Nothing says romantic quite like a sob fest.

I bawled into his shirt, already wet with my tears, and clung to his chest, and still, he held me, giving me time to mourn two people I barely knew—and yet I existed because of their love, for each other and me.

“At least everyone you love deserves it,” Rage said as we slipped inside the door and he closed it, his voice rumbling through his chest and into my body. “It’s super shitty to find out the man who raised you is the worst person in existence. What does it say about me that I wanted to be like Declan for a time?”

He walked us over to the bed and lay me down on it. Patting his chest, his very nice firm chest, I sighed and snuggled closer to him. He smelled of cedarwood and sage and … sadness leaked through our bond, and I rushed to comfort him. “Every child wants to make their family proud. I think it took a lot of courage”—I poked his muscle—“to go against Declan at the mid-year games and what you thought was the truth your entire life.”

He said nothing, so I sat up, leaning back to take him in. His gaze captured me, his eyes misting and his voice raw with emotion when he said, “That’s very kind of you, but this entire time, I thought your father killed mine…”

“It’s all forgiven. Declan lied to everyone,” I said with a shake of my head. “You shouldn’t bear the fault of his deceptions.”

Rage stiffened at his uncle’s name.

Note to self: don’t talk about the d-bag unless it’s to plot to kill him—which I knew my dad was discussing with the pack right now.

Determined to chase that haunted expression off my mate’s face, I walked my fingers up his chest and looked up at him through my lashes.

He swallowed, but that tortured look still remained.

Scooting closer, I climbed onto my knees before settling on his lap, straddling him. He lay backward so that his body was beneath me and my hair fell around us in a white curtain. Pressing my body harder into his, a thrill raced through me when he gripped my hips and inhaled sharply.

Leaning forward, I ran the tip of my nose up his neck, scenting him before licking his skin.

Oh my mage.

My thoughts fritzed as my tongue pressed against his pulse. I moaned, pushing my fingers into his hair before nipping him lightly with my teeth. Another thrill as his heart rate picked up and heat began to work its way down my body.

“Nai,” Rage growled, clenching his fingers into my hips. His chest pressed into me as he sucked in a ragged breath, and he trembled as if trying to deny him—me—us—this.

Every moment we stayed together was a moment that our mated bond wanted to be sealed. It was starting to hurt to physically keep myself from this.

I wanted him. I was ready.

Pressing kisses up his neck, I then traced the outer rim of his ear with my tongue. His grip tightened on my hips, and I pushed my pelvis forward before sucking his earlobe between my teeth. Slowly, I grazed the soft flesh and then whispered, “Kiss me.”

He slipped his hand under the hem of my shirt, and I gasped at the heat on his skin.

“You want me to kiss you?” he asked, slipping his other hand beneath the hem, teasing me.

I nodded, my breaths quickening with anticipation. Shifting my weight, I dragged my lips across his jaw, pressing kisses between my panting breaths. “Yes.”

As if he needed an answer, his lips joined with mine, and immediately our tongues found each other, hungry and searching.

He ran his hands down my back from my neck to shoulder blades. I arched, and he kneaded his fingers over my ribs before wrapping his hands around my torso. Then, slowly, he slipped his thumbs under my bra and grazed the underside of my breasts.

Hunger and need shot through me, and my mind clouded with desire.

“Rage…” I pulled back from his lips, mine swollen from our kiss.

Instinctively, I lowered my body to his, letting him coax me as he dragged his hands downward in a delicious dance of lust and frustration. He groaned as I settled, which only served to heighten my desire. Using the pressure of his fingertips, he urged me to move, something I ached to do. I rotated my hips.

Oh. My. Mage.

“Nai,” he gasped, rubbing against me even harder.

I followed his lead, our bodies tangled as we slid against each other. But I needed more. I needed his skin against my skin. His body and mind together—as one. I needed this bond, our bond … I needed to seal it—seal him, to me, forever.

I fumbled with the button at his waist, and Rage stilled.

“Don’t start something we can’t—”

“Rage,” I begged, arching and writhing against him as I tugged at his shirt. Filled with aching need, I raked my hands over his taut abs and growled, “Please.”

He slid his arm around my waist, and I sucked in a sharp breath as he flipped me onto the bed. I landed on my back, and he crawled over me until he straddled me. He wet his lips, and then lowered his body, letting me drown in the sensation of him for only a moment before he whispered in my ear, “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yes,” I panted.

Was he kidding? Was he afraid that he was pushing or pressuring me? Afraid I’d regret this? I mean I was vaguely aware that my father was in the house, but the mate bond was calling, and I couldn’t turn it off.

‘I’ve never in my entire life been more ready for something. Please, Rage, don’t make me beg.’

I ducked my hands under his shirt, and he dipped his head, letting me pull it off him. I dropped it off the side of the bed, discarding it as I ran my fingers up his washboard abs to his yummy chest.

‘Now yours,’ he said, his voice rumbling through me, occupying all of me.

He slowly teased the garment up, his gentle caresses leaving a trail of fire on my skin. My chest heaved, and I whimpered and trembled as he kissed my feverish skin, first below my bellybutton, then above it. Up my abdomen, and the swell of my breasts.

I gripped his back, arching as he traced his tongue where he’d kissed, until he lifted my shirt over my head and gave me a wolfish grin.

‘You’re enjoying this,’ he said, his eyes brightening until they practically glowed emerald.

Enjoying? I heaved with the effort of containing the emotion. ‘Don’t sell yourself short.’

He chuckled, and then he let his gaze rove over me like a physical caress. He drank me in, his eyes growing more heated the longer he looked. His nostrils flared, and he growled. ‘I can scent your desire.’

He could? My skin heated, and I closed my eyes, mortified.

‘Don’t be embarrassed, love.’ He hooked his finger in the waistband of my pants, tracing his tongue over the sensitive skin. ‘It only makes me want you more.’

He tugged the waistband of my sweats down an inch, as my eyes popped open and my abdomen tightened. I raised my head to see what he was going to do and he looked up and met my eyes. ‘Do you trust me?’

Lust. Heat. Desire. Hunger. Need. Love. All of these feelings and more racked my body and swirled in my mind.

‘Yes,’ I said, falling back onto the bed, my chest heaving. I watched him slide from the bed, and then only his fitted boxers remained.

Yum.

He tugged one pants leg over my heel and then the other. ‘Lift up, love.’

My pants fell to the floor, somewhere near his, and then Rage hovered over me once more. Running my hands into his hair, I opened myself to him, needing him to hear my truth. ‘Rage, I want you so much it hurts.’