Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Wes chuckled, too. “I’m definitely catfishing you. I want access to all your gorgeous pottery and keep it for myself.”
I couldn’t help but giggle again.
“What if you’re a narcissist who lures me in with hot sex and handyman favors until I’m locked in and then starts controlling and gaslighting?” As I said those words, I knew they were impossible. I’d seen him with his daughter. He wasn’t a narcissist. He was the opposite.
He didn’t seem offended. “What else do you have?”
I let my mind go to the very worst fear. Maybe the one every woman on the planet had to be cautious about. “What if you turn into an abuser, and then I’m locked in a wolf cult that won’t let me out?”
Wes went very still, eyes wide. “Fuck, Joy. That’s some seriously scary shit.” He didn’t speak or move quickly to reassure me. He just let that fear shimmer between us before it drifted away, out the window.
Then he said carefully, “Abuse can happen in wolf communities, same as human ones. But I’ve never heard of it in a fated match. My body is literally wired to please yours. Your pleasure is mine. Your survival is mine. Your tears will instantly lower my aggression if I caused them or raise it if someone else has. I was born to love you. I won’t ever let anyone hurt you. I would die to protect you. I will live to satisfy you–sexually, emotionally, and physically. And if some day, satisfying you meant letting you go–if you ever wanted your freedom–honey, I would give it to you. Even if it killed me to do so.”
The intensity of the moment felt like it would crack open my chest. I neither wanted to cry, nor giggle, even more to let it out. I just held the sensation in my heart. In my chest. It was the feeling of being vulnerable with a man. Of learning to trust another person to take care of my needs when people had failed in the past.
Was that what I was truly afraid of? Being hurt by the one who I now trusted the most?
And then, because we were being real, I decided to share those thoughts out loud. “I think what I’m really scared of is the same thing you’re afraid of for Remy.” Tears swam in my eyes. “My parents’ marriage didn’t work out, and it was painful for all three of us. I guess I’m scared that I’ll learn to trust and then get hurt. I know what it’s like for the child, and I wouldn’t want that for Remy either.”
Wes leaned his forehead against mine. “I guess there are no guarantees, right? I feel that way about Remy every day. Like–I love this kid so much and if anything ever happened–if I ever lost her for some reason–I don’t know if I could go on.” Wes blinked hard, like his eyes were smarting. I wondered if he was thinking about how she’d run off earlier.
A tear leaked from my eye, but I didn’t care. I didn’t need to avoid the tears or the pain. We were facing our deepest darkness together.
Together.
“I want this,” I said with total clarity.
There were no guarantees. Even if we lived our lives out together in a perfect “happily ever after,” one of us would die first. Someone would have a broken heart. It was the inevitability of living. We all had hearts that broke, and we all were going to die. Nothing could protect us from either of those things, and the more we tried to stop them, the less we lived. The less we loved. The less we enjoyed this life we were given.
“I want you,” Wes said. His dick hardened against my belly, and his eyes glowed green, but he waited. I could see the hunger in them, but he didn’t pounce.
“Can we go back to that part where you pin me down and have your ravenous way with me?” I asked.
Wes’ smile was brilliant.
The most blinding thing I’d ever seen.
It registered as pure pleasure in me because I’d caused it. I was the source of his joy.
In a breathtaking swoop, he flipped me on my back and manacled my wrists above my head once again. “Now you’re in trouble, little human,” he growled.
I squirmed beneath him, thrills of heat pulsing through me.
“Show me,” I dared him.
26
WES
I couldn’t wait a second longer to make her mine. I lowered my head and sucked on one of Joy’s nipples as I rolled the other between my thumb and forefinger. My wolf was already ravenous for her. My teeth had sharpened. My dick throbbed.
The scent of her swirled around us. The feel of her beneath me was soft, warm, and plush. She was safe. Protected. Cared for. I’d said the words, now it was time to prove it to her with action.