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I lose his wild eyes as he crushes his mouth to mine. It is such a desperate kiss that it makes my stomach quiver with need as his tongue swipes over the slit in my lips. Instinctively, I open my mouth to him, letting his tongue tangle with mine. He takes me as if I am the air he needs to breathe, and I let him claim me, even if he cannot do it the way I really need him to.
I don’t want this moment to end between us, so I grip him tightly, unwilling to let him go. But both of us eventually have to come up for air, so we break apart as we suck in desperate breaths. My heart is pounding in my ears, my pulse fluttering in my throat like the frantic wings of a trapped bird.
The injustice of our situation churns my gut like wet mud beneath my feet. “I hate this,” I admit in a broken whimper.
“Alpha magic creates mating bonds,” he says slowly. “That is how chosen mates are created, right?”
“I think so.”
“Then I’ll ask Cade to make us chosen mates.” He brushes my hair back from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “Because I cannot survive another day without you being mine completely.”
Chapter 9
Jackson
Iwatch as Dove moves around the living room, the jeans she’s wearing molded to her body like a second skin. I can’t stop myself from ogling the globes of her ass and how they fill the denim just right. She’s perfect in every way, and me and my wolf are completely and utterly taken with her.
My cock stirs behind my zipper as she tucks a strand of blue hair behind her ear before reaching for the coffee pot. I don’t miss the fact that she’s started claiming pieces of my clothing as her own. Right now, she’s wearing one of my hoodies. It swamps her small frame, the sleeves reaching past her fingers and the hem reaching her mid-thighs, but she wears it better than I ever could.
There’s something primal about her wearing my clothes that makes my wolf purr with happiness. He knows as much as I do that Dove is ours.
“You don’t need to watch me,” she says without looking up from the mug she’s filling with coffee. It smells strong as hell. I would need a whole lot of creamer to drink it, but Dove takes hers black. “I’m not going to keel over or make another dash for the lake.”
I don’t like the twist of my gut at her words. I’m not afraid that she’ll try to hurt herself again since she got what she wanted—what we both wanted—out of it, but the memories of pulling her out of the water are going to haunt my nightmares for a long time.
“Maybe I like watching you,” I challenge, which has her head snapping in my direction.
“You like watching me?”
I move to her, turning her around so that her back is pressed against the counter, my arms caging her in. Her eyes slide up my body before resting on my eyes, and I like the heavy-glazed look she gives me.
“I like everything about you,” I admit, taking a moment to suck into my nose the mixture of my scent lingering on my hoodie she’s claimed and her sweetness before I dip my head.
The kiss is soft, filled with everything I’m unable to say. I’m not sure how to move forward together. She’s still worried about a true mate sliding into our picture, but that’s not even something I’ll consider. Aside from the odds we have stacked against us, the way I feel about her can’t be swayed by outside factors. I refuse to believe that I would give her up for someone I’d never met just because magic tells me I should.
Nothing matters to me except her.
Dove is my world.
I push my tongue inside her mouth, licking along the seam of her lips and nipping them too. She melts into my kiss for a moment before her hands come to my chest, and she exerts enough force to stop me.
Pulling back, I scan her face, but her head is lowered, and I can’t read her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She tries to move away, to put space between us, but I grasp her shoulders, holding her to me.
“Dove.” Her lashes lift, and the sorrow in her eyes almost makes me growl. “What is it?” I press, but when she pulls out of my grip this time, I let her go. I don’t want to, but I can sense she needs space.
“I… need my caffeine. Something you need to know about me is that I can’t function without it.”
My heart gives an unsteady thump as Dove turns her back to me, seemingly absorbed with the mug of coffee on the counter in front of her. I stop myself from snarling at her sudden coldness toward me, but I temper my response. Frustration isn’t going to help here.
“Are you hurting?”
I noticed some stiffness when she first came into the room. The way her hand periodically presses against her chest, where I crushed her ribs, indicates she’s in pain.
“A little, but it’s okay. I can handle it.”
