My throat pinched and I pressed my forehead to his jaw and shook my head. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Now go. Please. Just go.” I pushed him away.
“Cora—”
“No, just go.”
Anger flashed across his face and he pushed into me, pinching my jaw and forcing me to look at him.
“Stop playing with me. Stop it.”
Yes, this was the Jasper I knew. The one I could pretend to hate. “Where would the fun be in that?” I allowed my lip to curl and injected a harshness into my tone.
His gaze bore into me. Reading me. But I filled my mind and heart with ice. I didn’t want him. I didn’t give a shit. That’s all he’d see. That’s all he’d feel.
I pulled away from him. “Now let me go.”
A growl erupted from behind Jasper and then he was torn from me and sent flying across the bathroom. He slammed into the cabinet and straightened, emerald eyes blazing with fury as they locked onto Tor.
The intention to hurt my mate was clear, and he could do it too. Now that I was anchor, even with the amulet in place, enough residual power filtered into him from me to allow him access to the majority of his abilities.
He could hurt my mates any time he wanted, but he hadn’t. He hadn’t…and I’d taken it for granted he wouldn’t because…Because he cared for me. I’d known he had for a while now.
But right now, in this moment, all bets were off. The air crackled with tension as Jasper’s eyes narrowed dangerously, the lines and planes of his face seeming sharper and lethally harsh. In this moment he looked truly malevolent. In this moment I was certain he meant true harm.
He raised his hand in Tor’s direction, and I leaped out of the tub and in front of Tor.
“Don’t!” I locked gazes with Jasper. “Please. Don’t hurt him.”
Tor growled, low and menacing. “Get out of the way, Cora.”
Heat blasted my naked wet back. Tor’s heat. His rage. But he didn’t get it. He couldn’t fight Jasper’s power with fangs and claws, and the curl of Jasper’s lip and the ice in his emerald eyes told me he knew it too.
“Yes, Cora,” Jasper said. “Get out of the way and let us settle this, malevolent to beast man.”
Like hell. “Jasper, just go.”
“It kills you, doesn’t it?” Jasper said to Tor. “That I’ve tasted her, been deep inside her, fucked her till she screams my name, and you… You’ll never get to know what her skin feels like against your tongue or how hard her cunt can milk a cock.”
My face was on fire, eyes burning with betrayal and rage. I shook my head. “Fuck you, Jasper. I hate you.”
But I didn’t, and it made everything worse because I knew what this was. This was his defense. His goading was his shield.
Tor’s snarl made my blood curdle. “Keep your memories because that’s all you’ll ever have. Cora belongs to us now and you’ll never touch her again.”
“She’ll never be fully yours,” Jasper said. “Not as long as I live and breathe.”
Tor made to push past me, but I spun and pressed my body to his chest, wrapping my arms around him and holding on for dear life so if he wanted to fight he’d have to take me with him.
Tor growled and tried to peel me off.
“Stop!” I looked over my shoulder. “Jasper, go. You’ve had your fun, now please just fucking go.”
He locked gazes with me, and the light in his eyes dimmed. “Damn you, Cora.” His tone was beaten and weary, then he was gone.
I sagged against Tor, forehead pressed to his shirt. “You can’t do that. You can’t challenge him, you have no—”
His hand tangled in my hair and he tugged, forcing me to look at him. His eyes blazed with fury, jaw tight with suppressed rage.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
“What?”
“You don’t get to pick my battles, Cora. No one does. You’re my mate. Mine, and if he touches you again, I’ll rip his arms off with my fucking teeth.”
Oh, God, was he that blinded by his alpha tunnel vision that he couldn’t see what had almost happened?
Rage whiplashed in my chest. “You wouldn’t get close enough to rip anything off. You have no idea what Jasper is capable of. The only reason you’re still standing is because of me. He’s a malevolent entity with abilities beyond your imagination and he has access to the power of the cosmos through his connection to me.” I plucked at the amulet around my neck. “All this does now is stop him from intimate contact without permission. I’m tapped into so much power that even with our connection muted he’s getting more than enough to be himself. I’ve seen him incinerate outliers with a thought. This isn’t a battle of brawn, Tor. Magic will always trump brawn and I can’t lose you.”
Tor’s expression softened. “He’s a danger to the seal, Cora. You need to keep him at bay.”
“I know.” My heart sank. “I will. Just promise me you won’t try and fight him, please.”
Tor’s jaw ticked. “I promise.”
His gaze dropped between us, and it hit me that I was standing there, wet, soapy, and completely naked.
His gaze darkened and his mouth parted in a soft exhalation. The bond between us flared to life, thrumming with magnetic energy, drawing us closer. Heat spiraled in my belly, licking and teasing. I was suddenly fully aware of how his wet cream tee molded to his defined torso. His scent, forest and pinecones, mingled with his citrusy shower gel and filled my head. I wanted to touch him, to slide my hands under the hem of his shirt and trace the ridges of his abs. I wanted to go south, into his waistband, to touch
