But I know that I need this beast to love me. And I need her to believe that I’ll accept and love everything about her in return.
“You’re fucking beautiful,” I tell her hoarsely, because she is—and make my own eyes glow, show her my own fangs and claws. “I bet you are in your other form, too. So you don’t ever need to hide yourself from me.”
She smiles but ducks her face behind her curtain of red hair, as if pleased but also shy. Just like Alicia seemed the first couple of times we talked. But as soon as she opened up…holy fuck, she was the sweetest, funniest, sexiest little thing. And after a while, I figured out it wasn’t all shyness. Some of it was. But there was wariness there, too. Like maybe she didn’t trust people not to hurt her. And I suppose me being so far away made it easier for her to accept that I wouldn’t.
This beast is Alicia, too. They share a heart and soul…and probably the same fears.
“I’ll never hurt you,” I tell her now, and her eyes flare a brighter green. With a snarl, she lunges for my throat but I don’t flinch. Her teeth snap together a millimeter from my skin.
Testing me.
“I’m not afraid of you, either.” I take the back of her neck in a tight grip, telling her without words to settle down a bit. “I’ll never run scared, you understand me? And I’ll never hurt you, never let you be hurt. I’ll be everything you need.”
She lifts her head and I allow it, my hand still cupping her nape. Her narrowed green eyes stare down into mine, then she dips her mouth closer, tongue flicking out over my lips. With a roll of her hips, she rubs her wet pussy into my stomach, then gives me a look rife with challenge. As if demanding me to prove that I’ll be what she needs.
I recognize Alicia here, too. This sexy and playful side. And my cock’s a solid aching stone, but I shake my head. “Not without all of you here, baby.”
She snarls and tries to scoot back onto my dick, as if intending to take what she wants. I tighten my grip on her neck again, let her struggle—my heart hurting the whole damn time I’m denying her.
But although she fights me, not once does she scratch me or bite me. Finally she stops, lying defeated on my chest with a heartbroken whimper, her face buried in the crook of my neck and shoulder.
My throat raw, I wrap my arm around the beast’s shaking form, holding her closer. “Don’t you ever think that I don’t want you. Because you’re all hunger and heat, and so fucking sexy—but I need more than that from you. And you need more than that from me, too.”
Alicia’s beast doesn’t respond, but I can smell the hurt pouring off her. Can feel her uncertainty.
Hurting with her, I press a kiss into her silky hair. “That curse tore you up good, didn’t it? But I’ll help make you whole again. I swear it to you now. So that you’ll know it deep down when you’re fully awake, even when you’re scared and doubting. I want every part of you, I love every part of you.”
She turns her head and bites into my neck then—hard, so fucking hard, but nothing ever hurt so good. Ecstasy jolts through my veins like lightning, electrifying every muscle in an erotic shock that jags straight to my cock. My hips punch upward, cum erupting in violent spurts.
Holy fuck. Holy fuck.
Heart pounding, I ease back to the bed, still holding her slight figure against my chest. If I were human, I’d be cursed now, too. But I’m not. And she knows it. So there’s no mistaking what that was.
A claim.
“You’re right,” I reassure her, laughing hoarsely. “I’m all yours, baby.”
I feel her smile against my neck before she licks the bite. Then she snuggles in closer.
A few minutes later, she’s asleep again.6AliciaThe familiar buzz of an incoming message on my phone wakes me. Probably Sam checking in before she goes home. I need to answer her soon or she’ll start worrying.
But I take a minute first to luxuriate in the delicious sensation of waking up with Ranger’s massive body serving as both my pillow and my bed. The heavy weight of one of his arms is slung across my back, the fingers of his opposite hand curled around my thigh—as if he fell asleep while holding me close and simply never let me go.
And he smells so good. Last night his scent seemed strange. Not like any other man’s at all. But now the only association I have with his unique odor is warmth and pleasure.
So much pleasure. And judging by the sunlight coming through the balcony doors, after he blew off the top of my head with all those orgasms, I completely conked out on him.