Then I melt into it.
“Oh,” I breathe.
“Better?” he asks.
I nod, my eyes slipping shut as the heat seeps into my bones. My muscles loosen inch by inch, the tension unraveling in slow, careful threads.
Eli stays right there with me.
He doesn’t rush me. Doesn’t crowd. His hands move with quiet purpose, rinsing my hair and washing my skin with a soapy washcloth. His touch is steady and respectful in a way that makes something in my chest ache all over again.
This is what I didn’t have before, with my other pack.
Not once, not a single time, did any of them treat me like this. There was no help through the aftermath of my heat. No help through the exhaustion.
My prior pack fucked me, marked me, and then went on with their lives, expecting me to make a home inside of theirs without asking me once what I wanted with my own life.
But they’re not like that.
Eli, Knox, and Walker. They’re special.
They’re mine.
It makes me smile as Eli washes me down in the bath.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs, like he can feel where my thoughts are going.
My eyes open, and I look at him. Really look at him.
“You stayed,” I whisper.
His brow furrows slightly. “Of course I did.”
He says it like it’s obvious. Like there was never another option.
My throat clenches and I have to swallow the knot that’s forming.
Before I can think too hard about it, I lean forward, pressing my face against his bare shoulder. My hands slide weakly along his chest, grounding myself in his strength and his presence.
My teeth graze his shoulder before I whisper the words out. “I want to mark you, too.”
Eli stills for half a second before that soothing voice of his stirs against my ear. “What are you waiting for, then?”
The pulsing in my teeth soars to a dull roar in my ears as I part my lips. I bite down against his shoulder, the sharp tang of his blood tainting my tongue.
He doesn’t move. Doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t complain or ask me to stop.
He leans into it, leans against my mouth. As if he wants me deeper.
“That’s it,” he murmurs, “now I’m yours, too.”
Something inside of me settles. A hole I didn’t even realize I had been carrying around in my chest fills a little more as my teeth pull away.
My tongue slides along the bleeding mark, my scent splashing into the air around us. It pulls a soft growl from the bottom of his throat and goosebumps travel along my body at the sound.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper against his mark.
By the time he helps me out of the bath, I feel like I’m walking through a dream. Eli wraps me in a towel and helps me dry off before guiding me back toward his room.
