“Because I’ll carve it on one of her lovers’ chests! Duh!” I tapped my temple with one finger. “I want her to know her sacrifice was fornothing.”
Foster looked at me like I’d grown a second head.
My thoughts circled back to Amabel’s face and her cold, dismissive look when she’d told me I was a liability. That I’d only be breathing if not for her constant oversight.
“You constantly undermine our long-term plans with your need for immediate gratification.”
The memory stung, fresh and sharp. Wait. Watch. Patience. Planning.
Fuckpatience.
I crowded against him again, my fingers rubbing across his chest, all sharp smiles and dangerous eyes.
“Come on, Foster.” I stretched up on my toes until my lips nearly brushed his jaw. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
The forest exhaled when he lunged. His forearm pressed into my throat, driving me back against a tree.
“Listen close, psycho. Alphas don’t play games when it comes to protecting pups. They won’t stop at killing whatever mutt I send. They’ll trace it back to me. Toyou.”
“Scaredy cat.” I grinned around the pressure choking me.
“Scared? Baby, I know a guy in a wolf pack down South who’s shreddedentire bloodlinesfor less than what you’re suggesting. It’s too risky.”
“But where’s the fun in safety? You want to spend your life licking Mother’s boots? Or,” my teeth grazed his dark skin, “we could give them a story worth howling about.”
“No,” he growled. “I’m not approving a suicide mission just because you’re pissed at Amabel. Not happening.”
I could see he meant it,reallymeant it, in the rigid set of his jaw, in those dark eyes that refused to yield. Fine. If he wouldn’t give me what I wanted, I’d take something else.
Ever since I discovered that Foster fucked like a beast, he’d become my favorite playmate. He had a huge dick, stamina, and zero interest in being gentle. Everything I needed in a lover at no emotional cost or personal investment.
It was like winning the lottery the day I’d spotted him amid the rogues and lured him back to my room with a whispered dare, “Bet you can’t last long enough to fuck me til I pass out.” He’d only had two questions—“Are you at least eighteen?” and “Are you on birth control?”—and I knew right then he would service me nicely for as long as Mother allowed him to live.
Now, I pouted, my lower lip pushing out in a way I knew made me look vulnerable.
“Coward,” I whispered to the swaying ferns.
“Say that again, crazy.”
My pulse quickened. Not with fear. I didn’t know fear, but from the electric prickle that came just before a lightning strike.
“Make me stop,” I purred.
He moved like water over stone, fluid and fast. Calloused hands yanked me up, and I arched into the pain of his grip with an excited giggle.
“The hell’swrongwith you?” He shook me like a ragdoll, my forehead bouncing off his sternum.
“So many things!” I laughed.
When he released me, I climbed up his body and sank my teeth into the corded muscle where his shoulder met his throat. Not enough to draw blood. Just enough to make him hiss.
“Fuck, Eluned!” he growled, but his hands were gripping my thighs and wrapping them around his waist.
“Yes, please do. Like you did yesterday in the barn. I still have the bruises.”
His laugh was dark and bitter, just like him, but his body was already responding. I could feel his cock hardening, and a thrill of triumph shot through my veins.
“You’re one crazy ass bitch,” he said, but he was already carrying me deeper into the woods.
