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“What?” He gestured to my arm, where I’d entirely forgotten that I’d brought him a bundle of black roses. Not a huge bouquet, because Tate didn’t need a giant show of things, but just enough for him to know what he meant to me. I shook my head to chase the nerves away, cleared my throat, and handed them over. “Yeah, th-they are. Tate, you look breathtaking.”

He reached up and smoothed the hem of my waistcoat, trailing along a seam in my black satin shirt. His finger teased over the fabric and hooked behind the open neckline tracing it down to my sternum where the buttons hung open. “Speak for yourself.” A deep breath, and then, “Are you sure we can’t stay in tonight?”

Well, that question seemed to help me find my voice. “Oh, hell no. I’m showing you off.” I hooked an arm around his waist and tugged him close to me, so close that I heard the moment his breath hitched. He grabbed onto my shoulders for support. “No one at that ball tonight is going to have any question about who you belong to.”

Somewhere along the line my voice had dipped low and was now full of gravel. Tate watched me, bright green eyes shining in the moonlight. My boy was glowing, and we hadn’t even stepped out of the apartment yet. Tate tested my restraint on a daily basis, but it would take a hell of a lot of self-control to get through the ball without bending him over a table and taking him right there, with that satin skirt hitched up around his waist.

I had to shake off that mental image. If I hadn’t, we likely wouldn’t have gone anywhere.

“Ready?” I asked.

Tate inhaled deeply, and moved to the sink to put the flowers in water. “As I’ll ever be.”

“Where’s your jacket?”

Tate grabbed one from the back of the couch, and I had it in my hands and held open for him before he could blink. He gave me a grateful smile and slid his arms into the coat.

Coats were often clunky garments, designed more to keep people warm rather than to be aesthetically pleasing but on Tate? The long black garment seemed to be just the thing he needed. He huddled into its warmth as we stepped into the night, but the way it swayed around his legs continued to draw my eyes south, even if I was supposed to be leading him.

I stumbled over my own feet more times than I cared to admit by the time we arrived at the ball. Tate was more than amused, tossing smirks over his shoulder and adding an extra sway to his hips.

Something told me that I would be seeing a lot more of Tate in his new comfort zone, and I couldn’t tell if I wanted to be on the side of thrilled or intimidated at the fact.

Tate had been dangerous since the day we met but in his element, he had the potential to be downright lethal.

I may have been older, and he may have seen me as more experienced, but that boy held all the power. If he ever realized the true ability he held, he would have the world at his feet.

We stepped into the building and just as I suspected, Tate turned heads and dropped jaws from the moment he walked in—even with his coat on. He held onto it like a security blanket, seeming to lose a flicker of his light at the realization of all of the eyes on him.

I stood by his side, keeping one hand on him at all times. If my arm wasn’t around his waist, my hand was on his back or my fingers were wound through his.

When his cheeks began to pink up because of the heat, he looked at me with those big, sparkling green eyes. I squeezed his hand. “You want to get some air?” I asked, giving him an out. We’d shown up, I’d shown him off, and now we would leave whenever he wanted.

But he shook his head, and his fingers untwisted from mine. Shaky hands undid his buttons, and I stepped behind him to slide the coat off his shoulders. As the garment fell from him, I pressed in closer. With his next deep breath, his back pressed against my chest, he rocked his hips backward against mine. A test; a measure of security. He wanted to know that I had him.

Someone swept past me and took his coat—I didn’t see who; I was too busy curling my hands around Tate’s satin covered hips, a—not-so-subtle move to claim what was mine. Suddenly, I didn’t notice the people that stared at him, because I only had eyes for him.

People could stare all they wanted to. Tate was mine, and with the vibrant, pulsing mark on his neck, he displayed it for the world to see.

“Hush now, love, don’t you weep,” I whispered in his ear, drawing goosebumps along his bare shoulders and collarbone. “If you are my mate, the one I seek…”

Tate spoke softly with the last words, matching my tone.

“Then I give you my life, my soul to keep.”

Epilogue

SIX YEARS LATER

Tate

“Black or green?” I asked, holding up my two options in the mirror.

Luc sprawled out across the bed behind me, simply smiling. “I like both.”

He was no help.

He was the one who insisted that I look my best for whatever he had planned that night, and now he wasn’t giving me a single opinion? Instead of the anger I felt rising to the surface, tears welled up in my eyes. I squeezed them shut against the heat, and heard Luc get to his feet behind me.