She believed him, because she’d stopped fighting his grip. There were tears in her eyes. “Those years— they were wasted.”
“We’ll make up for them.”
“You’re not going to leave me?”
“Why would you think that?” he asked, a tug in his gut when he thought about how bad for her he actually was.
“Because in the past, everyone has,” she told him and he sat up and kissed her so fiercely, a promise, a pledge and everything else in between. Her tears wet both their cheeks as she kissed him back. They remained like that for a long while, kissing, the air cooling their too-hot skin. She was content, but didn’t remain that way for long.
When she pulled back, he noted that her pupils were shrinking. Her wolf eyes wouldn’t show themselves until her shift, and if anyone else saw her right now, they’d accuse her of being high.
“I feel edgy,” she told him.
“I can take care of that. I’m built to take care of it. Sex is a need for us—much more than it is for humans. If it’s not satisfied, there are consequences. You’ll never have to deal with those again.”
Before she could protest, he’d flipped her onto her back and her legs and arms instinctively wrapped around him. He’d begun to rock into her again and she couldn’t stop the jolt of pleasure that ran through her. He bent and suckled a nipple, bit it lightly but enough to make her gasp.
It was then she noted his canines were elongated.
A part of her was truly terrified but a larger part was definitely thrilled. She remained still, watching him brush those sharp teeth across her nipple lightly. Her sex was so wet and his cock seemed to get bigger as it remained inside of her, pulsing against her clit.
He wasn’t human. Jinx was taking her—claiming her, she supposed—and she could do nothing but remain open to his advances.
But apparently, he’d be the one who would finish it. His body weighed hers down, and even though he slid out of her quickly, he managed to pin her hips to the lounge as he brought his head between her legs. She looked down and watched his wolf’s eyes as he scraped his teeth against her soft, hot flesh and then used his tongue to flick the tight bundle of nerves once, twice, until she gripped the sides of the chair so hard she thought she actually heard them crack.
His eyes never left hers. She wanted to look away, should be embarrassed by such a blatant show of sexuality. Legs spread, his head bobbing between them and all she could do was cry out because she needed to come. And when she did, he didn’t stop licking her, not even when she begged. And oh, how she begged, with her hands tight in his hair, her actions the complete opposite of her words.
Whatever beast was inside of her wanted these releases, needed them, despite how the line between the pleasure and the pain blurred.
When he’d had his fill of tasting her—that’s what he told her, that he loved tasting her and chuckled when she shivered—he turned her onto her stomach, pulled her to her knees. Her body was limp and she was beyond fighting. For the first time in a long time, that nervous, restless energy seemed to have dissipated. She was near satiated—the rustling in her ears calmed, her muscles loose, her body humming.
“You want more?” he asked her.
“More,” she managed. “Please.”
He didn’t ask a second time. On her knees, he took her from behind. She could barely remain upright, but he held her up with an arm around her waist as he thrust into her.
She met him, thrust for thrust, arching her back, pushing her ass back to take him deeper into her core. She didn’t recognize herself. Didn’t want to. The searing, all-consuming pleasure threatened to slay her and she would let it overtake every bit of common sense and reason, if only to continue feeling this good.
She looked over her shoulder. Jinx’s eyes were still otherworldly, his cheeks flushed from exertion but the look on his face was sheer pleasure.
Chapter 14
The nightmare woke him up again. Rogue considered giving up sleeping for good, because this getting himself back on a regular wolf schedule of up all night, sleep the day away wasn’t working for him. Then again, he pictured hell in most of his waking moments too and decided he’d never be able to get away from it. Not in the near future, anyway.
He made PTSD look like a walk in the park with the shit he saw.
Gwen had encouraged him to try to get his patterns back to normal as soon as possible, but she didn’t argue when she discovered he couldn’t. Instead, he would come down to the clinic and help to organize her things. Like Jinx and the others, Rogue had also served in the military alongside his twin, becoming a Ranger and a medic in his company.
And since Jinx was out of the house, Rogue figured he could at least be useful and take up that role.
Gwen was doing a lot of research into wolf metabolisms and the like, learning which medicines Weres and Dires could tolerate. In truth, it looked like she was readying for a war, and considering what was happening with Liam, she might be right.
Several hours later, he had all the new boxes opened up, meds labeled and the second room set up with stretchers and curtains.
“You must’ve worked for hours,” she said, brushing the sleep from her eyes with her fingers. Her hair was loose, feet bare and she was so pretty. His queen. The woman who, along with Kate, had saved him from a fate far worse than death. He’d be forever in her debt, would lay down his life for either of them.
In fact, just being in either’s presence seemed to calm him, and neither Rifter nor Stray objected.
“It’s good for me to keep busy.”
“How bad is it?” she asked.
“I should go back out hunting. I need to. But it’s hard getting back in the saddle.”
Also hard, because he knew what he’d find. But the odd part about no spirits bothering him still confirmed what he knew—the spirits were more scared of him than anything. Instead of seeking comfort from him, they ran from him. He hadn’t been lying when he told Jinx he was still in here—hell was a part of him—how could he make it let him go?
“I was there, Rogue. I saw.”
“What do you mean, you saw?”
“I saw everything.” She whispered it and he wondered if her nightmares of the place were as bad as his. “I know what you went through. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now. But you’ve got to keep moving forward.”
“Suppose I never shake the images? Suppose it never goes away?” He asked it more to himself than to her.
“You’ve literally been to hell and back, Rogue. I can’t imagine that ever leaves you. But you’ve got to do something with what you’ve learned. It’s what you do.”
It was. Since childhood, he manipulated spirits into going where they needed to, heaven, hell—but he’d never dealt with anyone who was in that place in between. “I don’t know where to start.”
“How about with your twin?” she suggested softly. “I’m worried about both of you. I think you need each other.”
“I was kind of an asshole to him the other night,” he admitted it. “But he started it.”
She smiled a little and he continued, “Fine, I’ll go talk to him.”
“Good.”
“What else’s on your mind?” he asked. “I might not read minds or dreamwalk, but you’ve been avoiding
