“Damn, that feels beyond good, baby.” He locked her legs around him firmly then palmed the back of her head and pulled her closer into his embrace. “Sadie, we do this and there’s no going back.” He fisted a hand in her hair, the ache as delicious as his kisses. She understood his hesitation and inability to stop.
She reclined in his arms and met his gaze, her breath coming hard and fast. His gaze turned wary. “We’re not talking pure sex here, are we, Aidan?”
“Not by a longshot, sweetheart. What I want with you is a permanent thing.”
Aidan turned them around and strode over to the sofa a few feet from her dining table. The perks of having a small apartment.
He settled them onto the soft leather with her straddling him. A small silence hung over the room before he continued. “By pack law, I have to mate by the end of this moon cycle or I open myself up to being challenged from neighboring pack alphas.” A haunted look fell over his expression. She could see how past events weighed heavy on him, and she wished she could help ease his pain. “Sadie, you know I can’t put my family through that kind of risk.” He let out a deep sigh, and she could see the frustration eating at him. Her heart swelled and reached out to the man that obviously cared for those depending on him to make the right choice.
Blinded by her own needs, she’d failed to notice the heavy burden that weighed on his shoulders. Her head had been so clouded with saving her own ass with the love potion and all the lusty dreams he stirred up. What kind of friend did that make her?
“And I’m so close to taking you, claiming you and making you my mate, Sadie. My wolf is hungry for you and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to hold back.”
She studied him. “So, it’s not something you want? I’m just convenient?” She worked to keep the hurt from her tone.
His features showed an acute awareness of the trap her words built before him. Smart man.
Sadie moved to climb off his lap, but he stilled her with a hand to her arm. “I didn’t say that, woman.”
“Then what do you mean? Tell me. I’m a big girl. I can take it.”
“I’ve waited too long. If I claim you now, it won’t be gentle and sweet. It will be pure instinct driving me, and I don’t want that for you. And I sure the hell don’t want to do anything you might not want.”
“Like what? Being mated by the alpha, and who said anything about sweet? Maybe I like it a little rough and wild.”
His irises intensified with the otherworldly powers of his beast, but she saw past his wolf and into the heart of the man. “I know you won’t hurt me. And if I didn’t want this, I wouldn’t be here. With you. Right now,” she murmured softly, brushing the back of her knuckles along his jaw.
But she couldn’t deny the spark of fear that skated down her spine. She’d come this far—there was no reason to hold back her true feelings now. Besides, if she didn’t lay her feelings out for him to see, she may never have another chance. “I’ve pined over you for a long time. Three years to be exact.” She shimmied her hips causing the fat head of his cock to nudge against her clit.
She drew in a long breath and let it out on a soft sigh. “Since the first time you walked into my bar and asked for a case of my Moon Brew with the sexiest grin and the sweetest words of welcome, in fact.”
His eyebrows turned up and a small smile touched his lips. “I remember. You had on a hot number that had me hard for a month, but it was also a difficult time for my pack.” A look of pain shot across his features before he tucked it away. He took her face between his palms. “Tell me, Sadie, have I waited too long to claim my witch?” His eyes burned with a fear she’d never seen in him before. Did her answer hold so much power? The thought had her mind racing with what it meant.
“We’re breaking the rules, Aidan. You know the potion I created could land me in trouble with the Elders. And what you’re saying, I have to ask, is it really what you want? To mate a witch?”