Page 10

Chapter 10

Prowl

She wanted me.

This sweet, brave goddess wanted me.

She’d calmed with me her touch.

Watched me have the most intense orgasm of my life, climbed as far as she could through those damn bars to brush my hair, and told me she trusted me.

And I believed her.

How could I not, when she’d asked Jean for a plan to release me?

While she stayed with me.

Goddamn fucking miracles, every single one of them.

The best one of all?

The scent that had crawled inside my soul, giving me the hardest dick of my life, one that still refused to completely go down.

Her arousal. For me.

I’d die a happy male with that scent in my nose.

The half-mast in my pants throbbed, and I sucked back a groan, refusing to disturb her.

My Angel.

My Daff.

Because she was mine.

Even if this was all there ever was between us.

“You okay, big guy?”

Her fingers tightened in mine with her question, her voice rough with sleep.

“Never better.”

“That’s not saying much about your experiences before now.”

Daff covered her yawn with her free hand, stretched out her toes, then snuggled back into her pillow.

She was sleeping on the floor with me again, but this time I’d made sure she was comfortable, making her take both my pillow and blanket despite her protests.

“They’ll be here soon.”

She cracked an eyelid, just far enough to study me.

“Are you nervous?”

“No.”

Her cute little nose scrunched.

“But this could be your next step out of here, and if they say no?—”

“I have you, Daff. You’re all I need.”

She wriggled closer.

“What about your brothers? What do they need?”

An unsettling heaviness washed over me.

Because she was right.

King was… not himself.

He wore worry and sadness like a permanent weight vest, and with Rage lost to his instincts…

I was all he had left.

I drew her hand to my lips, kissing her fingers.

“I want more for you than this,” she whispered.

“You deserve so much more than this. You all do.” She grinned, her seriousness dropping.

“I got your back, Jack. Whatever happens.”

My gut sank, my abs clenching against the sickening feeling.

“You want to call me Jack?”

Her eyes widened as she jerked my hand to her chest, close enough to feel the rapid beat of her heart through the soft swell of her breasts.

“Fuck no! It’s just a saying. I don’t even know where it comes from. It’s just something people say when they mean, they won’t let you down. I don’t want to change your name. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you, Prowl.”

She looked so damn earnest I knew she meant every word.

“I believe you.”

“Oh, thank god.” She took a deep breath, but whatever she was going to say stopped with the sound of that fucking buzzer.

“We should probably stand for this. We’ll look more serious than curled up on the floor like kids looking up at their parents.”

She let go of my hand as she stood, tossing the bedding back where it belonged before coming back, slipping her hand behind her so we were still touching when they came in.

Jean led the way, followed by Lara, Doc Paula, the jerk-off zoologist with a human psychology degree - Lucus Helliot - who I truly believed thought he shit pure sunshine.

The on-duty guard brought up the rear, remaining by the door.

I held back a growl as they all visually checked over Daff first, making sure she was fine.

Which rationally, I appreciated.

It would’ve pissed me off if they’d dismissed her health and wellbeing for mine.

But I hated the implication that they needed to check her in the first place.

They couldn’t see our connected hands, but noted how close we stood.

Jean cut to the chase.

“I alerted everyone to your request, and we met this morning to discuss it.”

“And?” Daff asked, standing a little taller.

Her thumb stroked my skin where our hands touched.

God, this woman.

If they let me out, and she wanted me like I believed?

There wasn’t a chance in hell I would hesitate in making her mine.

Daff’s scent may have been the one to break through my raging instincts enough to grasp my sanity, but it was her I wanted.

Every inch of her pale skin, every dark hair on her body, every breathy moan that passed my angels lips.

I’d claim them all ’til my dying breath, or however long she let me.

“Any relapses? Depression, rage or disassociation?” Doc Paula asked.

“No.”

“Daff?” she asked, looking for confirmation.

“None.”

“Suicidal ideation, thoughts or desires to self-harm or harm those around you?”

If they thought for one fucking second I would ever consider harming Daff?—

“No,” she said, stilling my building rage, the steady stroke of her thumb helping me focus past it.

“We need to hear it from him.”

That, from Helliot.

“No,” I snapped, barely suppressing a growl.

Doc Paula continued, unbothered by my tone.

“I noted a significant biological change in yesterday’s bloods. I’d like to take a second sample to confirm, and continue regular draws to track any other changes.”

Hopefully, those changes were a good thing.

As for the bloods? I nodded like the choice was mine.

“We need to speak with Daff privately,” Lara said, as Doc Paula cinched a tie around my arm.

Daff’s fingers clamped around mine like a vice, as panic sucked the air from my lungs.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Lara pointed to the dark window.

“You’ll still be able to see each other. It won’t take?—”

Daff cut her off.

“I said no. Anything you need to say about Prowl or our next steps, will be said in front of both of us.”

My purr exploded into the room, widening the eyes glued to us.

“You hear that? That’s for me. I know what you’re thinking, what you’re worried about, but Prowl won’t hurt me. I trust him, and he trusts me.”

She sounded so damn proud saying it.

“Do you trust him with your life?” Jean asked.

“Because that’s what will be on the line. Whatever answer we give, whatever plans we put in place, it’s ultimately you who risks the most doing this.”

My woman didn’t flinch.

“One hundred percent.”

Jean looked resigned, Lara looked worried, Doc Paula looked unaffected and Doc Jerk-off…

looked less than impressed.

Daff’s head swivelled between them.

“What’s the verdict?”

Everyone looked at Jean, who was still studying her like he was trying to see under her skin.

“Are you absolutely sure about this, Daff?”

He held up his hand, stopping her protest.

“He’s right to ask,” I said, startling her into looking at me.

I held her gaze, needing her to take this seriously.

“I would never, ever, willingly or otherwise hurt you.”

“I know. I’d be telling everyone to fuck right off if I didn’t believe in you.”

“That doesn’t mean we need to do this now. Or ever.”

She took a deep breath, filling her lungs and stopping my heart.

I’d meant what I said.

I’d stay on this side of my wall forever, happily even, as long as she stayed with me.

But the ways I could worship her without it separating us?

“We’re doing this.” Her eyes were spitting fire, daring me to argue with her.

If I didn’t think everyone in the room would worry I’d lost my mind again, I’d roar so fucking loud the stars would hear me.

“Then let them do what they need to do to sign off on it.”

Daff took a deep breath and nodded, then turned back to face our visitors.

“I understand the risks,” she said, focusing on Jean.

“And I’m doing this. What do you guys need from us to make it happen?”

Jean pointed to the steel door.

“Two officers out there at all times. They’ll have both Tasers and live ammunition. If the situation requires it, clearance to shoot-to-kill has been granted. They will do random, around the clock safety checks, and you will be required to wear a panic button at all times, in case things go sideways.”

Daff’s grip was threatening to cut off my circulation.

“Is that a yes?” She asked, sounding as desperate as I felt for the verbal confirmation.

“Yes,” Lara said, since no one else seemed to want to give the final answer.

She spun to me, her eyes wide.

“They said yes!”

I ached to slip my other hand through the gaps and touch her, but now wasn’t the time.

“When?” she asked, still looking at me with so much goddamn joy in her eyes.

“We can come back?—”

She shot a glare over her shoulder.

“Why not now?”

Jean sighed.

“You’re not going to make my job easy, are you?”

“Nope,” she said, a smile lighting her face.