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Don’t break my heart.
He stood and pulled me up with him. His arms were like iron bands holding me so tightly I could barely breathe. I held onto him just as hard.
“Des, darlin’, you’re killing me.”
His heart pounded beneath the ear I had pressed to his broad chest. Anger filled him and rushed into me on a hot wave, mixing with all the rage I’d bottled up inside. A low growl rumbled through him, and my wolf approved.
“I fucking love every inch of you, and I can’t wait to show you how much.” He sifted his fingers through my hair. “I’ll never understand why anyone would want to change the one they love. What’s the point? I can tell you one thing, if that male was still alive, I’d slug him right in the face, then beat the ever-loving hell out of him.”
A strangled giggle escaped my lips. “I’m right there with you, champ.” And so was my wolf.
With the terrible weight Tillman had left on my heart, the blame and guilt he had piled on me daily, I didn’t feel sorry for him.
“He...changed me. He fed into my faulty, immature infatuation. He destroyed all my dreams of romance, endless kisses, making love for hours.” I inhaled a shuddering breath. “For six months of my life, I pretended everything was fine while I allowed that male to beat me down in every way he could without actually using his fists.”
Placing my hands flat on Seff’s chest, I pushed back, and he didn’t resist. I didn’t need to see the anguish mixed with fury in his eyes—I felt it all the way to my soul.
“Tillman wanted me to sacrifice everything I am to be what he wanted me to be. And for a while, like a stupid, gullible, blind fool, I tried to be what he wanted. But it was never enough. I was never enough. Then, everything was too much, and one night, I realized I deserved better. I deserved more.”
“I could never hurt you like that.” Seff pressed his forehead to mine. “Youareeverything. I’m not worthy of you, the gods know that, but you areallI want.”
His lips pressed against mine. His tongue made long, deep, tangling sweeps. My entire body sang with a need—a desire—I’d never felt in my life.
“You deserve better, and you damn well deserve new dreams of romance.” He traced feathery kisses down my neck. “Endless kisses?” He moved up to nibble my earlobe. “Darlin’, do you have any idea how hard it is for me to keep from kissing you every second of the day?”
Breathless and tingling all over, I shook my head and smiled.
“I want to put my mouth all over your beautiful body. I want to taste you and tease you and, well, just kiss you silly.” He took a deep breath. He lifted his head from my neck and took another, deeper inhale. His body relaxed as he exhaled in a long, slow breath. He grinned.
“I promise you, at some point, I will kiss you silly, and wewillmake love for hours.” A muffled sob came from the loft. The sexual heat that had been burning there only seconds before faded away.
“Arteisma?”
Seff nodded as he slipped my nightie straps back onto my shoulders.
Hurriedly, I snagged my robe and slipped it on. “How did you know?”
He tapped the side of his nose. “I smell her tears.”
Arteisma lay curled up in a ball on her small bed. I sat next to her while Seff knelt on the floor beside her, reaching out to touch her trembling shoulder.
“Hey, honey, why are y’all tucked up like a little ol’ doodlebug, huh?” His accent was heavy in his deep voice.
Teary-eyed, she spread her arms out to him.
“You need a hug, doodlebug?”
She nodded as her breath hitched on another small sob.
“Well, c’mere, then.” He pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried.
My lungs squeezed so tight I couldn’t speak.
“Did you have a bad dream?” Smoothing her long braid, I blinked back my own tears.
“I don’t want to live with someone else.” She shook her head and sucked in a breath. “It makes my happy hurt so bad.”
Seff and I exchanged a glance, then he moved to sit next to me on her bed.
