I close my eyes, my hands trembling as I grasp his t-shirt and hold him firmly in place. “I don’t understand, Wolfe.”
“That’s because you’re not listening,” he murmurs.
My eyes fly open, meeting his once more. The emotion there knocks the breath from my lungs. My head shakes back and forth as confusion consumes me. “I am listening.I am,”I protest.
“But are youhearing me, Little Fox?” he grunts. “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary. Nevermore.”
His hand slides up my chest, grazing the space between my breasts. He collars my throat and flexes his hand before using his hold to tilt my neck back. It's the hand with the tattoo, I notice, his name.Every pet's collar needs their owner's name,he’d said. He got a tattoo on his hand to show the world his ownershipover me.
“I don’t–” I start, shaking my head rapidly. He tilts my head back even more as he pushes to stands and bends, looking down at me.The predator and his prey.
His eyes bore into mine, a silent command. I focus on his words, the quotes he’s been giving me since the very beginning. Since day one, when I had no idea who he was. I had no idea he was the man from the elevator, or a stalker, or a monster. I had no idea who he’d become. My best friend. My lover. My everything.
Poe. He quoted Poe. My mind races over every line, every word. I’d thought they were admittances of insanity, and maybe they were, but more than that, they were…
My eyes widen as realization settles in, hard and heavy, almost sending me on my ass.
His hand flexes and squeezes. He nods, understanding washing over both of us.“Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared dream before.”
Poe. His safeword. It was…me.
I’m his safe place, just like he’s mine.
“The Raven,” I gasp. He smiles softly, pressing his forehead to mine. “You were trying to tell me from the beginning. You knew who I was. You knew my name. You were–”
“An idiot,” he breathes. “But you, my Sweetling, captivated me from the very first moment I saw your photo. I knew then, but was too scared to admit it. You pulled me from my bleak existence and brought me color and emotions. You brought me life. I couldn’t give you up even when I tried. I still can’t.”
Everything he’s ever done. Everything he’s ever said. It’s all been real, if not, in his own way. Wolfe Nash is a good man, an incredible man.And he’s mine.
“Did you get my dad in the trial?” I whisper, my heart thrashing against my chest.
Wolfe smiles softly. “When will you realize, Little Fox? There’s not a damn thing in this world I wouldn’t do for you. Nothing.”
As I stare up into his clear-blue eyes, I let everything wash away buthim.The man who has demons bigger than my own, yet still found a way to make sure I was cared for and looked after from the moment he found me.
My stalker.
My monster.
My hunter.
My Devil.
My Wolfe.
And I justknow.
“I love you, Wolfe Nash,” I breathe, meaning it with every fiber of my being. Wolfe releases a heavy, pained breath. His eyes dilate as he uses his possessive hold on my neck to tug me up to my feet. He cranes my head back, closing the few inches between our bodies and aligning us fully.
“I don’t know if I’m capable of love,” he says softly. “But what I feel for you is all-consuming obsession. Need. Desire. It’s everything.Youare everything to me, and you will be until the day I die. If that’s what love is,” he exhales a ragged breath as he hovers his lips above mine, “Then I love you, Little Fox. More than life itself.”
And then—he’s kissing me. There, in the middle of the day, for anyone to see, with no masks or barriers between us, Wolfe Nash gives into his beast, his most primal urges, and claims me.
His prey.
His Little Fox.