She snorted, trying to ignore the tingles of awareness spearing her clit as Jesse toyed with the chain. His eyes were so dark they looked black. She hissed out her pleasure and glared at him. “Let’s just be honest with each other.”
“Oh, let’s,” Jesse agreed in a soft voice that sent shivers down her spine.
Logan gave him a sharp look but said nothing.
Don’t say it, Kate. You’ll look like a jealous moron. Jesse tugged on the chain again, his lips quirked in an arrogant twist, and the bitterness that had been growing inside her for weeks—for years—suddenly boiled free. “You two have had a hard-on for Vicki ever since you laid eyes on her. You never really wanted me. I don’t know if you just didn’t want to disappoint Eric, or if you thought it would elevate your status in the clan to get a female. But we all know you accepted me for the wrong reasons.”
On one of the most important days of her life, Kate had stood before a crowd of Ravagers and listened as Eric acknowledged her separation from his pack, as well as the creation of her new pack. Then he’d said the words she’d waited forever to hear, that Logan and Jesse would join her.
All her years of not being good enough, of simply existing in her sister’s shadow, of being the unwanted, annoying little sister, had suddenly been unimportant. The two males she wanted more than anything belonged to her and her alone.
She’d been so happy so briefly. Because seconds later Eric announced he’d taken Vicki, a human, as not only mate but to be his queen.
Logan and Jesse had looked heartbroken, and she’d left behind her mates and her dreams of a new life where she mattered as more than a breedmate.
“I wish I knew what the hell was going on in that thing you call a brain,” Jesse rumbled. “How the fuck you could think we still want Vicki? We’ve been waitingyearsfor you to get your head out of your ass.”
“My—what?”
Logan glared at her, no longer the happy-go-lucky seducer. “Are you kidding me? Do you really think I give a shit about clan status?” To her shock, hisguerflared, taunting her to claim him. Normally, she could sense Logan, but she’d never felt him so intimately before. Their spirits were nearly touching, and she could almost feel his pain.
“Well—”
Jesse cut her off. “I dreamed of the day when you’d claim me. When I’d finally have a female of my own. Not just any female, Kate.You.But you walked away from me. From us.” Anger pulsed from him in palpable waves. Hisguersnarled at hers, poking, prodding, when normally herguercouldn’t feel his at all. “You kept pushing and pushing. Always waving that pretty little ass, just daring me to take you the way I wanted to. But out of respect foryou, I resisted. Fuck the clan. Fuck the prime. It’syouwe want, Kate. And then you turn away from us like we’re nothing but shit beneath your feet?”
She wanted so badly to believe him. But she knew what she’d seen. “You were practically crying when Vicki became queen.”
He and Logan looked at each other, then back at her in bewilderment. “Crying?” Logan asked. “I had no idea a human could become queen, but I was thrilled. Eric finally had a real pack, and the clan finally had a queen. A queen means more young, children I’d hoped to someday have with you.”
Jesse nodded. “Logan and I never really belonged with Eric, and we knew it. But we were with you in the pack, so it didn’t matter.” He frowned. “Until we were finally given a chance to make you see us as more than Eric’s fuck toys.”
“I never thought that.” She flushed. In some of her more annoyed moments, she had thought that very thing.
“Yeah,” Jesse sneered. “You did. I knew it and Logan knew it. But we thought we still had a chance, because you liked to watch us fuck. We knew you were there, Kate. Oh not at first, but after. And we didn’t care. We wanted your attention. But we only had it for a split second, just long enough for you to twist the knife when you walked away from us at the claiming ceremony.”
Logan nodded, his mouth in a tight, unhappy line.
Kate hadn’t thought about anything but her own pain that night. “I didn’t think you’d miss me,” she said bluntly. “And how the hell would I know anything about what you felt, since you never told me any of this? After the ceremony, you left mealone.” She blinked back tears at the reminder. “I need mates who wanted me enough to do whatever it took to have me. Males who were strong enough to hold on to me and show me how much they cared. No matter what.”
Jesse scowled and tugged on her chain again. He reiterated through his teeth, “We left you alone as a sign we cared for and respected you. Ravager tradition is about thefemalechoosing worthy mates, not the other way around. You know that.” His voice rose. “You chose us thenwalked away.”
She stared up at him in astonishment. Jesse never yelled.
“How could you walk away from us?” Logan asked, suppressed anger and pain vibrating in his voice. “I’ve always known you were mine. But you were too young, and you weren’t ready. So I buried my feelings. Ravagers aren’t supposed to love, are we?” He shot Jesse a side-glance that the other male ignored. Then he turned back to her with his fists clenched. “I bided my time, never knowing Jesse felt the same until we figured out we both wanted you as more than a friend, as more than a female torespect,” he choked on the word. “I love you, Kate. I’ve always loved you, and I’ve been waiting for you to grow the hell up and see me. But you threw us away. You didn’t even ask what we thought or felt. You didn’t care. Hell, maybe we’re just too late.”
To her shock, Logan grabbed his clothes, threw them on, and left the room.
Chapter Six
Kate didn’t know what to say. Love? Logan lovedher, not Vicki?
“That Ravager has never gone a few days without sex since he matured. Not in all the time I’ve known him,” Jesse said quietly, the burn of rage in his dark eyes. “But for you we waited. For two whole months we went without until I forced it on him. Hisguersuffered for you, Kate. And you could give a shit.”
Tears blurred her vision. “That’s not true. I wanted him. Him and you, but I thought… I was scared that you…”
Jesse removed the restraints from her wrists and ankles and carefully took the clamps from her nipples. He gently rubbed her skin until the feeling came back, treasuring her, treating her like a cherished mate.The way he always had.But he didn’t speak.
“Jesse?” she whispered, confused, ashamed and overjoyed all at once. God, if what they’d said was true…
