“Yeah. She scares me sometimes, too.” Nova shrugged, then rolled her shoulders back into Conrad’s hands. “But you get used to it. And the fact that you all survived?” She smiled wide. “Means they approve.”
Conrad worked his thumb into a spot under her shoulder blade. Nova arched, a sound caught between relief and pleasure slipping from her.
“And they don’t mind that two of your mates are turned?” he asked quietly. His face was crafted into a calm mask, but his eyes showed just a sliver of hesitation. Of fear.
Her head tipped back, a small smile stretching across her lips. “The Syndicate does value power and strength, but we already have that. What's more important to us now is trust and loyalty. That is priceless.” Her expression softened. She leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “As long as you are dedicated to me and the Syndicate, everything will be fine.”
Zeth snorted. “What she means is that you won’t end up in the Syndicate dungeon with her family taking turns showing you every flavor of pain until you’re halfway to madness then dragging you back to life to do it all over again.”
He grinned around the rim of his bottle. “You know,thatkind of fine.”
Honestly? That felt perfectly reasonable given what was at stake and who they were.
I turned my attention back to Nova, who was currently biting the inside of her lip, which meant Conrad had hit the spot. His hands worked the muscles lower on her back, and she melted under his touch. Her mouth parted, soft and inviting, and heat rolled through me so fast my pulse stumbled.Everything she does makes me want her.
Her eyes snapped open and locked onto mine, hot and knowing. That golden thread between us tugged, and I knew she felt my sentiment through the bond.
I gave her a slow and deliberate smile. If my mate wanted more, I’d give her everything.
?*Rising from my spot near the wall, I crossed the room toward her. Her gaze tracked me with the focus of a predator watching something it wanted to devour. When I knelt in front of her, her breath stuttered. My palms slid up her thighs, coaxing rather than claiming.
“So, my mate… my soul…” I murmured against her thigh, feeling her quiver at my fingertips. “Now that your family’s given their blessing, I feel like we should prove our worth.”
Her hips shifted, and her tongue swept across her bottom lip. A silent invitation.
“If that’s what you want,” she breathed.
My hands stilled, grip tightening just enough to stop her squirming. “Oh, no, meu amor. That’s not how this works.”
My jeans grew tight, constraining, but I ignored it. This wasn’t about me. This was about her.
“You see,” I said, leaning closer, my voice dropping to a low rumble, “we’re always going to want you.”
The air shifted as the others moved in, surrounding her with their heated presence. “Always craving this strong, irresistible body.” Sliding my hands up her thighs and around her waist, I teased the skin there. “Wanting to keep you here, locked away with us until the days and nights blur together. Knowing nothing but our bodies and pleasure. Nothing but what we can make together.”
A chorus of soft, primal sounds rumbled from the men around her, agreement, devotion, hunger, all threading together to make our song of want and desire.
When I dragged my thumb over the seam of her jeans, her breath hitched, eyes growing hungry. Even through the denim, I felt her wetness spread. Her scent, that intoxicatingly sweet, honeyed flavor that I couldn’t get enough of, rose between us, making my pulse hammer.
“Butyou,” I whispered, lowering my forehead to her knee, “are the one in control. We exist to satisfy you. Again and again. As much as this body can handle. That’s our role as your mates at home.”
I stayed there, waiting, showing her that she was the one to make the choice, not us. No one touched her without her word. Not even her mates.
“And outside the home?” she asked. Her finger twirled a dark strand of my hair around it, and her voice was slightly dazed.
Zeth was the first to answer. “Outside, you’re still the boss. The only difference is I’ve got more help.” Those turquoise eyes flared with heat as his voice became something dangerous. “Now we’re your inner circle. The ones you trust when everyone else falls short. The only ones allowed at your side.”
Conrad slid his lips close to her ear. “The ones you come to when you need to strategize or need someone to listen.”
Nick reached over the back of the couch, fingers catching her chin, tilting her face up. His lips stayed in a thin line, but his eyes were filled with that stark honesty.
“And the ones you can be your whole self with. The killer. The queen. And the woman who wants her body to be fucked as hard at it fights.”
Her eyes fluttered. I could hear her pulse throbbing against her throat, and a rosy flush was rising to her cheeks.
Nick had taken far too long to get his act together, and the other guys weren’t done punishing him for it, but, in this moment, it was obvious.
He had earned a place in her heart.
