‘Not, er, righteous?’ I sent carefully. ‘How so?’
‘He… he goes to the church and appears just like they do and as I would expect the King’s Cleric to behave—careful with his words, clean, kind, righteous in his manner. Then… then he goes to deal with the humans you sent him to and he is… aggressive. Dark. Cunning. The difference is quite stark and I just… I wasn’t sure that you knew. This hypocrisy… I worried he might be deceiving you.’
I had to fight to keep my face expressionless. ‘You’ve seen this with your own eyes?’
~ JESSE ~Late that afternoon my nerves were getting the better of me. I’d killed as much time as I could—I had hunted down Reeca and had another conversation about whether or not I should commend her at the Selection.Because the rite had been postponed, she’d admitted that she was trying not to get attached to the idea. But she had agreed that if she was the wolf I chose, she would accept the honor. Then I had gone to the library and read the histories like Maya told me too—but found the whole experience chilling now, seeing all those “deceased” markers in the bloodlines.I’d had to remind myself that Cazz had at least promised he wouldn’t push our children to it. But with everything that had been happening around him, it was all coming home to me now how diff
~ JESSE ~Something was strange about him, but I didn’t even think, just ran to him trying my hardest not to look like a child as he straightened, smiling, when I threw myself into his chest.He wrapped those big arms around me and lifted me off my feet, burying his face in my neck, one arm laid up my spine, the hand cradling the back of my head and holding me to him.To my surprise, I felt the bond thrum as we both clung, wordlessly. And I realized… I realized he’d felt as frantic to be together as I had. But he’d covered it somehow, until this moment.I had to swallow back a pinch of happy tears, but I did it, so that when we finally relaxed and he put me down on my feet again before straightening to smile down at me, I could beam back at him.
~ JESSE ~For half an hour we just sat together on the mattress with our backs to the truck cab and the picnic basket between our thighs, eating and talking. Cazz was eating like a horse—he’d obviously skipped lunch—yet also peppering me with fruit and nuts and some of their very tasty dried meat, apparently still determined to make me gain weight.We were just… talking. And even though the air hummed with anticipation—mine as well as his—neither of us hurried. It was the first time, I realized, that we’d ever just… hung out.“I thought you were taking me to a new den,” I admitted after we’d sat there an hour and weren’t eating anymore. Cazz had put the food basket to the end of the truck bed and we sat, arm to arm, looking at the city lights brigh
~ JESSE ~I wasn’t angry, and I stayed open in the bond so he could tell. But I wanted him to think about it.Cazz’s eyes got wary then, but I hadn’t tried to break his grip. I wasn’t angry. My heart was full of love for him, and I prayed he looked inward, at the bond, and measured me there. I wanted him to answer the question and not get defensive. And I prayed I wasn’t pushing him too hard. I knew this was all new for him. But something deep inside me said if we didn’t look at this right away, we were going to start walking together on a path that was… imbalanced.I needed him to trust me. Not as much as I trusted him, maybe. But some.I needed him to know I was different.His e
~ JESSE ~Cazz’s eyes widened. I would have been nervous I was pushing him too much, but his pupils dilated as well. And I could feel him in the bond… turning it all over. He swallowed and blinked and when he didn’t answer immediately, still holding his hand behind his head, I dropped my chin, sliding my nose under his jaw, then opening my mouth softly on his throat.The bond jangled with a jolt of need and fear. His entire body tensed and his free hand grabbed for me, his fingers clawing into my ass, but he didn’t push me off.I was breathing faster. “Cazz… Do you trust me?” I whispered against his skin, then sucked there for a second, loving the feeling of his rough stubble under my lips and tongue.He groaned. He was t
~ CASIMIR ~When Jesse descended on me, I wanted to howl. She’d never looked more wild, more beautiful—and I could feel her in the bond, wanting me.But my entire body jangled with conflicting needs, my heart pounding with fear even while my skin—and pieces of me—throbbed with lust. Her kiss was deep and intense and delicious. I grabbed the belt and held on, arching back when she started moving down, kissing my jaw, my neck… and my throat. My entire body tensed and I panted as much from startling unease as love and need. But my beautiful mate didn’t stop, her honey-soft lips and tongue dancing on my most vulnerable skin as her fingers clawed into my hair and she leaned over me with such need that the bond began to glow.
~ CASIMIR ~She stroked my hair, my neck, my shoulders, my chest. And she soothed me—sending waves of love in the bond every time my tension peaked and I pulled against the belt, smiling when I eased back, and her eyes glowing when our pace picked up.The truck rocked and jiggled with our movement, which added to the sensation. And all at once, I was overwhelmed, tugging and jerking against the belt, my skin becoming raw from the rough side of the leather.There was a fleeting thought in my head that I needed to teach her how to do this safely for next time—then a screaming protest that there would be no next time.“Cazz… relax. Breathe. Be here with me…” she whispered, then she held my
~ JESSE ~Later, Cazz had pulled out a couple of the blankets, and we curled up under them, sitting again with our backs against the cab of the truck. I was leaning against his shoulder. I had been hugging his bicep, but let my hand trail down his arm intending to take his fingers. But when my palm reached the inside of his wrist, he gave a little flinch.I sat up and pulled his hand up, out of the blankets, to see red bands across his wrist. From the belt“Shit, Cazz! Why didn’t you tell me! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”He shrugged and pulled his hand back under the cover of the blankets. “It’s barely a rub-burn, Jesse. I’ll live.”“I know, but… I wasn’t me