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ChapterThirty-Two
SUNDAY
“Mmm, Caleb,” I murmured into my pillow, rolling over and reaching for the man I’d finally claimed as mine. It was the last piece clicking into place.
My body ached with delicious tingles. Not from being railed into next week by my hot as fuck priest, sadly, but from the intensity of the three back-to-back orgasms he’d given me. As I stretched and rolled over, I did a quick mental inventory.
The heat was gone, completely. Like a switch had been flipped and I was my normal self again. I knew, with a bit of sadness, that it wouldn’t return for a long time. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t coax another orgasm out of Caleb before we rejoined the real world.
I cracked one eye open, turning my head on the pillow to look at him.
He wasn’t there.
Sitting up, I glanced around, but the lovely cottage-style room was gone, replaced with something utilitarian and not remotely familiar. The only thing besides the bed and me in the simple space was a single piece of paper.
That motherfucker.
He did not just Dear John me.
My hands shook as I reached for his note. Maybe he went to get breakfast? An egg McMuffin for me and a bag of blood for him?
But as soon as I saw the scrawl of his handwriting across the page, I knew. He’d left me.
This can never happen again.
What we did doesn’t leave this room.
He didn’t even sign it.
My lip quivered and tears pricked my eyes, but I refused to cry. Even though my heart felt like it was breaking. I crumpled his bullshit letter in my fist and chucked it across the room with an angry scream. It bounced harmlessly off the wall, rolling into the corner as a single tear escaped down my cheek.
The door opened then, revealing Noah, heartstopping, strong, and wonderful Noah.
“What’s all this?” he asked, his voice tender but cautious. “I got a message that you needed me, not that you were upset.”
I shook my head, too frustrated and sad to speak and not wanting to admit to my mate that I’d just had an unintentional one-night stand with Caleb.
He spotted the note and crouched down to pick it up. “Do you mind?”
I shrugged, and he took that as permission to read it. Honestly, it wasn’t like he couldn’t smell Caleb all over me. He had to know what had happened.
As he scanned the two lines of text, his face darkened like a storm cloud. Jaw clenched, he shook his head. “The absolute git. He thinks he can come in here and shag you all night, then leave like nothing happened? He’s wrong.”
“It’s complicated, Noah.”
His eyes flashed with possessive anger. “Fuck that. Don’t make excuses for him. It’s complicated to love a woman who loves three other men too, but I do it. It’s bloody complicated to abandon my family because I know I can’t be without you and stay sane.” He slid his shirt sleeve up, exposing the traitor mark he bore for me. “I welcome the complications because the reward is worth everything. You are worth everything. Don’t let this coward make you believe you deserve this.”
He pulled me into his arms, and the tears I’d been fighting broke free. I just wasn’t sure if I was crying over losing Caleb before I ever really had him or because of Noah’s heartfelt declaration. I guess it didn’t really matter.
By the time my tears had dried up, I was sure I looked as shitty as I felt, but you wouldn’t know it the way Noah gazed at me. He kissed each of my cheeks, cupping my face in his warm palms and then pressing his lips over my eyelids.
“I wish I were enough for you.” He whispered the words so softly I almost missed them.
My heart clenched. I hated that I was hurting him. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I know you need more than me. I understand this isn’t a choice. You are fated to be bonded with all of us. I can’t change it. I just wish... well, if I were enough, you’d already be happy.”
“Noah, youareenough. I couldn’t love you any more than I already do. I don’t ever want you to feel like my loving them means that you’re lacking something. Because you’re not. You’re as much a part of me as the blood running through my veins. Now that I know what it’s like to be loved by you, I can’t live without it.”
