Before I can make it more than a few steps, Slade and Bo take off. I change trajectory at the last second, my other half playing them flawlessly to lull Damian into a false sense of security, and lunge to my left. Wrapping my arms around his neck as I slam into his side, it throws him off balance enough that his paw slips out from under him. Bracing for impact, we land with a jarring thud that rattles my teeth.
I concentrate not on stealing his energy like before, but communicating with his baser half, extending my mental reach so that he can feel me, but only that I'm there as a comfort like Slade and Kaige have done for me, not rooting around for the sake of some power play. It’s a strange sensation when not on the receiving end. There’s no transfer or manipulation of energy, it’s more like... stepping into his skin and swaddling his organs in a weighted blanket. The only focus is comfort and assurance, and it doesn’t cost me a single thing. There’s no sacrifice of power, making myself sick, or attempts to establish dominance.
It’s a promise and a prayer that everything’s going to be okay.
“Trust me to take care of you the way I trust you to take care of me,” I whisper, the words infused with confidence that I don’t fully feel.
I barely know this man, yet itfeelslike I do. And rather than balk at the possessive reflex that snakes down my spine at the thought of walking away from him, I lean into it. He’smine.If the situation with Cinjin and Bo has taught me anything, it’s that I have to take the standards that I was raised with and throw them out the window. I’m not human anymore; never was, apparently. It makes perfect sense why I always felt disconnected from everyone else around me, an outsider in my own life, going through the motions of what was expected to the best of my ability.
I might not understand half of what’s going on or why, but I’m not the only one scared and struggling. I’m not in this alone, and I really do trust them all to help me sort through this mess one thing at a time. I can’t ask for answers they don’t have, or anything that they aren’t willing to give. But when they’ve confidently declared that they’re all in without so much as a second thought, maybe... it really can be that easy. This part at least.
His transition is seamless, without a single hint of pain this time. Though to be fair, after having your body broken as a monster tore its way out, what you once considered painful likely won’t even register on your pain scale anymore. One second my face is pressed into soft fur the color of onyx, and the next, the hulking beast dissipates in a puff of smoke that leaves dark tendrils in its wake. Pushing myself off of his heaving chest, I hover above a naked Damian, his features obscured by the residual haze.
My voice is quiet and teasing, if not a little breathless as I climb off of him. “One down, two to go.”
His hand snaps out to lock onto my bicep, keeping me from budging another inch. As the smoke recedes with the wind, it takes some of the scent of ash and cinders with it, though it lingers heavily on his skin, as if it’ll always be a part of him now. Those piercing eyes lock onto mine, but he’s still not fully... Damian.
The air rushes from my lungs as he rolls us in a fluid, graceful motion, the hand on my arm sliding up to pin my wrist above my head. He never once breaks our stare off, as if hewantsme to see. To see them both, to call my bluff and see if I’m going to back out of the silent promise that I made to them, convincing his other half to retreat back into the prison that he loathes, trusting me not to lock him away again. And to show me that they’ll be upholding their side of the bargain, that they’ll take care of me in return.
Finding whatever he was looking for in my gaze, he finally looks away, but only long enough for his eyes to flit down to my mouth and back. “Mine.” The word isn’t a demand, it’s a promise, a whispered reverence.
Yet there’s nothing gentle about the way he kisses me. It’s bruising, devouring, as if he’s intent on branding himself on my essence as thoroughly as I’ve marked his. As his tongue rolls against mine, so does his body, and all remaining rational thought is burned away. All that’s left is blistering need, and with my free hand, I palm the back of his neck, holding him against me and using the leverage to arch into him, seeking more contact.
He practically purrs, every muscle in his taut body vibrating against mine and making me squirm. The pressure on my wrist increases as he stops bracing himself to spare me his weight, slipping his other hand between us to flick open the button of my shorts. Gripping the material, he yanks them down. I release my death grip on his neck to lift my hips and help shove them down my thighs, but the angle makes it a challenge.
Growing frustrated, he keeps a tight grip on me as he rises without breaking the frantic kiss, using his foot to shove my shorts the rest of the way to the ground. Rough bark bites into my back through my shirt as he presses me into the nearest tree, a low growl drowning out my gasp as he grips my thighs and jerks them up to wrap around his waist. Without preamble, he slips a hand between us again, circling my clit above my underwear.
