Page 29 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

I laughed. “No. Not at all. I just kind of knew what I was looking for, and you don’t have it.

” Callum was probably right about something holy being the cure.

And if vampires were Slavic and werecats were Egyptian…

there was no way the cure would be the same for both anyway.

Zoey’s source must be wrong. My eye gravitated back to the black opal earrings Callum had left out.

“Try them on,” he said .

“I think they’re for more of an old soul.” That’s how Callum had described Kebe. And he was right.

Callum chuckled. “Not this again.”

“You haven’t said a single thing about your time with Kebe today.”

“Because there was nothing eventful to report.”

“Did you find her a place?”

“No, nothing she was interested in yet,” he said.

I sighed. “Don’t you see? She’s not going to choose something because this way she can spend more and more time with you.”

“Professional time.”

I resisted rolling my eyes. “She doesn’t want anything between the two of you to be professional.” I turned back to the next display case. As if anything in there would help me stop being so paranoid.

“Emma.”

I ignored him and moved to the next shelf.

“Baby.” He wrapped his arms around me from behind. “We talked about this.” He kissed the side of my neck. “I’m not interested in Kebe.” His lips stayed at the side of my neck.

“I know I’m being stupid, but I don’t know how to stop.”

“Hmm. How can I prove it to you?” He kissed the side of my neck again.

I felt myself tilting my head. Exposing my flesh to him. He hadn’t bitten me in days. Because I hadn’t asked him to. But I liked when he did it. I wanted to ask him now. But we weren’t near his handcuffs. It would be reckless. Dangerous. My heart started racing faster.

One of his hands wandered over my hip and across my right ass cheek. “Maybe I should show you that spanking is a much better alternative to booping.” He gripped my ass in his hand. “Because you’re being terrible, baby. Bend over.”

“I’m not…”

He pushed down on my back and I grabbed on to the glass of the island. He let go of my ass and then spanked me. Harder than I thought he would. And then he gently traced the sting with his palm.

“I told you that you had nothing to be jealous of. So why do you keep questioning what we have?”

I didn’t know why. That was the whole problem.

He spanked me again. “Answer me, Emma.”

“You find it easy to talk to her. You’re comfortable around her.”

“We’ve already talked about this.” He spanked me again.

And I moaned. No one had ever spanked me before. And I didn’t expect it to be so fucking hot.

“Answer me,” he said again. “Why are you so worried about Kebe?”

“Because I saw the way you looked at her. She’s beautiful. She was traveling all over before she settled here. She’s cultured. She’s…more like you.”

“But she’s not you .” He pushed the waistband of my leggings and thong down my legs. He groaned. “You’re all I think about, Emma. Every inch of you.” He spanked me again and my body shifted forward.

I held on to the glass top, not caring that I was smudging it. His cold palm against my skin ignited something inside of me. I wanted him to slide his hand between my legs. I wanted to feel his cold touch everywhere .

“Now tell me why you really wanted a tour of this room.”

“Because Zoey…”

He spanked me again. Jesus. I was so wet I was pretty sure I was dripping.

“The truth, Emma. You showed little interest in any of it. You were looking for something in particular with an Anubis depiction. And stop being vague. Tell me the truth.”

“She thinks there’s a coin with an Anubis head that will cure you. And her boyfriends.” I knew how he felt about a cure. And I also knew how he felt about lying and secrets. I didn’t know what the right answer was here. The best I could give him was the truth.

“Baby, there is no cure.” His fingers trailed down the back of my thigh as he knelt down behind me. “I will always be desperate to taste you.” He kissed my ass cheek. “So fucking sweet.”

I could hear his voice growing unhinged. I knew what he wanted. And he wasn’t talking about the smell of my moisturizer being sweet. Knowing that he was losing control made me feel sexy. Desired.

The danger in the air combined with the sting he’d left on my ass cheek had me close to losing control too. “Callum, please. I need you.” I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for. For him to fuck me or bite me. I was starting to crave both just as much as he did.

He groaned as his fingers slipped inside of my wetness. But I was pretty sure he was groaning because his teeth were grazing my flesh.

“Do it,” I said.

His breath was hot on my ass cheek.

“If you’re craving me, you can have me. ”

“We’re done talking about a cure,” he said, ignoring me. “Do you understand me?”

“Callum…”

“I’m uncurable. I’m a monster and I’ll always be a monster.” He bit into my skin with groan.

Fuck. His teeth biting my skin felt better than him spanking me. I held on to the glass as he sucked on my flesh harder. Harder than he ever had before.

He groaned again and his mouth fell from my skin.

He cursed under his breath as his grabbed me around the waist and lifted me onto the glass island.

Something wet smeared beneath me as he pulled me to the edge.

And I wasn’t sure if it was my own wetness or blood from his bite.

And I didn’t fucking care. All I cared about was the way he was staring at me with his golden eyes. Like he was in pain.

“Tell me you understand,” he said as he grabbed a fistful of my hair and tilted my head back.

I couldn’t. Because I didn’t agree. “You’re not a monster, Callum.”

His lips fell to mine and I heard the zipper of his jeans.

I tasted my blood on his lips as he slammed into me. I wasn’t sure how I could feel so broken and so full at the same time. You’re not a monster, Callum.