~ JESSE ~ I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. Everything Cazz said terrified me. But every thought, every breath that felt frightening, every weight in my gut that felt like it should push me back and away from him, only shoved me closer to him. I needed him, not for gratification, but because it was only in that place, when we were both abandoned, that I felt utterly sure of him. And I needed to feel sure of him. So, when I fell into his chest and kissed him, when he wrapped his arms around me and sighed with relief, something in me remained desperate. Jittery and insecure—like he was pulling away and I had to fight to keep him close. 

~ CASIMIR ~When I reached the chamber I was surprised to find the entire council assembled, but I realized I shouldn’t have been. Ghere would have called them the moment a messenger from Rake was announced, intending to assess the information he brought and see if it required my immediate attention. He had no memory of the fact that I had schemes afoot with Khush, or that Rake knew details the others didn’t.No wonder he was so perturbed that the messenger wanted only to speak with me. He would find it odd for Rake to make that request, so would assume the messenger was being overly fastidious. I needed to be very, very careful how I handled this. “Where is he?” I asked the moment I walked into the chamber, while the others were still

 ~ 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 ~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 ~ 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