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“What? Why? Ozias, I swear, I can’t imagine them trying to make you leave just because you’re?—”
“And if they do?” He looked at me solemnly, no doubt in his gaze despite the fact he’d asked the question. “If they decide you’re not safe with me and they have to protect you?”
My lips parted, but I couldn’t find the words to respond. It seemed so impossible. Those men were his friends. They’d fought together and stayed together for years, and that was after growing up in a world that despised them just because of the way they’d been born. Surely given all of that, they wouldn’t dream of driving Ozias away simply for being what he was.
“One of my first memories,” he said quietly, “is when my mother tried to drown me.”
I went still. Holy gods…
“I was an abomination to her. To our village. But after that, there were others. Villagers and merchants who tried to kill me or cage me for what I am. They gave me my scars. All of them. Nowhere was safe.” He shuddered. “These men… you… are the only home and the only real family I’ve ever known. But if they think I’m a danger to you…”
His jaw muscles clenched beneath his beard, the tumult of fear and pain and dread inside him growing stronger.
It hurt so much, and yet to look at him, he was as stoic as I’d ever seen him.
Gods, the things he hid inside.
And I wanted to make it better. To tell him I wouldn’t ever let them send him away, not on my account. But I also knew that solution wouldn’t be good enough, not really. That wouldn’t be acceptance or trust or any of the things he had with them now, for what was likely the first time in his whole life.
Even if it was based on a lie.
The dilemma of it all gnawed at me. I didn’t want to lie either, not to the men I loved. But I also didn’t have the right to tell them Ozias’s truth when that was his to share. And now that I understood the dread that lay like a cold leaden ball within him…
Gods, after all he’d been through, who was I to decide how and when he revealed himself? If he thought telling the others the truth meant there was even a chance they wouldn’t accept him or that he might lose the only real home he’d ever had, what right did I have to jeopardize his world and make that choice in his place?
I swallowed hard. “Your secret is safe with me.”
At his silence, I glanced back. The tumult in him had changed, but I couldn’t make sense of it. “What?”
“I’m sorry I ever doubted you. Who you are. How you are. Anything. You—” A ragged breath left him as he stared at me. “You’re just…”
His hand gripped my head, drawing me to him. As his tongue plundered my mouth, his fingers curled into my hair and his beard scratched my cheeks, both giving delicious counterpoints of pinprick pain to how he devoured me. I already knew I’d never get enough of the combination, and my body thrummed with renewed need when he finally let me go. Even his kiss had me wet.
His nostrils flared, and a low growl full of carnal hunger rumbled from him. “I can smell how much you want more, little mate.”
Gods, this man.
With a tiny whimper of desire, I rocked my hips against him, my clit aching.
He grinned.
That only made me crave him more. Ozias already looked like a rough and wild creature, but grinning like that, he was a sexual forest god. Still holding me with one arm, his other hand stole down my middle to delve into my wet folds. His fingers circled my clit, massaging it so perfectly, and I could feel his enjoyment thrumming through the strange new connection between us.
Which meant he could feel mine too.
Shock at the realization made my eyes go wide, but that couldn’t last. Not against the incredible way he touched me, the rough pad of his fingertips playing over my clit like I was an instrument and he was a master. I clamped my lips shut against gasping moans as the tension built inside me, my hips jerking in his grasp. Shuddering hard, I gripped his bicep as I came again.
His grin widened as he withdrew his touch and licked my slick from his fingers. The sight was so erotic, I shivered. My lips parted to feel his hard length pressing at my hip.
I wanted to taste him too.
Wriggling a bit, I tried to reposition myself to reach his cock, but Ozias stilled my motions with one massive hand. A sigh left him, regret flashing over his face. “Your clothes. Before the others arrive, you should…” He frowned, glancing at the remains of my clothing scattered around us as if realizing how useless most of it had become for covering me. “Here.”
He reached into his bag, tugging out his sweater a moment later.
I could have used it as a blanket, it was so large on me. Even bundling up the sleeves only left them bunched around my wrists, threatened to flop down at any moment, and the bottom hem hung past my backside.
Ozias was staring at me when I looked back up at him. He didn’t move a muscle, save for the way his nose twitched.
