn’t able to hide the pain in his eyes.

I hated this. I hated that I was the one who had hurt him, when Kain had been nothing but good to me.

One minute I was leaning in, drawn in to Kain’s brilliant blue eyes—they were an ocean, and I was so damn thirsty… all I wanted was to drown in them… until my lips were inches away from his…

The next moment his lips were locked with mine. Pressing against my mouth, feverishly hot.

I moaned at his touch, ready to lose myself, forget all the shit that had come between us to just fucking feel him. Just that rough slide, the delicious friction as his tongue moved against mine.

The scent of chocolate was heavy in the air, decadent and demanding. Smooth and rich, there was nothing but his creamy scent all around me and it was the only thing I wanted.

It wasn’t enough. I needed more of him.

I moved my hand under his shirt, needing to feel him. Sliding my palm against his warm skin, and the firm muscles tensing under my fingertips. I jerked his shirt up and out of the way.

Kain broke off our kiss, for long enough to rip his shirt off, in one smooth motion.

I didn’t even have enough time to stare at the perfection that was his athletic torso before he was on me, pressing hot open-mouthed kisses against my neck, until I was sinking into the heat of him.

Kain slid his fingers under my shirt, brushing against the skin of my belly in feather-light touches that were driving me insane. The slow trails he was weaving across my body all felt like they were lighting me on fire.

Then Kain was kissing my neck roughly, sucking down hard and pressing his teeth right against my sensitive skin.

I whimpered—it was right where we could bond. All he had to do was press down just a little harder. If he would just bite me. Bite me. He was right there, so close and he could make me his.

But then Kain broke away from my neck, with a groan. His eyes were hooded with lust, his pupils dark with want.

“Tell me to stop.” His voice was wild, frantic… as if he was as desperate as I was to burn down these walls that I’d thrown between us.