But caring for a werewolf—correction, two fucking werewolves if I included Latoya—could break me if I wasn’t careful.
My only comfort in the self-torment was the thought that Marcus was battling his own demons. He insisted I take my bath and assured me he was well enough to stand for a shower. But before I closed my eyes, I saw him standing motionless with his head against the wall, water cascading down his muscular back and cresting over his firm ass.
I sank lower into the tub, wanting to dunk my head in shame but having second thoughts about getting my hair wet at this hour of the night.
It was ridiculous.
I wanted to laugh.
I wanted to cry.
I wanted to be railed by an alpha who spent an entire day worrying about me.
My eyes snapped open at the sudden silence.
Marcus pushed on the tempered glass and stepped out of the shower. The man was an Adonis. Even the scars across his skin did nothing to mar the pillar of perfection standing before me.
“What did you need?” he asked out of the blue.
I sat up in the tub. “Huh?” I replied, hating the shake in my voice.
Marcus raised an eyebrow as he approached me without a towel. “You didn’t call me a second ago?”
I shook my head while holding his gaze, instead of allowing mine to drop to the sizeable length that hung from the base of that delicious V-shaped muscle at his waist.
I fought the urge to lick my bottom lip, even as Marcus stopped by my side and attempted to get into the tub behind me.
“What are you doing, Blackwood?” I shrieked, as his hands urged me to scoot forward. “You can’t fit.”
He made himself comfortable as water sloshed along the sides of the tub, adjusting his legs so I was sandwiched between his bent knees. “You were saying?” he teased.
“That you’re going to clean up your mess.”
His low chuckle was filled with mischief—proving that a somber drunk hadn’t replaced the alpha I loved to banter with. “I always clean up my messes. The ones I make… The ones I…stimulate. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”
My nipples hardened.
I was so fucked.
His fingers skimmed my skin beneath the water until his hand found my washcloth. We sat in silence as he slowly washed my back, and when he finally moved onto my shoulders, he cleared his throat. “I need to ask you something.”
I reached up, taking the washcloth from his hands as I turned around, curious about what plagued his sobering mind.
He focused his vacant stare, his eyes leaving a spot on the tub to meet mine. “The night we met… you knew who I was before you approached me.”
I moved back until I rested on the tub’s slipper across from him, slithering into the water, disappointed that his question had nothing to do with how soon he could be inside me. Still, I answered it with a nod.
“How did you know you could trust me?”
“I didn’t. We realized Ethan was the murderer, and I swore you let him escape.”
“No.” To my surprise, Marcus did not react to his ex-beta’s name but had an objection I hadn’t considered. “I mean, right at the beginning.” He stirred, water lapping at his graceful body. “You sensed my power. You knew I was an alpha and thatI wasn’t alone. Yet you still revealed yourself to both me and Maya. Doesn’t that go against a hunter’s nature?”
I straightened, crossing my arms over my breasts and letting out a derisive snort.
Marcus chuckled, pulling me by my legs. “I’m not questioning your judgment as a hunter, Joanna,” he said, his voice indeed free from mockery.
He pulled me as if I weighed only a handful of feathers but moved slowly as if he didn’t want me to lose my balance. He hiked me up onto his lap, positioning himself between my bent knees. His dick pressed firmly between our stomachs, already hardening in response to our closeness.
