“You don’t know what I’ve really done,” I whisper.
“I do know. You think that you’ve cursed me with that bite, that I’ll become a werewolf now. But you can’t change me into something that I already am.”
My heart stops. “What did you say?”
“That I’m already like you, Miss Simmons. So come out here and talk to me.”
Am I dreaming? Slowly I get up from the tiled floor, my mind racing. Trying to make it fit. And maybe it does. Because there’s his scent, which isn’t like any other man’s. And his strength. Even for someone of his size, Ranger seemed too strong. Now other bits come back to me, too. Like him saying my dress smelled new. I didn’t think about it then, because it does smell new. Or did before he fucked me in it.
But…no. It can’t be true. Still, he knows something.
Hesitantly I crack open the door. Ranger’s standing with his hands braced on either side of the doorframe, his huge body blocking the path out of the bathroom as if making sure I don’t try to dart past him.
In a pained whisper I say, “You first wanted to meet on the night of the full moon. You couldn’t have done that if you were like me.”
“That’s true. I’m not exactly like you, because I was born this way. Not bitten.” His gaze searches my face through the door’s narrow opening. “I had a chat with your beast last night.”
My breath strangles in my throat. “A chat?”
With the monster? He saw the thing inside me?
Oh no. Please no.
“I did most of the talking. But, yeah. I told her that I wasn’t going anywhere. That I’ll be everything she needs.” His voice deepens, those gold flecks in his eyes sparking and glowing. “Now I’m telling you.”
I want so much to believe him. But no hope fills the deep and ragged hole in my chest where my heart was. Only pain. Because if he’s telling me that… “You must not have really seen her, then.”
“She hid herself from me, true. Just like you’re doing now.”
Behind the bathroom door. I don’t want to be anything like the beast. That’s probably why he made the comparison, trying to prod me out. The same way I might gently prod a reluctant student into opening up.
I’m not a kid, though. And the lesson to learn here is that I can’t control the beast and her hunger for Ranger. Not even the night after the full moon. I thought I could, but I can’t. So there’s no safe time for me to be around Ranger. Maybe it’s true my bite didn’t hurt him. But what about next time? Eventually, something worse will happen and he’ll see what’s really inside me.
Then he’ll push me away. Because he said it himself—I’m cursed. Cursed. And he’s not.
I made such a terrible mistake agreeing to meet him. I should have denied myself. I should deny myself now.
But he’s not pushing me away yet. And if I can have a little longer with him—just a bit more time—I’ll have more memories to hold close when he’s gone. The damage is done. The question isn’t whether I’ll be hurt. It’s only how much will I hurt?
So much. Because when I swing the door wider and step through, Ranger captures my face in his big hands and kisses me as if I’m everything. Helplessly I respond to the promise in that kiss, to the heat, to the need. He’s still naked from bed, his cock stiffening against my stomach. And all I want to do is take him inside me again, show him that he’s my everything, too.
But this is what got me into so much trouble—wanting so much, and not denying myself. Maybe Ranger realizes it, too, because he pulls away slightly, still cradling my cheeks, his breath harsh and hot against my moistened lips.
“This time, we talk first. Yeah?”
My chest aching, silently I nod.
“All right. I know you must have questions. So lay them on me. And—” He breaks off when my stomach growls. With a grin, he kisses me gently before letting me go. Naked, he stalks to the fridge. “There’s a cold steak in here. And we’ll order breakfast. We can eat and talk at the same time.”
A steak sounds so good. But I don’t want to rip into a piece of meat in front of him. “My sister’s still on her way. Maybe we can go downstairs to eat. This is a conversation that we should probably have together, anyway. Since she’s been helping me. And she knows what happened to me.”
Knows more than I do, really. What the beast does, where it goes.
Ranger gives me a considering look. “You’d be more comfortable with that?”
I lift a shoulder in a half-shrug. “Maybe.”
I can’t see myself ever being comfortable talking about what I’ve become, sister or not.