“Hawke, no.” On her knees in front of him, she shook her head in open distress, wiping away her tears with the backs of her hands. “I should’ve never said that.”
“You called me on my bullshit,” he said, raising his other knee and bringing her in between. “Made me mad as fucking hell, and it’ll probably do the same in the future when you do it again. Fair warning.”
Her lips lifting up at the corners in a shaky smile, she twined her arms around his neck. “You mean you’re not going to become tame and well-behaved now that we’re mated?” Tiny kisses on the corners of his lips, on his cheeks, on his jaw. “Damn.”
Leaning into the affection, he allowed her to soothe the sharp edges within. “I can pretend if you want.” He petted the sweet curve of her behind, naked beneath the tails of the shirt she’d commandeered.
A husky laugh. “I wouldn’t know you.” Her next words were solemn, her expression intent. “I know we had an agreement about no alpha stuff between us while we were courting. But that’s going to change. I accept my rank, and I’ll continue to take orders from those who are more senior. But never you.”
She continued to speak before he could interrupt, her hands moving to cup his face. “I’m yours. No limits. I’ll give you everything you ask, anything you want, except this one thing—obedience because of rank. You will never be my alpha. Not in public, not in private. You’re Hawke to me. Just Hawke. Do you understand?”
His wolf shuddered, relaxed as he bent to touch his forehead to hers. “Understood and accepted.” Mine, he thought, mine. For the first time in his adult life, he had someone who was his—and with whom he could engage in a way he couldn’t with any other member of his beloved pack.
They sat like that for a long time, his wolf peaceful on a level it hadn’t been since he’d picked up the mantle of leadership at fifteen. And that wolf, it wanted her touch, too. He shifted without telling her, heard her gasp. But when the wolf laid its head in her lap and closed its eyes, her fingers clenched, soft and possessive in his fur. Content, he slept.
SIENNA sat stroking the silver-gold pelt of the huge wolf who slept with his head in her lap, her heart filled with a depth of wonder and joy she couldn’t comprehend. The words he’d given her, the power he’d given her . . . she hadn’t expected either.
I love you beyond life. It was a thought sent down the mating bond, and when the wolf seemed to sigh, it was clear some part of him heard her. That bond was so deep, so visceral, she knew there would never be another for either of them if one died. The changelings were right—mating was only once and forever.
A silent tear touched her cheek . . . a tear for Rissa. If Hawke ever wanted to visit the girl who had held his heart as a boy, Sienna wouldn’t stop him. Rissa’s ghost had been laid to rest—what remained were memories that should be cherished and held close. In a way, she thought, Rissa belonged to both of them now, as did her mother, Kristine. Pieces of the past that had shaped them, made them, brought them to this moment.
A moment in which she caressed a wolf who’d held together a broken pack through sheer grit and determination. It wouldn’t be a simple or easy life, she thought, her lips beginning to curve. He’d try to dominate her, of that she had not a single doubt. But he would also love her with every powerful beat of that wild changeling heart.
. . . you have my devotion, your name branded on my soul, my wolf yours to command. A hundred years? It’ll never be enough. I want eternity.
No, not simple or easy.
Vivid and dangerous and extraordinary, that’s the life she’d have with her wolf.
When that wolf raised his head, she smiled. “Hello.”
He shifted, and suddenly, she was being kissed by a naked man who scrambled her brains. Gasping in a breath as he scooped her up in his arms to throw her playfully onto the bed, she laughed. “Is the edge off yet?”
“Ask me again in a month or so.” Then he pounced.
It was a long time later, her skin shimmering with aftershocks of pleasure, that she frowned and said, “What’s your full name?”
Hawke’s wolf flashed in his eyes, the ice blue glittering with the same amusement that had his cheeks creasing. “What brought that on?”
“I refuse to be your mate and be in the dark.” She stroked her palms up over the temptation of his chest, her breasts tingling at the memory of how hard and beautiful he felt pressed up against her. In spite of his earlier words, he’d let her play with his body, stroke the rigid heat of his cock, learn him with her mouth.
Of course, that hadn’t lasted long. When she’d complained, he’d promised to let her use the handcuffs on him next time. Sienna couldn’t wait to hold him to that promise, to taste every muscled inch of him, but first things first. “Tell.”