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Even knowing Remi was baiting him, Jeremiah couldn’t control the jealousy ripping through him. Fire licked at the edges of his control, begging to be released, to destroy anyone who even dared to look at his mate. “If that black-eyed motherfucker even thinks about—”
“Why do you even care?” Remi pushed against his chest, but Jeremiah held firm. “I’m just a job to you, remember? I can suck off my whole protection detail if I want, and you can’t say—”
“Stop!”
Remi froze at his shout, but his lavender eyes were still lit up beautifully with his anger.
Sighing, Jeremiah pressed his forehead against his temple and inhaled his sweet, salty scent, letting it calm him. “Just stop,” he said softly, nuzzling against the side of Remi’s face. Everything inside him felt all twisted and out of sorts, but he still couldn’t make himself back off. “Why are you punishing me?”
“Me?” Remi choked out, hands fisting in Jeremiah’s shirt. “You’re the one who keeps flipping hot and cold—acting like you actually care and then pulling away just as fast. It’s giving me fucking whiplash, Jeremiah.”
“I know. I just… You’re a prince. The next in line to the throne. You can’t get caught up in someone like me because I happened to be here when you needed someone to make you feel safe.”
One of Remi’s slender hands slid up and curled around the side of his neck, his touch gentling him and his fiery beast even more. No one had ever had so much control over him before. He’d never let anyone have so much control. It was terrifying.
And thrilling.
“Is that what you think? That I’m attracted to you just because you’re here?”
“It happens,” Jeremiah tried to explain, to make his case, even as he ran his nose down the side of Remi’s face until he could burrow into the crook of his neck. Hunched over the slender prince who held his heart in his delicate hands without even knowing it was the most vulnerable Jeremiah had felt since he was a scared and lonely child. “People fall for their bodyguards all the time, but it’s not real. It’s just the circumstances and adrenaline.”
“That’s not what this is,” Remi said quietly, holding him so gently Jeremiah’s eyes were burning for some fucking reason. “You don’t just make me feel safe. I can’t… Gods, I can’t breathe when you’re not near me. My whole body aches for you. The only time I feel whole is when I’m in your arms.”
The words reverberated through him, setting off a vibration of awareness. His declaration was an echo of the throbbing need Jeremiah had been doing his best to ignore for weeks.
“It doesn’t change who you are—”
“Forget who I am,” Remi said fiercely, but his touch stayed soft and soothing. “When I’m with you, I’m not the future king. I’m not too human or not enough Siren. I’m just… me. Remi. Just—”
“Mine.”
Remi shuddered in his arms. “Just yours,” he exhaled.
The twister of emotions in his chest fell away at his easy agreement. The logical part of Jeremiah’s brain knew it didn’t fix the reality of their situation. No matter how accepting the king and queen may have seemed, there was no way the people of Midlona would accept a Hellhound as their future king’s chosen mate.
But in that moment, he didn’t care.
He didn’t have any fight left in him.
Letting out a long breath, he ran his hands up and down Remi’s lithe back a few times before letting them rest at the swell on the top of his ass. “While you’re just mine, I should do a better job of taking care of you.”
“No one has ever taken care of me as well as you.”
While his hound rumbled with pleasure, he hoped that wasn’t actually true because until recently, he’d done a piss-poor job. He’d let his assumptions about this boy color his perception for too long, but he promised himself he’d do better.
For as long as he was allowed.
Humming, he smoothed one hand down to fully cup one plump cheek, grinning against Remi’s smooth neck when he sucked in a breath. “If I was doing such a good job, then why are you limping, little princeling?”
Remi groaned and sagged against him. So dramatic. “Because I’m so sore. You were abhorrent to me last night.”
“I remember being pretty nice to you too,” he said with a chuckle as he raised his head, getting lost for a long moment in those pretty eyes.
Remi’s lips twisted like he was going to smile, but then he forced them into a pout. “Were you? I don’t remember. The pain is fogging my memories.”
“We can’t have that,” Jeremiah murmured, pressing a soft kiss to those plush lips. When he lifted his head, Remi rose onto his toes, chasing his mouth. Fuck, he was perfection. “How about I make things better?”
“How?” Remi’s eyes lit up with excitement. “With a kiss where it hurts?”
