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He’d become arrogant. It chafed to realize that. Some arrogance was expected of a Prime, but not like this. The respect his people gave him wasn’t his right—it was a privilege, an honor, and one he had to earn.
He hadn’t earned it from Zee.
“Alison was here,” he said, deciding to tackle that first.
“I see your nose still works,” she said calmly. “Bully for you.”
He wanted to bite her. Not hard. But the urge was there.
“I don’t smell blood.”
She glanced at his cheek and said softly, “I do.”
Eyes narrowed, he said, “Other than mine.”
“Are you feeling hurt I didn’t decide to beat the shit out of your bedmate?” She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “I hardly expected you to remain celibate, Niko. You did kick me out, remember? I was out of your life as far as we were both concerned. As far as I know, you’ve had a few hundred lovers over the past decade. A thousand.”
“Hardly a thousand,” he muttered, wondering why in the hell he was starting to feel embarrassed. How could she do this to him?
“Oh, so just a few hundred.” She studied her nails, looking bored. “I had no doubt I’d run into at least a couple of your lovers while we were here—even before you made the offer to bring one to the ceremony tonight.”
The words were delivered with such cool complacency, he might have thought she had ice in her veins, if he didn’t know better. On the defensive now, he said, “I can’t keep apologizing for how I acted, Zee. But yeah, for the first few years after you left, I did my damnedest to fuck you out of my mind, even if it meant a different woman in my bed every night.”
Her eyes were opaque as she looked him over. “How lovely.”
Although she gave no outward sign, he could feel her hurt. Striding over, he closed the distance between them and caught her by the arms.
“Yell at me,” he demanded. “Shit, slap me again. Hit me. Bite me. I don’t care. Just do... something.”
“Why? What’s it going to accomplish?” Head cocking to the side, she studied him. “It won’t undo anything. It won’t take back the years I spent alone, or erase the scent of Alison from your skin, or the memory of hundreds of women from your mind, or the knowledge of them from mine. It won’t wipe away the memory of their touch, or their kisses. So... why?”
This, at least, he could counter.
He let go of her arms to shove both hands into her hair, craning her head back. Before she could stop him, he slammed his mouth down over hers. She sucked in a startled breath and he took advantage of that, plunging his tongue deep inside and gorging on the taste of her—his woman. His mate. Zee.
She came to life in his arms, a moan vibrating out of her that made him think of how she sounded when he made her come. Backing her up against the four-poster bed, he tore at her clothes, stripping her naked. He broke the kiss only long enough for them both to suck in air, afraid if he let her think for even a second, she’d push him away.
Even if he deserved it—and he knew he did—he needed her too much, and he needed her to know that, to understand it.
Something sharp grazed his skin, followed by the cool kiss of air before their naked chests touched. She’d torn his clothes too. The thought made his blood pump even hotter and his skin felt stretched too tight for his form, like he had to shed it or die.
But the need to shift was nothing compared to the need to be inside her—now.
Boosting her up, he tore away the front of his jeans, the material shredding. Then, breaking the desperate kiss, he jerked back, forcing distance between them for the simple fact that he needed to see her as he took her. Eyes locked on hers, he thrust deep. She was so tight, but silky wet and she cried out as he filled her.
“Look at me, Zee,” he demanded, staring into her green eyes when she would have averted her gaze.
Her lashes drooped slightly before lifting.
Now that he had her wrapped around him, wet and willing, the fevered hunger eased enough for him to think. Hoisting her up so he could brace one forearm at her hips to ease the pressure from the wide, carved bedpost that nearly reached the ceiling, he cupped her cheek in his free hand.
Her mouth was swollen from his kiss and still damp. When he licked his lips, he could taste her. Hers was the only mouth he’d ever wanted on his.
“I might have fucked my way through half of North Carolina trying to forget about you, Zee. But I’ve never let another woman put her mouth on me... for any reason.” He bent his head and sank his teeth into her lower lip, giving her a slow, sensual bite. “I haven’t kissed anybody since that afternoon when you put your mark on me. You marked me, alright, Zee. In more ways than one.”
Something akin to wonder bloomed in her eyes, softening them.
For a split second, Niko almost wished he’d told her this when he wasn’t balls-deep inside her, because he thought maybe, just maybe, she’d listen when he tried to tell her he’d never given up the claim she’d laid on him, that he’d only lied to himself when he tried to act otherwise.
