“Don’t,” he said and there was enough pain in his voice that she froze.
“But—”
“You can’t. Not until you decide.” He looked at her, pain in his eyes. “I need to know you’re not going to change your mind.”
She stared at him, anger mixing with all the other emotions churning inside her. The man was giving her an ultimatum. Stay forever or don’t touch me at all. They’d been together for less than two days. Fortunately, she could focus on her anger and not face the fact that she hadn’t exactly bared her soul either.
“I don’t know how you can be so incredibly strong and so whiny at the same time!” she huffed.
His head snapped up at her tone and his brows drew together. Good. Let him get pissed. Let them have a good rip-roaring fight because that was better than this quiet agony. But he wasn’t a man to break easily. He didn’t speak, so she poked at him again.
“You’ve got everything Simon. You’re smart, powerful, and you just got control of a clan of bear-shifters. And yet you sit there miserable because you can’t decide what you want. Boo-hoo, it’s a dangerous life. Boo-hoo, I’m a dangerous man.”
“I’m trying to protect you,” he growled.
She was getting to him. Good. She pushed harder.
“I don’t need your protection! I make my own choices. And here it is: I’m not committing to a man who’s too afraid to say he loves me.”
His eyes widened and his jaw worked. It took him two tries before words came out. And when they did, they were so hot, they burned her with hunger, with fear, and with flat out lust.
“I want you, Alyssa. Because you fight me and you don’t run. Because you’re sexy and smart. But you’re so fucking stubborn, too! You run your own business, you run your own brother, and you’re not going to surrender to me easily. You’re going to tease me and drive me fucking crazy while I pant after you. But I’m dangerous, Alyssa. And I’m alpha to a dangerous clan. And if you push me any harder, I’m going to take you and never let you go. Is that what you want? Is it?”
Yes. A thousand times, yes.But damn it, he hadn’t said he loved her. She knew it was stupid of her, but she wanted love. She’d had men after her before. Rich ones, smart ones, slick ones. She’d refused them all because they’d loved themselves way more than they loved her. She needed Simon to love her because she already knew she was head over heels for him. She had been for years.
But there wasn’t any softness in him now. No tenderness that gave her hope that he had such an emotion in him. He was all logic and brutal animal necessity. It wasn’t like she was asking for candy and roses. The words would be enough, but only if he said them.
So she took a deep breath. She smelled his scent, felt his heat, and let the strength of her desire make her bold.
“Do you love me, Simon?”
His eyes widened in surprise and maybe yearning. He stared at her while her heart thrummed in her throat. “Alyssa—” he began, but her name was drowned out.
A boom reverberated through the building. An explosion that made her furniture jump and her body reel. It tore through her body and his, but he was the one who reacted. His head jerked up even as his hands kept her steady. And then he abandoned her to rush to the door.
“Simon?”
“Get your gun.”
