I’d seen the beast, after all. And while he was large, that was nothing compared to his spirit.

It was epic.

All-consuming too.

In its presence, I felt like I was drowning in him, but not in a bad way. Not like how I’d felt earlier at the totem. Like he was teaching me how to breathe a different way.

“No greeting for your mate?” he rumbled, making me realize he was awake.

I jerked up, surprised enough to almost elbow him in the belly.

He snickered, caught my arm before it collided, then held me up as he peered into my face.

Behind the amusement, there was concern in his eyes, and I got it. I did.

He was…

Shit, he was terrifying.

The beast was so powerful, it was like he had a black hole in his fucking soul, and yet, that beast was mine.

He belonged to me.

Man and wolf.

And I wanted them both. I didn’t want him to tie himself up again, lock himself inside that wall he’d built to keep calm and controlled.

I gnawed my bottom lip, suddenly feeling shy by that penetrative look. Even as he felt concern, I was nervous.

I’d been born to control this man’s power.

I knew that, and the knowledge settled into my bones like it never could have before.

“Morning, mate,” I murmured.

“You’re not scared of me,” he whispered back, and even though I heard my nerves, he was right.

I wasn’t scared.

Fear didn’t litter my greeting.

“I’m not.”

He sucked in a breath, shuttering his eyes. “You probably should be.”

“You’ll never hurt me. That beast will never overwhelm me. You know that.”

He grunted, then raised his arm and used it to cover his face.

When he did that, I scowled at him.

My mates were all so distinctive. Austin had been so playful and overjoyed at our connection. When I’d woken up with him, we’d played in the water for hours.

Eli?

I’d known he’d be different, but I didn’t realize how different.

It wasn’t in a bad way, there were just so many facets to his nature and Austin’s, then throw in Ethan’s… I was realizing how hard it would be to manage the three of them.

I mean, hard in a good way. Worth it. But the experience was a little awe-inspiring, because somehow, these three incredible men, these powerful creatures, were made for me.

And what that told me?

That I was made to handle them.

That they were so powerful, only because I was.

Talk about empowering.

I bobbed down, quickly pressing a kiss to his lips. “I love you.”

His eyes instantly flared open. “Still?”

My heart softened. “Of course,” I told him. “Eli, you’re not a monster.” Gently, I kissed him again, not stopping until he parted his lips and let me inside.

There was an irony to the fact that I was doing this, that I’d had to entice him last night.

If it was some kind of reverse psychology, I’d never have believed it.

How could a being this intensely powerful be vulnerable?

But he wasn’t the monster he seemed to think he was. He was a human too, with feelings and needs, all with an awareness of what he could do.

I thrust my tongue against his, soothing both of us, before I pulled back and rasped, “You don’t scare me, Eli. You don’t have to worry about that.”

I watched his eyes flutter open, then he mumbled, “The last thing I want to do is scare you.”

I knew that.

And I also knew we’d probably be edgy around each other until he felt more at ease about opening up.

This time here, maybe it would help him.

Maybe he’d feel better in letting his wolf out and around if he grew accustomed to it in this safe space.

Okay, so it hadn’t felt so safe earlier on when those fucking wolves had come out of nowhere, but still.

Safety was relative.

“I need the pool,” I said, then I went to pull us apart.

He snorted when I shrieked as a powerful wave of pleasure whispered through me.

“I’m alpha,” he stated. “That means we stay knotted for a while.”

I gaped at him. “I slept on you!”

He shrugged. “So? I slept too. It won’t release us this first time until—”

“Until what? And why do you call it ‘it’ like your dick is in control?”

He chuckled at that, and his eyes twinkled, revealing a humor that was a little sarcastic and a lot dirty.

Man, this mate of mine had so much of him to explore.

He was like the Louvre or something. So many different walkways to traverse, so much to discover and to learn.

And I couldn’t fucking wait to go down each and every one.

With a sigh of pleasure, I listened as he told me, “It isn’t my dick. It’s my wolf. He won’t let us go until he knows you’re not scared of him.”

“Didn’t he hear that conversation? That whole ‘I’m not scared of you’ one?”

He shrugged. “Evidently not.”

“We can still go in the pool, can’t we?”

I yelped when he surged upward in a wave of strength that had me gasping as, in less than fifteen seconds, I went from lying on him like a thick duvet to being in a standing position.

“Warn a girl, Eli!” I shrieked, my body doing all kinds of interesting things as the change in position and angle messed with me.

Gravity pushed me down harder onto his cock, and the sensation?

Electrifying.

I almost scrambled to grab him around the neck, using that as leverage to give myself some relief, but it was no good.

With each step, I bounced against him, and my eyes clenched closed as we walked into the water. It splashed around us, and the heat of it sank into my bones the second I was under the surface, but fuck.

Just, fuck.

When he gently pried off my arms, I let him, and when I was laying out in front of him, only then did I open my eyes as the water supported my weight.

His hands moved over me, exploring my curves with a delight that was unfeigned, and when he wished, “I need soap,” I squealed a little when it plopped onto my belly, which made us both laugh.

As he splashed the bar in the water, built up a lather with it, then soaped me up, I wasn’t sure whether he was trying to kill me, calm me down, or turn me on.

Every time he swiped his hands over me, his fingers caressing my sensitive flesh as he did so, my pussy pulsed around his cock, and his cock responded with a little throb that I felt deep in my soul.

That throb was better than a vibrator.

Fuck.

I learned how insecure the wolf was when, an hour later, and a long soak in the pool, plus a dozen conversations, I was released from the knot.

I felt the change in him instantly, the sigh of relief escaped us both, and what else did?

Something gross.

I felt our cum released into the water as well.

My nose crinkled at the thought of staining the place where we drank, but before I could, his arms were around me and he murmured, “Thank you.”

“For what?” I asked in surprise, my mind still focused on sperm and vaginal secretions polluting where we drank. I mean, I guessed I could wish for Evian, but still—

“For accepting me.”

I sighed, then reached up and ran my hand over his head. “You don’t have to thank me for that. It’s my pleasure, my honor. Hell, it’s my purpose in this world, isn’t it? To be yours?”