Yes, it was. She had been her own worst enemy, really—craving a soul-deep connection but at the same time avoiding forming one because she didn’t want to risk feeling the pain of losing it. “I want to feel indispensable to someone.”

His hands framed her face, seizing her gaze. “You’re indispensable to me—essential to me on every level. I wouldn’t be here, suffering the company of your old pack and listening to some pervert constantly hit on you with cheesy pickup lines if you weren’t.”

She would have chuckled if his mouth hadn’t mashed with hers. “You know, I once shook hands with Jaime on a plan to get a gun and assassinate you.” Without moving his mouth from hers, he laughed. “And I planned on getting ‘Nick Axton Is a Fuck-Ass’ tattooed across my forehead. It was just that…when I found you, it was terrifying and electrifying, pain and pleasure, and then…” And then utter agony when he’d walked away. When he looked about to apologize, she put a finger to his lips. “It’s okay. Roni told me how hard it was for you to walk away that night.”

Hearing her be so understanding actually made it worse. “Fate should have given you someone better than me.”

She gave him a look full of censure and disapproval. “You’re a deserving person.”

He cupped her chin. “If you really believed that, you’d want me to claim you—I’m not bringing it up to push you, I’m just pointing out an important fact. You’re beautiful and perfect, and you deserve better. Any shifter would be proud to have you. But none of them can have you—you’re mine, even if you don’t want to be.”

Before she could say a word, his lips were on hers and his tongue was shooting into her mouth, sweeping away any intention of speaking, any intention of telling him he was wrong and she did want to be his, of easing the hurt in his voice. His hands cupped her ass again, pulling her tight to him. Even through the denim, the feel of his hard c**k against her clit made her gasp. Sliding her hand between their bodies, she fisted him and began to pump, making him groan.

Pulling back, Nick stared at her red, kiss-swollen mouth…and had only one thought going on in his mind. “Tell me…whose mouth is this?”

Shaya swallowed hard. “Yours.”

“That’s right. It’s mine.” Swiping his thumb across her lips, he met her eyes. “I want this pretty mouth wrapped around my cock, Shay.”

It wasn’t a request, she knew. And it vibrated with enough dominance to make both her and her wolf quiver.

“I want you to step onto the mat, take off your shorts, and dry yourself off. Can you do that for me?”

Nodding, she did exactly as he asked—all the while, he held her gaze, refusing to let it go. Then he stepped out of the tub and she patted him dry, their eyes still locked. Abruptly his fingers tunneled into her hair as his tongue drove into her mouth, stroking her own. As always, his kiss took her over, demanded everything from her but at the same time gave her everything back—a give and take that she wouldn’t have expected from this alpha male who could at times be so remote and distant with others.

“I want your mouth now, Shay.” With the hand knotted in her hair, he pushed down gently but firmly on her head.

Shaya slowly went to her knees, finding herself level with one hell of a hard-on. Knowing that she could induce this response from such a darkly sensual male sent a sizzling thrill through her body.

“Clasp your hands behind your back.” Without moving her eyes from his cock, she did as he’d asked; the action elevated her br**sts the way he liked. Tightening his hand in her hair, he said, “Lick it.” Without hesitation, she ran her tongue along the length of his c**k from base to tip and then lathed the head. Christ. “Open your mouth.” The second she did, he eagerly surged inside, and the feel of her hot mouth surrounding him was too good.

She was his living, breathing sexual fantasy. She was always game for whatever he wanted to do, always eager to please him, and always trusted herself to him. It was the one time that she didn’t hide or hold back from him. Her cheeks hollowed as she repeatedly took him into her mouth, dancing her tongue along his shaft as she did. “Fuck, that’s it. Look me in the eye, baby.” Her gaze flicked to his, searing him. “I’m going to f**k you, Shay. I’m going to f**k you so hard. Do you want that?”

Shaya paused in her sucking to nod. His eyes flashed with approval.

“Very good.” He traced the outline of her mouth. “You’re going to scream for me when my c**k is in you, Shay.”

Yeah, she most certainly would, she thought. She always did. As she began sucking harder while cupping his balls, his face scrunched up in a kind of pleasurable agony.

“Fuuuuuuck.” Close to the edge, Nick roughly speared his free hand into her hair so that both his hands then held her captive. He angled her head slightly and held her still as he pumped his hips. She didn’t fight him; she stayed still other than to scratch her nails along his thighs. Then she moaned around his cock, and he couldn’t take any more. With a guttural groan, he exploded into her mouth. “Swallow it all, baby. All of it.” It was another way to mark her, another way for her to accept that she was his to mark.

When Shaya felt him begin to go flaccid in her mouth, she pulled back and sat on her heels, peeking up at him.

He rubbed a hand down his face. “Christ. That was too good, baby.” Again, he traced her mouth. “Now get up and sit on the edge of the tub while I take the rest of what’s mine.” It wasn’t until he’d licked her to orgasm twice that he sat back and lifted her, impaling her on him fully. When he exploded inside her, he came much too close to claiming her right then, consequences be damned. Not because of how possessive he felt or how determined he was that she accept that she was irrevocably his. But because he realized just how much he’d come to care about her, knew he was nothing and no one without her. He really couldn’t let her go, and he hoped to God she didn’t ask him to. He’d give her anything she wanted, but not that one thing.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Waking up at dumb o’clock to find Shaya draped over him on a diagonal angle, Nick might have smiled if it wasn’t for the pounding on the bedroom door. Carefully rolling a sleeping Shaya onto her side, he pulled on his jeans and made his way to the door. Opening it, he found an edgy-looking Derren. Stepping outside the room, Nick quietly closed the door. “What is it?”