“I didn’t say you’re submissive. I said I do the fucking, and you do the taking. It’s like I told you last time: when I’m inside this pussy, it’s mine. And right now, I want to fuck it.”

She might have met that statement with a string of profanities, but then he was pounding into her harder, faster, and deeper—giving her exactly what she needed.

“I’m going to come, sweetheart. I want you to come with me. Now.”

His teeth sinking into her shoulder was like a trigger; she threw her head back and screamed as wave after wave of ecstasy racked her body almost violently. He cursed against her neck as he slammed deep one final time and exploded inside her. That was when all her strength seemed to leave her body in a rush. If he hadn’t slipped an arm around her waist, she’d have crashed to the floor.

To her appreciation, he very carefully carried her limp body to the en suite bathroom, cleaned them both up, and then just as carefully carried her to the bed. Removing the rest of his clothes, he then lay beside her, lightly tracing the new mark on her shoulder while self-satisfaction glinted in his eyes. “Very pleased with that, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” So was his wolf.

Hearing her cell phone ringing, she groaned. She’d assigned that ringtone to a person who she didn’t want to speak to right then.

“Aren’t you going to answer it?”

“No. It’s my mother. She’s probably having a hernia because she suspects I’m exactly where I am right now. Annoying me is her favorite hobby.”

“You know why she does it, don’t you? Why she’s interfering and overprotective?”

“Because she’s convinced that I can’t take care of myself after what happened when I was a juvenile.”

“No, sweetheart, that’s not it at all. That’s not why Nick does it either.”

Her brows knitted together. “What do you mean?”

Although Marcus didn’t know all the details of the attempted rape, he was very sure of one thing: “Nick feels guilty because he’s convinced he traumatized you when he attacked those humans to save you.”

Yeah, Shaya had said as much to Roni.

“In his mind, he needs to make it up to you. So he tries to protect you from everything bad in the world. It’s not because he thinks you’re incapable of taking care of yourself—it’s his way of trying to ease his own burden.” Which was selfish, in Marcus’s opinion. But it was possible that it was all subconscious on Nick’s part. The guy cared about his sister.

Roni puffed out a long breath, never having thought of it that way before. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. But why do you think my mother does it?”

“Simple: she knows you’re more dominant than she is.” He lightly circled her belly button with his finger, liking the way her abdomen clenched at his touch. “I’m sure your wolf feels uncomfortable around females more dominant than she is and her instinct is to slap them down, make sure they understand the hierarchy, so they’re no threat to you. It’s the same for every dominant female. Kathy won’t want to go down a step in the hierarchy. It’s about pride.”

Well, hell. “Why did I not see any of this before?” She considered herself an intelligent, observant person.

“Because they’re your family—you don’t expect that shit from family. But the fact is that, first and foremost, they’re people, and people can be dicks.”

There was an edge to his tone that told her he was talking from experience. She didn’t want to probe into his “twisted story,” but she figured her question wasn’t too invasive. “You have the same problem with one of your parents?”

“Yes. My dad.” He didn’t elaborate, and he felt Roni tense. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t like double standards.”

“There aren’t any double standards with us.”

“You repeatedly ask me to share, but then you’re all cagey about your own business. I’m not saying you need to tell me everything—I get that there are some things you won’t want to talk about. That’s fine. But if you’re going to be cagey about every little thing, stop asking me to share my own shit.”

“All you have to do is ask me, Roni. Like I told you, there are some things you’re better off not knowing. As for the rest, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. But you have to ask.”

Okay, now she understood what he was doing—pulling her fully into the conversation, making her take an active part in it rather than just answering his questions. Sneaky bastard. “Fine. Has your dad always been that way?”

“It started around the time I had my first shift. But we didn’t really clash over it until I was fifteen.” In actuality, though, they’d never gotten along.

“Why did you clash?” she gritted out when he purposely didn’t elaborate.

“I’d decided to leave the pack with Trey.” The pack’s decision to ostracize Trey was made after he defeated his father in a duel, and it had caused a divide in the pack. Many had then left with Trey to form their own pack—thus, the Phoenix Pack was born.

“Your dad wanted you to stay?”

“Actually, no. The plan had been for me and my parents to move to my aunt’s pack. But when all that shit happened with Trey, I chose to leave with him. My dad didn’t like it, and he tried to dominate me into doing what he wanted. But it didn’t work, and he realized I was more dominant than him.” In Marcus’s opinion, getting away from them had saved his sanity.

“He didn’t take it too well?” she assumed.

“No. I’d known it for years, and I think he suspected it, but that day confirmed it.”

“You said you have sisters. They didn’t leave with your parents either?”

“I have three sisters. They’re all older, and they’d mated into different packs by then.”

“Are things okay with your dad now?” She wanted to ask if he was the violent asshole Nick had described, but that kind of story should be given willingly, not dragged out of someone.

“No.” Even if his father had been able to cope well with it, things would never have been okay between them. “We were never close. He’s a hard man. He’s also an extremely proud dominant male who was Head Enforcer for most of his life. To know that his son was more dominant than him hurt his pride.”