AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You have changed since the last time we spoke,” he said, brow pinching together. “Mated life suits you, Rey.”
“If we can be of help with other matters, let us know.” Rey gave a last nod to the sardonic twist of Volkov’s lips before the Russian disappeared.
Beau let out a gusty sigh, strides stiff as he went to the bar cart to pour himself another whiskey. Pausing for a heartbeat, he splashed a measure more of the deep amber liquid into the glass. “That was intense.”
“He’s right,” Rey murmured, turning to face Devin. He stroked her cheek then cupped her jaw in his palm, tipping her face up to meet the dark shadows storming through his gaze.
“What,” Beau and Devin asked in unison.
She knew. Understood why Volkov had been so keen on her for those brief moments. There’d been an inkling even before the fight, all the way up in the lush conference room. The power and authority Rey wielded in his speech as effective as any snarled command. His roar had rung out the loudest during the brawl, and Devin wasn’t certain it was just because she knew it best. He’d always been strong to her, from the first moment she’d stepped foot before the bright lights to dance for them, but now…
Something had changed, and the only thing different between then and now was Devin herself. Oh, she was sure Rey had grown stronger on his own merit, but not by those sorts of leaps and bounds.
Not enough for another Alpha to notice it that way.
“Take care of the others, make sure they get out of here without everyone seeing them.” Gathering Devin to him, Rey cradled her against his chest and left the office, leaving Beau behind with a disgruntled snort to trail after them. Rey ignored it, exiting the building and handling Devin with the utmost care. She slid her hand under the torn edge of his shirt, feeling the steady pounding of his heart.
As if she were a fragile doll, he placed her in the passenger seat and buckled her in. Fingers traversing the length of the restraint, settling the belt between her breasts, the growing darkness in his deep umber gaze held her rapt.
She’d never seen him like this. Not in all his raging glory, in the quiet of her nest. His eyes were always alive, determined, sometimes too intense for her to bear.
This was too new.
Hiding behind the fall of her hair, Devin suppressed a shiver. It was impossible to tell his thoughts through the bond. He’d strangled it down to a single shimmering thread. Climbing in behind the wheel, Rey flipped switches and turned dials, warming the car just for her. The procrastination sweet, though it only delayed the inevitable.
He still didn’t speak as he turned out of the parking lot. Neither said a word as the sleek car made its way through the dark streets and flashing signs of downtown, towards the slice of suburbia they now called home. She was good with that. Staring out of the darkened window, Devin watched the nightlife of Alderbrook fly past them, their untold lives continuing on as her entire world was upended for the millionth time.
He'd thought letting her mark him was a simple thing. A way to ease her jealousy, to let her find strength in the bond. Devin had thought it, too. It explained so much, though. Her easy acceptance of Beau’s sudden change, now welcoming him to her bed. Inviting Rey to her nest with open arms no less dramatic a change.
She’d failed to notice the switch. Wondered when, exactly, the precise moment she’d lost herself so completely had occurred. Ticking back through her memories, she thumbed through all the many times she stopped caring about something important. Not with a fight or a savage argument, but with gentle kisses and tender touches. She’d stopped demanding suppressants, hadn’t brought up birth control in ages.
At one point, she’d been willing to waste away under the blanket of nothingness, but he’d brought her back time and again without her even realizing it.
Turning to face the male radiating strength and warmth from the other side of the car, Devin looked at him. Really looked. Perused the lines of his face, the coarse strands of his short beard, the noble slope of his aquiline nose.
When had she begun to associate him with safety? She wanted to say it had always been that way, but she couldn’t pinpoint when she’d overcome her fear of him.
“We’ll be home soon.” His voice was a barely there whisper, though his hands flexed over the wheel, making it shudder as he tugged it into a turn.
“I want to take a drive. There’s a park…”
Rey glanced at her, and she could see the nuance of emotion behind the darkling shadows if she concentrated hard enough. Concern and possessiveness warring with the real need to give her something. Not the baubles and flowers Beau showered her with, nothing so trite. Rey wanted it tomeansomething.
“That’s why…” Devin murmured as it all became clear.
He looked at her this time as they idled at a red light. Bathed in its bloody glow, his brow furrowed, then smoothed. The corner of his lips twitched as he flipped the blinker on and executed the turn that would take them to the dark park.
It wasn’t just the instinctual need to breed her. A baby was the one thing no one else could give her in his mind.
Chapter Eighteen
Something had changed.
Devin caught scent of it the moment she woke, a spiciness to Rey’s usual decadence as he rolled her beneath him. He moved against her, rubbing that difference into her skin. Marking her with it as he rumbled a pleasured growl and buried his face against her neck.
“Rey,” Devin whispered. She sucked in a sharp gasp when he nibbled at his claiming mark. It felt strange, more intense than before. As if something connected it straight down the line of her body to the cradle of her hips. She clenched over empty air and squirmed against the sensation.
Rey paused in his tender assault on her senses, thumb stroking her cheek as he kept his expression hidden against her shoulder. His voice was rough from sleep, thick with other things Devin could never hope to unravel from the tangled knots of the bond. “I like it when you say my name.”
