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“I’m not thirsty.”

When I get backed into a corner, flirty Bec and cheeky Bec get shoved to one side and the one true Bec comes forward—bratty Bec.

I planted my feet to the floor, crossed my arms to stop myself from reaching for the water, despite the desert forming in my mouth.

As my chin came out, I saw it, that reassuring flash in Shaun’s eyes.

Of heat, of anger, maybe? No, not that. Intensity, one I couldn’t read, which only made it hotter.

This, this was familiar territory for me.

That tightening of his jaw, his eyes blazing green, the slow menacing prowl. Yeah, Mumma liked that.

“No?” he asked me in a silky voice as his fingers gripped the bottle.

“No. I can get my own drinks and monitor my own hydration, thanks.”

“Yeah?” I felt his body against mine as he crowded in behind me, a heavy weight there hovering just out of reach.

Then a strong hand came over my shoulder, taking the ice-cold bottle and running it over my skin.

I shivered as the condensation left a cool trail that felt like it evaporated as soon as it moved away.

“You don’t need this?” He reached around, two arms coming over my shoulders as he untwisted the lid, the sharp crack making me jump.

“Not even for me? Drink your water down like a good girl, and I swear” —his lips brushed the top of my ear— “to make it worth your while.”

And there it was, all the dark promise and allure I’d fantasised about and never had.

Everyone kept asking me what I wanted, but right now, it was this.

His spare hand moved, pulling back only to slip around my waist, pulling me tight against him, enough strength there to weather whatever I threw at him, and I wanted to a lot.

Which was why I spun around in his grip, snatching the bottle out of his hand and took it as my own.

“And if I don’t?” I asked, tipping it slightly, so just a few drops escaped.

“You little minx,” he said, eyes narrowing. “Don’t you tip that water out.”

The rapid patter of droplets on the floor sounded in the room.

He reached out for the bottle, but I jerked my hand away, our gazes welded together.

The motion also sent more water splattering.

For a second, I saw his gaze harden and wondered what the hell I’d done, but just as quickly, this was followed by a smile—a really hot, kinda carnivorous smile.

He was the wolf and I was the bunny, but damn me if I didn’t want to be eaten all up.

“So you’re going to ignore your body’s needs, just to spite me?” That sounded harsh, but it didn’t come out that way. He looked pleased somehow by my performance. I shook my head, never able to back down, no matter what ridiculous hill I’d decided to die on. “OK.”

His tone lightened, the tension quickly dissipating as he stepped back, and I was left feeling like I’d lost something.

The bottle was plucked from my fingers, to be recapped and put into the fridge, I was sure, but nope, that wasn’t the way this was going to play.

Cold, cold water hit my overheated skin, making me jolt, as he poured it all over the shirt he’d leant me.

My nipples, already painfully hard, felt like they were about to abandon ship by popping off and rolling away to find a nicer girl who’d beg Shaun for decorous little kisses on their aching points.

He smiled as I just gasped, the shock so intense, that was all I could do, and then my reality was driven home rather abruptly.

His grin was gone, his eyes tracing the way the fabric now melded to my flesh, showing every damn curve, like I stood before him naked, but he wasn’t my only audience.

Rumbles from outside the glass door, muted but still very much there, reminded me who was watching all of this.

My head turned slowly, saw the men shifting where they stood, some hands straying to their cocks, others moving closer, just a step, to catch a better look.

He turned me around to more fully display my body to the group of men, his lips at my neck.

“You might ignore what you need, but we won’t.”

Was that a promise or a threat? I shivered, feeling the hard length of his body against mine. Promise, I decided there and then, as his cock ground into my arse.

“You want to pretend you’re not in heat, spend your days with sticky fingers, whimpering your way through one shitty self-administered orgasm to the next, I’ll make sure no one gets in my bedroom door, not even me.

I’ll leave dildos and vibrators and anything else that might help at your door.

But know this.” A hand slid under the wet fabric, peeling it away from my skin, and every guy outside followed that movement through the glass door.

“They’ll hang around this place, your window, your door, hoping to catch it.

The delicious smell of your scent on the wind, the sounds of your cries, the noise your cunt makes as you work something deep, wishing it was them. ”

He cast a spell around me as he spoke, showing me exactly what that looked like, and it was both sad and exhilarating at the same time.

The first scenario was how I spent most heats, working myself over, one flat and unfulfilling orgasm to the next.

But an audience, wolves at my door panting for more?

Yes, that , my Tirian insisted. Test these men, find the worthy, then mate with them.

