Jake huffed. “We shouldn’t be doing a lot of things. Going back to that bar was reckless. If Xen finds out—”
“We’ll deal with that if it happens.” My grip on him tightened, his groan low and rough. “I can’t sit back and donothing. The idea of you and Myla…” I couldn’t even finish that sentence.
“Oh, believe me, I know,” he growled. “When Gabriel said that barman wanted you—” he growled again, then reached back and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go inside.”
“Jake.” I knew what he wanted. The air in the car was thick with what webothwanted. But one of us had to remember what was at stake.
“Ineedthis. Need you.” He drew his bottom lip between his teeth, the hint of fang enough to make my resolve crumble.
“I need you too,” I whispered. “But I can’ttouchyou. Can’tkissyou.” And ithurt. “Fuck, Jake, we can’t do anything, and it’s killing me.” If Xen knew what he was putting us through, would he reconsider what he’d asked of Jake? If we went to him and told him that what we had was more than fucking around, would he find a way to get out of the deal he’d made with Haylen Frost?
The sad thing was, I didn’t think he would. Even if there was a way to break the pact he’d shook on, I didn’t believe that he’d let us out of it. He was my alpha, the one I should trust above all others to have my best interests at heart, and I just… didn’t. It made his orders that much harder to stomach.
I sighed, tilting my head against the seat rest. “What are we going to do?”
“I have an idea.” Jake let go of me and opened his car door. Turning back, he shot me a filthy look. “Come with me and I’ll show you.”
The door slammed shut, leaving me in the car alone with my racing heart, because while I’d meant, what do we do abouteverything, Jake clearly had only one thing on his mind.
I watched him walk up to the front door. Every step showcasing the muscles in a body I ached to touch. And while I couldn’t do that, Jake obviously hadsomethingplanned for us, and I wasn’t going to find out what it was by sitting in this fucking car.
It might make letting him go ten times harder, but I had to believe it wouldn’t come to that. We’d find a way because I couldn’t picture my life without him in it.
He was halfway up the stairs by the time I got inside, shoes kicked carelessly by the front door. Mine joined his, then I followed him up and into his bedroom.
“We might not be able to touch each other,” he said, undoing the button on his trousers. The zip came next, and he let them fall to the floor before stepping out of them. “But we can watch.”
The image he painted stole my breath, leaving me immobile for the time it took Jake to peel off his shirt.
He stood in a pair of tight red boxer briefs, cock already straining against the material. Trailing his fingers over the bulge, his blue-grey eyes met mine. “If you want to?”
“Fuck, yes,” I growled, fangs sliding out as I gave in and let my wolf out enough to lose the caution I’d brought inside. Instinct drew me to him, that touch of wildness a half-shift allowed, urging me to reach out and take what he offered. What wasmine.
I wanted to push him down onto the bed, feel every inch of his hard body under mine as I marked him for everyone to see.
Jake stopped me with a hand on my chest. “Get undressed and get on the bed.” He snarled when I tried to bat his hand away and get closer. “Now.” Gravel rough, his voice sent a shiver down my spine. It might not have carried the power of an alpha order, but I wanted to obey him more than I ever had Xen.
But I was still me.
I grinned around my fangs. “Make me.”
His raised eyebrow was all the warning I got before he tackled me to the bed. I laughed as he leant over me, hands pinning my shoulders against the mattress. “Get undressed,” he breathed, ducking his head to skim his nose along my throat, not quite touching, but I felt him everywhere. “Before I do it for you.”
He let me go to crawl over the bed to get to his bedside drawer and I sheathed my claws and fangs. As hot as it would be to have him rip my clothes off, these were my favourite work trousers. Even with the tiny holes his claws had added at the bar.
The trousers followed my shirt to the floor by the time he joined me again, a bottle of lube in one hand.
“Goddess. I’d forgotten how fucking hot you are.” His gaze raked over me, the naked desire in his eyes setting my blood alight. Dropping the lube beside us, he reached for his underwear, thumbs tucking under the waistband.
“Wait.” I scrambled to sit up. “I want to try something.” I put a hand to his chest and guided him to lie back, head on the pillows so he could watch me. “I want to see how far we can push that fucking order.”
I couldn’t touch or taste, but I had three other senses to make use of.
Starting at his throat, I leant in close and inhaled. Jake had always smelt good to me. Home, pack, family. Now, a subtle, newer layer undercut it all. A scent that made my wolf stir, my heart beat faster, and my jaw ache where my fangs itched to slide back out.
So I let them, the edges catching on the jut of Jake’s collarbone, leaving red marks in their wake.
The sharp pain of a half-shift was worth it to hear the hitch in Jake’s breathing, to watch his hands fist the sheet so hard, his knuckles went white. I moved lower, the light scrape of my fangs over olive skin a tease for me as much as it was for Jake. What I wouldn’t give to kiss the marks I’d left, trace them with my tongue before they faded to nothing.
