“That’s what I thought.” He pulled me closer to him, cradling me against his chest as I gave in to him.
“Why do you feel like this?” I whispered, nestling my cheek on his warm pec, my wolf contentedly curling inside me. My brain wanted to argue that we’d just met him, but I was a Wolf Shifter, so my instinct was the most powerful sense I had. Right now, it wanted me to let go and just accept the Dark Witch in my life… to just be present.
It confirmed there was nothing to fear. I was safe in his arms.
“Like we have known each other our whole lives? Like there is a need for me inside you that you can’t quite comprehend?Like my touch is all you’ll ever need?” he asked, all too knowingly.
“Yes,” I murmured, embarrassment flushing my cheeks with his easy recognition of my want for him.
“It’s theTwilightmanipulating you into needing me.”
“What?!” I screeched, sitting up while I gawked at him.
“I told you I wouldn’t lie to you,” the Dark Witch reasoned, then chuckled when my palm connected with his arm again. “I’m just kidding, Natasha,” he cooed, pulling me back to him. “To be honest, our connection goes deeper than anything I could easily explain, but theTwilightinside meiscalling to you because it’s inside you too. It’s part of you as it is part of me. It connects us, and that is a bond that can never be broken.”
“The darkness in you calls to the darkness in me?” I asked as my cheek once more pressed against his chest. It didn’t make sense, but that was kind of how it felt last night.
“Youcouldsay that…”
Leisurely, his hand glided along my waist to the front, his fingers making a map of my body and sending delicious tingles with each touch. It slipped under the hem of my top, stroking my skin soothingly as it inched upwards, stirring sensations in my body that I’d never felt before, and my wolf willingly melted for him. My eyes fell closed, even as my breaths became ragged.
His touch slowly, teasingly, maddeningly soft came dangerously close to the underside of my breast, and I forced my eyes to open, lifting my gaze to his and finding him focused on me. Dante’s bottomless eyes held mine while his possessive caress continued, as though my body was already his and he had every right to it.
My wolf’s whimper, filled with tender desire and shameless want, escaped my mouth, fanning Dante’s lips when he curled over me, pressing our foreheads together. My body arched toward his of its own volition. Reaching the skin of my breast,his thumb confidently stroked it, hardly an inch under my aching nipple.
A wave of need so strong that it made me shiver settled on my navel, and a breathy moan left me.
My wolf pushed against my skin, demanding for me to be with him.“Get a hold of yourself!”I chastised. “He isn’t even a Wolf Shifter, for Goddess’ sake!”
A sliver of panic cut through me the next second, not because I feared him—though his every inch was coiled with danger—but because Dante had barely touched me, and yet, I was swept away in his endless, possessive haze.
My body, my wolf, and I wanted to give him everything.
I expected him to smirk, to comment something sarcastic about the power he had over me… Instead, theTwilightdimmed in his irises, and although I longed to feel his hand fully enclose my breast, his thumb caressing my nipple, his palm spread over my side, sliding over my back.
He must have seen the flash of panic in my eyes and thought it was because of him, the notion scorched me.
No!I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t him. Assure him that I didn’t fear him, but how I felt with him. Whisper my skin burned for his. Beg him to continue…
I didn’t.
Closing his eyes, he lightly brushed his lips over my cheek on his way to my neck, pressing a tortured kiss on the tender curve under my ear. The spot he had claimed as his. The forceful breaths that fanned my neck while he remained there, confessed how much he was holding back.
Slight confusion still gripped me. The Dark Witch felt every single one of my reactions to him, he knew exactly how his touch had made me feel, even the tender quivers of my legs under him. He could have taken everything, but the sight of my hesitation immediately halted his intentions. He’d stopped himself evenwhen I’d fully surrendered, respecting me, letting the decision to be with him be mine, and mine alone…
Something Ryker hadn’t done.
“You may not understand this yet, but I’ve already claimed you, Natasha,” Dante whispered in my ear, his wisps of darkness dancing seductively around us. “Your soul is mine. My claim was laid before I ever touched you, saw you, felt you. And soon, your body will be mine too.”
My heart lurched with his words, beating faster, each pounding beat a confirmation of his claim. The things I felt in his mere presence, with the flow of his magic, from a single look, and the way his darkness tempted me, seduced me, filled me with longing, were more intense and true than anything I’d ever experienced. His presence not only felt familiar, comfortable, and right, as though I’d always been his… Dante felt like home. A stormy, dangerous, and powerful home meant to protect me.
Forcing himself to pull away, muscles taut with hurt, his turbulent gaze held mine.
“Don’t you ever fear me,Cuore mio.” His thumb stroked the length of my jaw, making my entire body tingle. “I will sooner surrender my existence to the infiniteTwilightthan place a single finger on you, knowing you don’t want my touch.”
Darkness surged from him, shadows swirling and taking him from me.
True fear filled me then, and I swiftly reached for him, my hand breaking through the darkness to stop him. I curled my fingers around his neck, slipping them into his obsidian hair and loving the feeling. “I don’t fear you, Dante. I could never…”
