Jay stills. “What? I have a hickey?” She frantically feels around her neck as if she could locate it by touch. “Where?”
Taya hands Jay a compact mirror from her purse. “Here.”
I’m shocked I didn’t notice it before. Hidden under the strap of her dress lies a purple, mouth-shaped bruise right on her collarbone.
Jay moves her strap to the side, and her eyes widen.
Imayhave lingered longer than I meant.
“Jeez. It almost looks like someone was about to mark you,” Taya says.
“What? No... You think?” The pitch of voice rises at the end, nearly coming out as a squeak.
“Looks like it. It’s on your marking spot,” Taya points.
Jay’s lips part and whips her head toward me.
I swear I catch hope in her eyes that this might be true. It is. I was trying so damn hard not to mark her by claiming her in every other way I could, but my hunger for her is insatiable.
“Or trying their hardest not to,” I mutter, barely realizing I’ve said this.
Taya looks at me quizzically.
Jay’s cheeks turn rosy.
“Er... I just meantwhoever it was,they probably thought she was too young.”
Taya jerks her head back, rejecting my statement, then looks to Jay. “Nonsense. You’re twenty-one, aren’t you?”
“Technically... I don’t really know for sure when my actual birthday is, so I just say I’m twenty-one.”
“Is it serious between you and whoever gave you”—Taya points at her hickey—“that?”
Jay side eyes me, squinting and grinning at the same time.
I wipe away my shit-eating grin, similar to when she looks at me like that.
She focuses her attention back on Taya. When she whips her hair, her delicious honey scent wafts my way.
Man, she smells good.
“You know, I’m not sure... It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking sometimes. Maybe... Caleb can tell us. What does it mean when a guy is holding himself back from marking someone?”
It means you’re mine and waiting until your wolf can recognize me is fucking torture. It means you will never belong to another. It means, if you knew what I was thinking, the truth might scare you. But also you’d never have to guess what might be on my mind because the answer will always be you.
“How should I know?” I lie.
“But do you agree that’s what they were trying to do? Do you think someone wanted to make me theirs?” Jay asks.
Her eyes search mine, pleading for the truth.
“Yes,” I say in the most serious tone.
Our stare lingers with longing desire, and all I want to do is kiss her and tell her how I feel.
Taya’s eyes shift back and forth between us. “Oh-kay, well... If you don’t have any plans to mate with whoever was juvenile enough to give you a hickey... Maybe you can join the Hunt!”
Oh, fuck no.
