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He stood back while I attached it. I still didn’t feel ready to stand up. I held out my hand to him, and he sat down beside me, collecting me against him—my bare legs across his lap, his arm around my shoulders, loosely so I had room to move away if I wantedto.
What I wanted was closer. I nestled against his solid body, letting the warm and strength in it soothe me. I didn’t know the question was coming until it fell out of mymouth.
“Are they ever going to stop? The rogues—are they ever going to just leave me alone? I never didanythingto them... They don’t even knowme!”
“I know,” Nate said in his low baritone. He tucked his chin over my head and rubbed the side of my arm. “I don’t even understand what they did sixteen years ago. To carry around that much hate, to want to hurt people that much... They’re sick. Their minds are twisted. That’s the only thing I canthink.”
“Then they won’t stop. They’ll just keep at it until they kill me—or we kill all ofthem.”
“Maybe they’ll be able to change their minds once they do get to know you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You’re already becoming a part of our community. Most of the kin are welcoming you—you’ve seen that, haven’tyou?”
My mind went to the iciness of the bigwigs last night, but the truth was they were just a small portion of the shifters, even if they were powerful. Most of the kin I’d met—the avians here, the canines in that other village—had thought more of me than I evendid.
“Yeah,” I said. “They’ve been wonderful, actually. I’m not sure I deserve ityet.”
“Of course you do. By fighting back against the rogues, which you’ve done more than once already, you’re fighting for all of us. For the security of all kin. And what you did just now, with that owl shifter... You proved you’re trying to do the right thing for all shifters, even the rogues. People will see that. Word will be passed on. And the ones who aren’t so twisted might realize they’rewrong.”
I wasn’t sure whether I believed that was likely, but it was a nice thought all thesame.
A knock sounded on the door. I couldn’t help wincing. Nate gave my arm a reassuring squeeze and went up to answer it. He came back with a plate of breakfast foods that set my stomachgrumbling.
For a few minutes, my hunger shoved our conversation to the wayside. I dug into the scrambled eggs, sausage, and hash browns as if I hadn’t eaten in days. Shifting sure gave a person an appetite. Or maybe it was the adrenaline. Either way, I polished off the food like my life depended onit.
“Better?” Nate asked with an amusedsmile.
“Much.” I set the plate aside and snuggled closer to him, wrapping my arm around his brawny chest. We still had a couple hours before we needed to leave for the parlay. And being with him, holding him and being held by him, was the best salve I could think of for my nerves rightnow.
What had the shifter who’d delivered my breakfast thought of this situation—of my hiding away in my room? That question brought my thoughts back to Nate’s earliercomments.
“No one here really knows me yet,” I had to point out. “Not even the people who like me. They’re still waiting to see exactly what I’m going todo.”
Nate hummed in agreement. “Maybe, but they’re hoping it’ll be good. They want to be on yourside.”
That was true, wasn’t it? I’d felt that hope in every shifter I’d spoken to during the celebration. And with each step forward, I could give them a little more to justify their faith inme.
It wasn’t just the ordinary shifters who had faith. My alphas had stood by me from the start, from when I’d been a total stranger to them, too. No matter how skeptical they might havebeen.
And Nate hadn’t wavered once. He might have gotten over-enthusiastic with the heroics, but he’d never talked to me or acted in any other way like he doubtedme.
I tipped my face back and touched his cheek. Nate didn’t need me to tell him what I was looking for now. He bent his head, capturing my lips with a soft but eager kiss. His hands skimmed over my body, grazing every inch of bare skin. I slid my hand up under his shirt as I kissed him harder, wanting to feel him too. To explore every plane of that firmly muscledchest.
To really make himmine.
The thought swam up in my head through the haze of longing. No hesitation rose to counter it. The idea just feltright.
I tugged at Nate’s shirt. He peeled it right off and leaned in for another kiss. Every spot his bare skin touched mine left me burning with even more desire. He stroked his hand up my back and worked the clasp of my bra free. As he trailed his kisses down to my collarbone, he cupped my breast with his strong, able fingers. His thumb swiveled over my nipple, sending a jolt of pleasure through me. I moaned, arching up on hislap.
He tipped my breast up to his mouth and teased the nipple even tighter with his tongue. My fingers dug into his shoulders. Pleasure coursed from my chest down to my core as he laved one breast and then the other. His hand followed his mouth, flicking and caressing until both nipples stood at stiff peaks and the rest of me wastrembling.
“I love seeing how good I can make you feel,” Nate murmured, nuzzling the side of my neck. “I love that I can take care of you this way. I’ve never wantedanyonelike this, Ren. My heart always knew you were the one Ineeded.”
A pang hit me, bittersweet. He’d taken such a chance, waiting for me. Giving up the happiness that had been right in front of him without ever knowing if I’d turnup.
I slid my hand around his neck and pulled him into a deeper kiss. My other hand rested on his lap beside my legs. On the hard length of his erection straining against hisfly.
Nate groaned into my mouth. He eased his fingers up and down my hips, teasing the edge of my panties. Asking but not demanding. My tongue slipped into his mouth to tangle with his. For a long moment, I rode on the rush of pleasure that came from our mingling breaths. Then I pushed myself off his lap, pulling him with me. Toward thebed.
“I need you too,” Isaid.