“Later,” he breathes, roughly shoving the fabric aside and rubbing the tip of his cock over my slit, “I’m going to feast on you until you can’t even remember your own name.” The matter-of-fact way he makes the declaration has me clenching around nothing, my short time with Damian enough to know that he’s a man of his word. “We’re going to absolutely ruin each other in the best of ways, aren’t we, angel? The only thing that will ever quench my thirst will be the taste of you on my tongue, and you’ll never be able to look at me again without remembering how I feel between your legs.” Everything that comes out of Damian’s mouth is a promise, and my vagina is wholeheartedly on board, soaking up each and every declaration as a tribute to her altar.
Back and forth he strokes teasingly, and every brush against my hypersensitive clit has me squirming in desperate frustration. With his next statement, he pushes inside of me with a soft groan, stretching me as he sinks to the hilt in a solid, punishing thrust. “I might not be your only mate, but I’ll have my moment as your one and only. Even if it’s just for a short time, I’ll be the only one you can think about.”
Panting, he wraps a hand around my throat, pinning me against the tree as he paints a picture of the future he’s so sure of. Slowly, he draws out, only to snap his hips hard enough that the bark tears into my skin.
“And when you come crashing down from that high, you’ll see that they were watching me fuck you senseless the entire time, wishing they were me as you screamed my name.” Harder, faster, he fucks me, murmuring dirty promises against my lips in the illusion of a kiss. “They’ll make it their personal mission to erase me from your memory, but we’ll know that it’s impossible, won’t we, beautiful?”
Capturing my leg, he pulls it from his waist long enough to sling it over his arm. Swallowing my guttural moan as he drives even deeper with the new angle, he picks up the pace until we’re both barely hanging on by a thread.
“Because,” he growls, rolling his hips as I clench tightly around him, so close. “I’ll always come back for you.” A few more thrusts and I’m a goner, coming hard and fast. He swallows down my cry, chasing me over that ledge before stilling, cock twitching as he comes.
“Always,” I agree, resting my head back against the bark as I attempt to catch my breath, body trembling as aftershocks rock through me.
Cinjin, Bo, Slade, and Damian; I don’t have any doubt about their commitment. Never have, if we’re being honest. I was scared of the intensity of it, that they could be that obsessive over someone they’d just met; that it couldn’t have been for me, but what I represent. Even if there’s an ulterior motive, that they only wanted me so that I could release their wolves, we’ve crossed that bridge now. I nearly killed several of them this morning, yet they’re still here, looking at me like I’m their reason to breathe. And Reid? I may not ever be able to claim him in that way, but I still claim him as mine. Him at least, there’s never been any concern over his intentions, adamantly refusing the only thing I actually have to offer these men, and wanting me anyway.
The peaceful satisfaction only lasts a few seconds before there’s a brutal crack of flesh and bone, my eyes flying open in time to see Slade pulling his fist away from Damian’s bright red jaw. To his credit, even though his head whips to the side, he doesn’t drop me. I manage to get my feet under me just in time for him to go stumbling back with the next hit, and it quickly becomes clear that he isn’t defending himself, taking each strike like it’s his due.
“Slade!” I bark, stepping between them.
Instinct dictates my actions despite my wolf being barely conscious at this point. I don’t shove him, making it look like I’m choosing one over the other. I don’t put my hand on his chest; not to keep them apart, nor to manipulate his wolf into calming the fuck down. I simply make myself an obstacle, one that takes the focus off of the man he wants to beat the shit out of.
“What the hell?”
His eyes darken as he takes a step closer, his body vibrating with the barely contained energy. “He doesn’t deserve to touch you. He hurt you.”
While I eased Damian through the transition, Slade fought his way back to my side, a fact that becomes abundantly clear when he reaches me, nostrils flared and the promise of violence pulsating off of him. I’m honestly impressed that he was able to force himself to shift back in a show of restraint instead of tearing Damian’s throat out like he clearly wants to, though a smoky haze still clings heavily to his skin, as if he’s on the cusp of losing his tenuous control at any second. Forcing me to spin around, he jerks my shirt up. My hiss as the cool air brushes over the bloody scrapes on my back only spurs Slade’s ominous rumble to grow louder.
Taking a deep breath, I pivot to face him head on. “You get off on biting, yet are going to pretend that sex-induced wounds aren’t fun? Pretty hypocritical.”
Fisting the front of my shirt, he pulls me closer and slides a hand over the unscathed skin just above my ass, his touch delicate yet possessive. “The last time he touched you, you screamed, and turned to me to save you from the painheinflicted.” Tilting my chin up to face him, he searches my eyes, and I see more of the Slade I know looking back at me now. “He hurt you, and keeps hurting you. I never should have left you alone with him when you never meant to claim him, to claim either of us.”
