Rolling her onto her back, Marcus lapped at his claiming mark. “I love looking at this.” He wouldn’t have thought he could be this possessive. He hadn’t imagined it would be like this—so consuming, so fucking intense that it stole his breath. He wanted to keep her locked away, so he wouldn’t have to share her. Wanted to gouge out the eyes of any male who dared ogle her. Wanted to know her better than anybody else did, to be vital to her. He wanted to own her—body, mind, and soul.
At the same time, though, it wasn’t a destructive possessiveness like he would have imagined. It wasn’t a sinister greed that would grow into something unhealthy. It wouldn’t suffocate or hinder or hurt her. Not this. He didn’t look at Roni and see an object, he saw someone whose happiness meant more to him than anything. And, yes, jealousy came with it. But not out of insecurity or distrust. It came from a soul-deep need to protect and keep this person who mattered most to him, to safeguard their bond from any external threat.
“I want you to remember something. No matter how possessive or protective I am, don’t ever see me as not respecting you or believing you can’t defend or think for yourself. Don’t ever think I want to squash your independence.” He licked along her collarbone, pausing to swirl his tongue in the hollow of her throat. “You’re perfect to me exactly as you are.”
“I’ll remember. It doesn’t mean I won’t push back.”
He smiled. “I wouldn’t expect anything different.” Supporting himself using his elbow, he propped his head on his hand. “So, which one of us is switching packs?” When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t want to switch for two reasons: One, I’m close to the people in my pack; they’re all family to me. Two, I agree with Eli: Nick and your mom will make themselves a problem for us—they truly can’t help themselves. But if you really want to stay here, I’ll switch.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because you matter more than any of that.” With his free hand, he doodled patterns on her flat stomach, liking how it quivered beneath his touch. “I want you to be happy.”
“Which is great and all, but I want you to be happy. So we can’t try to make this decision based on happiness or we’ll just go around in circles. Let’s look at it practically instead.” At his nod, she went on. “It would be practical for me to stay here. My pack is smaller than yours. If I leave, the pack gets smaller and it loses an enforcer. Your pack doesn’t need me. It doesn’t need another enforcer.”
“Trey won’t object to having another enforcer, but I see your point.” He took a moment to nuzzle her neck. “If I was to join your pack, you’d gain another member. But I strongly doubt your brother will want me as an enforcer—no Alpha wants their sister’s mate directly under their rule like that in case they give an order that results in a tragedy. That means I’d have no role here. But I never wanted the position anyway, so I guess I could live with that.”
Roni narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re being too agreeable.”
“You’re complaining?”
“Yes, because switching isn’t what you truly want; you’re badly opposed to the idea. I can feel it. You’re just saying what you think will make me ‘happy’ again.”
“What I’ve said is true. Me moving here is more practical than you switching packs.”
“But something is holding you back. What is it?” Realization hit her, and her exasperation faded. “You feel disloyal leaving Trey. You feel like you owe him for what happened with his mom.”
“And you feel disloyal at the idea of leaving your family,” he pointed out, nipping her bottom lip. She retaliated with a nip of her own.
“Yeah, I guess I do. I really have no idea how we’re going to work this out.”
“Then we put a pin in it for now.” Draping himself over her again, he softly brought his mouth down on hers. The kiss was slow, wet, and languid. “I thought I was happy before you came along. I wasn’t at all.” How could someone be happy when they weren’t whole?
“Give it time and I’ll annoy you, like I do everybody else. It’s a talent.”
“Oh, you annoy me sometimes. Like when you steal my fries, or when you eat the last piece of cake, or when you threaten to withhold sex if I don’t let you have a tiny taste of what I’m eating.”
“So, basically, I just annoy you when I come between you and food?”
“Exactly.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll have to call my sisters and tell them about the mating. They’ll be thrilled.”
“I sure do hope they pass along the news to Kerrie. When I think of how she used the knowledge of your childhood to torture you like that, I want to kill her.”
She’d said it so matter-of-factly that he had to smile. “When I think of how her ‘vision’ stopped me from recognizing who you are to me, I want to kill her.”
“You said Trick told you to ignore the vision.” It was half question, half statement.
Marcus slid down her body so that he could trace the wolf tattoo on her abdomen with his tongue. “He figured out we were mates pretty much straight away. He made me think about it.”
“I wouldn’t have expected that from him, considering you’ve been, you know, friends with benefits.”
“You thought he’d be jealous?” He shook his head. “We enjoyed the ‘benefits’ of being close friends, but there wasn’t anything more than that.”
Combing his hair with her fingers, she said, “I didn’t think he liked me.”
Marcus snorted. “If he could, he’d whisk you away. You’re exactly his type. But no one will take you from me.” He’d kill anyone who tried—no questions asked.
“I’m pretty sure no one will be tempted to try. I’m not exactly a catch.”
He bit her hard. Right on the edge of her navel. “Don’t talk about my pretty baby like that,” he warned, swirling his tongue inside her belly button to soothe the sting before trailing his fingers up her inner thigh. “I’d hate to have to keep you hanging on the edge until you beg me to let you come.”
Asshole. Roni cocked her head. “Did you know that thousands of different types of bacteria can be found in a person’s belly button?”
“Roni.”
“What? What did I say?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN