“My mother didn’t want my father. She hated being mated to him. Craved to be free. She never understood why her wolf bowed to him and let him claim her, and she never let he or I forget it. By the time she disappeared, I’d learned mating didn’t always mean forever, and those closet to you can rip out your heart.”
She hadn’t known.
Kalinda opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head. “I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes my mother did. I won’t hold a woman to me who doesn’t want to be here. But I also won’t let you run away. You’re better than that.”
He pulled her into his body until they were chest to chest, their mouths a breath apart. “My woman fights. She claws, bites, and commands until she gets just what she wants. But she does not run. She may bend, she may even break, but she’s strong enough to pick up every fucking piece and put it back together. My woman is strong enough to claim just what she wants.”
Every word slipped into her soul. Heated breath skittered across her sensitive skin. She’d never been intimate like this, their eyes on each other, touching in a way like sex and yet so still. Her pulse jumped in her neck, and his fingers reflexively caressed the spot. Each time she exhaled, he inhaled.
“I can’t seem to do that right now,” she admitted.
Romano smiled, a brilliant white grin full of sharp teeth and wicked promise. “Oh, but you can and you will. I’m here to block anything and everyone from taking away the time you need to do just that.”
His fingers clenched around her neck, and she gripped the front of his shirt. “I don’t know how to do this.”
Fuck me running.
His tongue traced her full lower lip. A taunt. A challenge. That same odd feeling tightened her chest. Her magic. She stiffened, afraid of the heat slipping from her. Her blood was sluggish, too thick in her veins.
“Romano,” she warned.
He never let her go. His grip was an anchor, strong and sure. Ribbons of gold and black slid across her vision. It is in color just like Silva said. She’d never seen it before, but her magic reached for Romano. It wrapped around his arms, and his nostrils flared. Still, he didn’t move.
“No matter what it does, I’m still going to wait on you.”
Wait on her? What was he talking about? But the questions whipped out of her head too quickly for her to answer. She was too hot. Too tense. Too everything.
“Don’t let it take you. What are you feeling?”
Need. Desire. Craving.
God, every time her magic flared when he was around, she wanted to jump on him like an alley cat. What the hell was wrong with her? But then, it also did the same to others when it got out of control around them.
What the hell?
He jerked her by her neck, a quick shake hard enough to snatch her out of her thoughts. “What are you feeling?” he repeated.
“Need.”
“For?”
You. Kalinda almost said it, but she bit her lip. It was a freaking study in solar flares between her legs. She’d never felt her heartbeat there, pulsing and throbbing. She was slick, achy. Romano’s nostrils flared again.
“Every time,” he forced out past a growl.
“What?”
He shook his head. “You’re going to say it. You have to figure it out.”
Her power. What it was doing. She hated to admit it, but he was trying to help her. But she was too frustrated to—dammit.
“Sex,” she mumbled.
“I can’t hear you.”
Damn wolf could hear everything. But she still threw her shoulders back, daring him to laugh at her. “Sex.”
“Every time?”