Them? I asked, staring out through the glass.

There are others. There have always been others.

She sounded so pleased, because we’d had this conversation so many times and I never listened.

I’d seen no evidence of multiple men being willing to settle for one woman outside of small circles in the city.

The old ladies back in Melville had tut tutted at that.

Boys’ faces turning into masks of anger and disgust when they caught me pursuing things with more than one of them, men doing the same when they just weren’t enough, but Shaun? Maybe he would be.

They are the many, we are the few , she insisted. We are the Goddess’ gift to them. We take as many that please us, take their seed deep, and produce strong pups as a result. That’s what they want, what you need.

Need? I didn’t know about that, but want? I felt a gush between my thighs, Shaun moving against me, pressing harder, his teeth finding my neck, letting out a low groan as he scented that.

“Fuck, Bec, you have needs, and we want to fulfil them, every single one.” His hands began moving restively, shifting the fabric of the borrowed clothes up or down in small increments.

“Show me,” I replied, staring out the glass door as I felt him at my back, my eyes roaming across the crowd until I saw him.

Still shirtless, still in overalls, Ethan’s head tilted back when he caught my gaze, a slow smile spreading across his face, but that wasn’t all.

He flicked a few buttons of his coverall open, revealing a taut stomach and then, fuck, the most perfectly delineated V at his hips, no hair marring the tight slope of muscle all the way down to the base of his?—

Shit.

He grinned, his hand snaking down?—

“How do you feel about giving the boys a show?” Shaun asked, his voice starting to get raspy.

“They won’t come in here, won’t fucking dare, but they’ll love every second of seeing you.

” The shirt pulled up slightly. “And I’ll love showing them every beautiful bloody inch of you.

You’re a goddess, and you deserve to be worshipped. ”

“Where the hell have you been all my life?” I muttered, knowing damn well he’d hear me.

“Waiting for you. Say yes.”

“Yes to what exactly?” I tried, dear reader, truly, I tried to make sure he wasn’t going to tie me up and spank me with limp celery while the fellas beyond all snickered, but even then, I’d have probably said yes.

“I’ll strip off all these wet clothes, press you against the glass as I drop to my knees, then crouch between your thighs to suck your clit while I stroke my cock, because it fucking aches.

They’ll be able to see all of it, all the beauty I’ve gorged myself on, that fucking amazing expression your face takes when you come, like I’m breaking your heart or something. ”

“That’s… Won’t they…?”

“Wish they were me? Fall all over themselves to prove that they’re worthy of you, desperate for a place by your side?” I heard the smile in his voice and wondered at that. I looked back over my shoulder, only able to catch some of his face.

“And won’t that displace you?”

Something serious cut through the heat in the room, a painful flicker rising and then pushed away abruptly. His eyes dropped down, and he traced small circles on one of my buttocks as he answered.

“If I can’t persuade you to keep me around, no matter who else you decide to take to your bed, then I don’t deserve to be there.”

I looked out the window, then back again, fear and incredulity fighting with the overwhelming sensation—desire.

“Take? You mean?—?”

“Women are treasured in Sanctuary, and every single man will line up for the honour. We know you will always need more than what only one of us can provide, so it’s our pleasure to help you find that.

You don’t have to make any permanent decisions.

” His hands went to the waistband of the shorts he’d given me.

“No one has a right to you until you’ve chosen, so let me help you choose. Give me that honour, Bec.”

He didn’t get it, not then, not yet, that it wasn’t an honour but a secret, dark little heart’s wish, something I’d wanted and needed so fucking much but never seen the faintest glimmer of being satisfied.

Until now. “Yes,” I said, because of course I did.

I had exhibitionist tendencies, ones that came roaring to the fore as he dragged my shirt up, the men surging forward as my breasts were revealed, the nipples pulled all the tighter in response to their hungry gaze and his rough callused hands.

But the men stopped, hovered at the edge of Shaun’s veranda, not willing to take another step.

They wanted to, though, and that sure knowledge made me smile, right up until I was stripped bare.

Then Shaun did just as he said, separating my thighs with slow showman-like movements, stringing the performance out, and plenty of men succumbed early, undoing zippers, unbuttoning flies to fish out a sea of hard aching cocks.

My palms slapped down on the glass as I felt the first kiss up the inside of my thigh, my hips canting backwards, anything to get him closer to my weeping cunt, but he just laughed.

“You’re making them so fucking hard,” he practically growled between kisses. “Making me ache. They need you, Bec. I need you.”

Well, since this was a public service, what could I do but surrender?