“I need to… freshen up,” I say.
He nods.
I move to the bathroom. Close the door.
Lean against the sink and stare at my reflection.
My lips are swollen. My hair is a mess. My pupils are still dilated with arousal. I look exactly like what I am: a woman who just came dangerously close to fucking a man she should despise.
I splash cold water on my face. Try to wash away the evidence. Try to wash away the wanting.
It doesn’t work.
When I emerge, Jericho is by the door. Fully composed. Looking nothing like someone who was just pinned beneath me while I practically mauled him.
“Ready?” he asks.
I nod.
We leave the room in silence. Step out into cold morning air that does nothing to cool the heat still burning beneath my skin.
I don’t know how we’re supposed to function now.
How I’m supposed to look at him and act normal when I know exactly how he tastes. How he feels. How he sounds when he stops fighting what he wants.
How I’m supposed to kill him when my wolf is convinced she needs him.
The sun is up. It’s a brand new day.
And everything has changed.
Chapter 13
Jericho
Morning light cuts across the parking lot as we leave the room. Gray sky threatening more snow. The temperature hovers just above freezing, sharp enough to make each breath visible.
Nadia walks three feet ahead of me. Not beside me. Not within arm’s reach. Just far enough that the distance becomes its own message.
I watch her move. The careful way she holds herself—shoulders tight, spine rigid, every line of her body locked down. She hasn’t glanced back once since we left the room. Hasn’t spoken except to confirm we’re getting the cash first.
Yesterday’s silence was exhaustion and survival. This is deliberate erasure. She’s trying to pretend last night didn’t happen.
Except it did.
The feeling of her straddling me lingers. The taste of her mouth, hot and desperate and demanding. The lush heat of her grinding against me through fabric that did nothing to hide how wet she was, how much she needed this. The sounds she made when my hand found her breast. The way she gasped when I bit her throat. How close we came to—
Heat floods my system before I can stop it. My dragon stirs, restless and wanting despite knowing this is neither the time nor the place.
My cock twitches at the memory of her weight on me, the drag of her pussy against my length, the way she rocked and ground like she couldn’t get close enough.
I force the thoughts down. Focus on the present. On the back of her head and the careful distance she maintains and the fact that we need to function like normal people while we’re in this town.
Normal people?
I want to laugh out loud. We’re so far from that, it’s a joke.
I am dragon. And right now, my dragon is reaching out to this female in a way that is unfamiliar to me. Insistent. He recognized something in her from the start. Since the moment in the convoy when I saw her on the ridge. Connection. Clear and certain and absolute.
