“Would you stop if I asked you to?”
He lets out a heavy sigh. “Do you want me to?”
“I do. It’s not safe. If you get caught…”
“I’d go to prison and never see you again,” my alpha says solemnly. “I’ll stop.”
“Thank you, Luca.”
“You sure you want to see the mask?”
I swallow hard and nod. Though the gruesome bestial mask appears in my darkest nightmares, it’s only that: a mask. Molded black leather, a silver painted septagram on the forehead, long twisted horns curling toward the heavens.
He kneels before his chest and pushes the lid open. He digs through a few tee shirts, tossing me one, and then pulls out the mask by one of the horns. He hands it to me slowly and I turn it over and over in my hands, examining it from every angle. And... there’s nothing special about it. It’s a well-made and horrific mask, a depiction of a horrifying figure—who may not have been so horrifying after all.
I finally hand it back to Luca and then crook my finger, beckoning him to join me on the bed.
He buries the mask again, kicks off his shoes, and slides in beside me, immediately pulling me into his arms, tucking my head beneath his chin. I breathe in red wine and cherries and sigh against his skin. “I wish we could stay like this all night.”
“Not sure Marcus would be thrilled about that.” He envelops me in his arms, stroking my back, my hair, down my arm. His fingers trace the curve of my hip, along the scars at the inside of my wrist and I remember, with shocking clarity, the vision I had: the bite on my hand, just below those scars, as the world around me burned.
“Will you come back to my cottage and stay the night at some point? I… I planned on asking Doc to add you to the guest list so you could come within the omega residence wards when she resets them for the term.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “I would love to.”
Sudden anxiousness sours my scent, and he leans back, eyes narrowed in concern. “What is it?”
“I… I was also going to ask Doc to let Simon come within the wards. If he’ll have me.”
“He’s not being straight with you about it?”
“Ellie says he’s got rocks for brains.”
“He has brains for brains, and then some more brains. Seriously, he’s the smartest person I know besides you.”
“I… I really like him,” I say.
“Why does that upset you so much?”
“I mean, here I am with you, but I’m crushing on other men, too.”
“Well, yeah. I think that kind of comes with the territory. You’re meant for a pack, Junie, and not just a pack of two. Not just us. You know I’d never begrudge you anything that would make you happy.”
“Does it hurt you? The feelings I have for others?”
“Why would it? Do they change your feelings about me?”
“Not at all. I love you—” The words come from some deep, instinctual part of me, unbidden, but true.
His eyes flutter shut, blond lashes spiky against his cheeks and I almost take the words back until he opens his eyes and I see all the love in his gaze. “I love you, Juniper.”
I whine, my perfume flooding the room. “Say it again?”
“I love you,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to my lips.
“I love you,” he says again, kissing down my jaw to my throat.
“I love you,” he promises, nuzzling his scent into my skin.
