Vicki was carrying his babe—babes. Eric wanted to howl with joy.
But Vicki wouldn’t let anyone move. Her anger was a thing of beauty as she took it out on the three of them. “I have a life, you know. And now I’m stuck with three Ravagers who know shit about romance, shit about how to treat an independent woman, and shit about love.”
“What do you mean stuck? You should be honored to be chosen to serve as queen,” he said to stir her wrath. He needed a moment to gather his emotions. To his shock, he felt his heart shatter and fall at her feet and had to blink back tears of pride and happiness.
And horror.
This grand affection, thislove, he felt for the woman would be his undoing. Like the other females in his clan, she’d soon learn she ruled the pack. Talk about a nightmare.
Dom and Malcolm shared a wide-assed grin before Dom said, “Eric, I told you. Humans are different.”
Malcolm smirked at Eric before blinking his big brown eyes at their mate. “Vicki,Ilove you.”
She opened her mouth then snapped it closed. “What?”
“Since you first knocked me out. You’re stubborn, beautiful, and yourgueris the most powerful force of feminine energy I’ve ever experienced. Remember, I felt you in the forest, when you helped me defeat that Lawless pack. I believe what I feel for you is the equivalent of human love.” He looked too nervous to be a six and a half foot tall predator. Mangy bastard. Malcolm was trying to win Vicki over with a false show of vulnerability.
For fuck’s sake. It was working!
Vicki smiled through tears and let him gather her up in his arms.
“We can’t know what love is,” Dom added in a quiet voice. “But we feel it all the same. Why do you think I told our prime to mark you? Because I felt it even then.” He whispered something to her Eric couldn’t hear.
The blasted woman pulled Dom to her and hugged him tight.
Then the three of them turned to him.
“What?”
“Out with it,” Vicki demanded. Hell, she even growled like a proper mate.His queen.
His gaze centered on her belly, and he licked his lips. “Puppies, eh?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Eric Savage. I want to hear it.”
“Actually, they’re Ravagers.” He focused and smiled with satisfaction. “Two of them.”My sons.He studied his pack and amended,oursons.
“Eric?” Her yellow eyes blazed with anger, with love, and with an uncertainty that made his teasing no longer amusing.
“Hell, Vicki. You’re the only female I’ve ever marked. The only one who can tie my balls in a knot with one look.”
“That’swhat you have to say to me?” her voice was almost shrill.
Damned if she wouldn’t pull it from him, word by word. “You scare the hell out of me. The thought of you in danger stirs myguerto a frenzy. When you’re mad, you set me on fire. I can’t think of anything but fucking you senseless, and then you have me fuckingthemsenseless.” He nodded to Dom and Malcolm, who stared at him in fascination.
“Vicki, I’m yours,” he admitted through gritted teeth, trying not to wince at the large grin of triumph on her face. “Ourguersare tied. There’s no going back.You’re mine,” he roared to the heavens. “You, Dom, and Malcolm belong to me. I claimed you, damn it. You’re not going anywhere, and I’ll never give you up, not any of you,” he said, a warning to Malcolm who was too new to the pack to know better.
As she and the others closed the distance between them, Eric saw his mistake. It wasn’t triumph on her face, but that same love she professed to want so badly from him.
“You love me,” she challenged. “You just don’t want to admit it.”
He swallowed hard, his gaze going from her eyes to her belly, to Dom and Malcolm, practically glowing with affection. A surge of protectiveness, of warmth, desire,of love, pushed past his resistance. What could three little words hurt, anyway?
“I love you.” He liked the way her eyes filled even as she tried to scowl at him. “Happy now?” he growled, totally claimed by this woman.
“Yes, as a matter of fact I am,” she growled back, then smiled with such evil delight he couldn’t contain a groan. “You’re mine, he’s mine, and he’s mine,” she said, pointing at them all. “I’m claiming all of you. It’s official.” Devious enjoyment made hisguershake under the force of her love. “That means you’re mine, now, wolfie.”
Dom chuckled. Malcolm grinned.
