Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
My body is already responding to him. He taught me so much in the days we have been together, but almost all of it is about how to receive and give pleasure. I want more.
“What does it mean?”
Dante chuckles. His hands clutch at the globes of my ass, pulling me into the cradle of his thighs. “It means I’m going to be all over you, consort. We’ll say a quick hello to the family. I’ll receive praise for finding a gorgeous consort, and we’ll disappear for a week or two. I’ll have the staff bring you food, and I’ll take my every meal from this lovely neck of yours. Although, there is a nice vein that runs close to your pussy. Damn, I need to try that one. I’ll be able to smell it when you come. You always come when I feed.”
“That is not what I meant.” I push at his chest, trying to get his attention on something other than my breasts.
Dante stops as though he finally figures out that I am serious. “What the hell is going on?”
I bite at my bottom lip. “I do not understand what I mean to you.”
His eyes roll, and a long-suffering sigh heaves from his chest. “Women. Kaja, do we have to do this now?”
I am not sure what “this” is. “When would we do this?”
His shoulders come up, bunching in frustration. “I don’t know. If I had my way, we wouldn’t do it at all. Can’t we just have a good time?”
I think about Meg. She was not having a good time. When she realized her husbands were with her, seeking her, she looked blissful. She looked transcendent. I would bet that Beck and Cian never told Meg that their relationship does not have to last forever. They never offered to buy her a nice house when they were finished with her because they will never be finished with her.
“I do not think this will be a good time.” My heart is starting to hurt.
His face becomes hard, his jawline a razor’s edge. “Don’t try to tell me you don’t enjoy fucking me. I know that’s a lie. I can still feel your pussy squeezing me.”
And I can feel his arms around me. We speak two different languages, want two very different things. It is easier when I can feel his mind, but he shut the connection down. The last time we made love, I felt the wall come down between us as though he slammed a door in my face. “I like the mating. But I don’t like the way I feel when I know it’s only for now.”
His body relaxes, his arms coming out, coaxing. “Is that all? Baby, don’t worry about that. I promise the future is going to sort itself out.”
Perhaps. Perhaps not. “I have lived my whole life hoping things would work out. They never have. Things do not simply work out.”
He smiles down at me, smoothing back my hair. “Of course they do. They work out all the time. Relax, and it’s going to be fine. One way or another, you’ll be taken care of.”
I do not want to be taken care of. I want to be loved. Perhaps he did teach me more than pleasure. If someone asked me what I wanted weeks ago, I would have told them I want a warm bed, enough food to fill my belly, and peace. Dante is offering all of that, and now I want more. I am worth more.
His hands move to my shoulders. “Look, the future might have already been decided for us, you know. The way we’ve been going at it, you might be pregnant.”
A pup. Baby. Dante’s people call them babies. I might be pregnant, a baby growing in my belly. The idea panicked me before, but now a strange tenderness fills me. I worried that the pack would never accept a child from my belly any more than they accepted me, but the world is so much bigger now. I am bigger than I was before. I can make my way in this world.
And if I cannot, then I will find another. I will never stop searching. I will walk the planes until I find the place where I belong.
I love Dante.
“Kaj, don’t cry.” His face has fallen.
I feel the tears coursing down my cheeks, but he does not understand. I am not sad, not exactly. There is a certain joy to these tears. I am stronger, and it is because I love Dante. It does not matter that he cannot love me back. My love for him makes me better.
A baby. I could have his baby. I could have a child to hold and love and show the world to. The thought blankets my heart in warmth. It scared me before. Now it is something to long for. A child with Dante’s green eyes. A child to pour my love into.