I especially respected the way she could chew someone up and spit them out with words. That was a skill. Her sharp tongue and her I-can-do-it-all attitude did things to me that she could never imagine.
I fucking loved a strong woman. I was raised by one. I grew up surrounded by female Alphas, and Natalia was just like them.
Frankly, my Beast particularly loved that about her. She was nobody’s fool.
Giving in, Natalia lowered her head to my chest and snuggled closer, slipping her leg between mine. My entire body sang for her, and I held her tightly to me, wrapping my other arm around her waist. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to enjoy the fact that, for the first time, she was the one who couldn’t stay away.
Maybe I would finally be able to sleep.
… And then her fingers began to trace the lines of my bond tattoo, enticing every cell of my body.
“What did you see?” her voice was barely audible, and I wasn’t sure if it was because it was the middle of the night or because she was hesitant to ask.
“What do you mean?” I lifted my gaze to her face, watching her continue her exploration of my arm tattoo.
“When my mo—Natasha’s mother—came to find you and tell you. When she revealed you were chosen for me, what did she show you of our future?”
Sadness and fear gripped my heart. I knew this moment would come, the one when she discovered I was a fraud, I just hoped it wouldn’t.
“I didn’t see anything…” I hesitantly replied.
“What?” she tilted her head up, looking straight into my eyes. “What do you mean?”
Reinforcing my heart, I settled for the truth. The last thing I ever wanted was to lie to her.
“After we spoke about you, she offered to show me, but I didn’t want to see.”
Confusion clouded her bi-colored eyes, and perhaps disappointment did too. “Why? Both Dante and André saw themselves with me, our future, why wouldn’t you want that too?”
“Because I didn’t need anything influencing my first impression of you.”
My hand returned to her jaw, caressing her bond tattoo with my fingertips, and desperately wishing my crescent moon was already there among the others, confirming my place as her true mate. Until that happened…
“I already knew I wanted you more than anything I could ever want. I craved you, Natalia. I dreamed of you. I wanted to fall in love with you, the real you, not the fantasy of what we could be in an uncertain future.”
“Holy shit,”Starlight breathed through the bond. “Take me. Take me now.”
Ignoring her, I held Natalia’s gaze, appreciating the way her heart began to race with my words.
“I don’t understand—” she stopped herself, swallowing. “I do, but I don’t.”
“I wasn’t chosen by the Moon Goddess, not like André and Dante were.”
There it was. The truth.
“Your mother, Viscountess Anastasia, came to visit her friend, my mom. They spoke about you. About her struggle, everything she had risked to get you back throughout the years, and how she had finally seen a vision of you getting out of there.”
Natalia’s eyes widened, and once more I expected the disappointment to show in her eyes, but she just looked at me, intrigued.
“I accidentally heard them when I went to my mother’s office, I didn’t want to interrupt but the more I heard her talk about you, the more my feet became rooted to the floor. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t leave. Everything inside me said I was supposed to be there.”
Natalia gripped my hand, stopping my caress on her neck, and sat up, her breaths becoming faster. “What else happened?”
“She was searching for the men she had seen in her vision of you. The two men who would be your mates… and protectors.”
Understanding illuminated her eyes. “So, you offered yourself?”
“As your shield,” I admitted, sitting up too. “I sold myself, my powers, my strength. I vowed to her that nothing would ever harm you with me by your side…” A humorless chuckle left me. “And I failed her.”
