“Damn it, Gabby, how long?”
She shrank away from Ethan’s fury, molding herself to Harris’s chest, and he shot Ethan a warning look. Ethan turned his back for a moment, shoving his hands through his hair. He was calmer, on the surface at least, when he turned back around.
“Gabby?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed. “I had a suspicion when I was sixteen, maybe a little younger.”
Gods. Harris felt for Ethan, understood why he’d armored himself as he had. What was that? Ten years? Eleven? Ethan stood across from them, hands clenched at his sides, body strumming with tension.
“Did you even care what that did to me, baby? Even a little bit?” he asked so softly Harris almost missed it.
But Gabby didn’t. Her head snapped up, eyes flashing yellow. Regret and annoyance shimmered through their bond.
“You’re three years older than me. Do you know what I remember most about you from when we were teenagers? All the females in the pack panting after you. And you were pretty damned happy to accommodate them. I didn’t want to add my name to that list. Of course, as I got older, the list grew. You think my not acknowledging you hurt you? What do you think your behavior did to me?”
She shuddered, and Harris was sure she was repressing a cry. Then she lurched up and stalked over to Ethan. “Do you have any idea how long I waited for you to come to your senses?” she asked.
Harris watched as Ethan’s eyes turned yellow. “All you had to do was say something and you know it. Don’t throw that in my face, Gabby.”
“You’re so sure of that?” she asked. So angry. So hurt. Then she shrugged it off, or pretended to, but Harris saw right through her. He was pretty sure Ethan did too. “Anyway, you were my friend. I started to think maybe I was getting the best part of you.” Oh gods, that had to cut. Harris watched silently, wanting to intervene, but knowing all this old rancor needed to be aired. Ethan paled and looked like she’d plunged a knife right into his heart. He actually swayed with the imagined blow, and for a moment, Harris was sure he’d spin around and leave the house. He didn’t. He just watched her with wounded eyes for several long minutes.
“You worked damned hard to make me believe you’d never accept a mate, much less me,” he said calmly.
Much too calmly. He moved so fast Harris didn’t see it, but he had Gabby pinned under him on the floor, one hand resting on her throat, when Harris blinked again.
Ethan was livid. He hadn’t known for sure. Not until she admitted it. But gods damn it!
Ten years of fucking misery. For what? So she could prove she was strong? Because she wanted to be something she wasn’t?
“Why, Gabby? Why?” He didn’t even care that he was giving away everything in his voice, in his eyes.
“I…” She trailed off, staring into his gaze. A scent tantalized his senses, and he took a deep breath. Shock rocked through him. The hand he’d pressed to her collarbone, so close to her throat, spasmed. Tensed when that seductive scent intensified. She was under his control, they both knew it, and she liked it. Her body came alive with it. Harris was right. She was submissive.
She brought her knee up, and he barely managed to save the family jewels by rolling away.
She was also no pushover. She was a fighter. He’d seen her in action. It was an undeniable part of her nature.
They stood several feet apart now, aggression a heady scent in the air and mingled so nicely with lust. With her desire. She wanted to be taken, but she wouldn’t make it easy. Why had he never seen this before? He relaxed, smiled, forced his wolf side to back down.
“Oh, you have a lot of ’splaining to do, Lucy,” he murmured.
She backed away warily, but he wasn’t fooled. She was ready, even eager for him to strike.
She wanted him to be strong enough to subdue her. Why couldn’t he have discovered this years ago? He had her in his arms before she could react. He left the blanket wrapped around her, allowing her that last bit of security. The sound of her heart suddenly pounding, the echoing sweetness in her scent, told him everything he needed to know. She wanted him. And she wanted him to be strong enough to take her. But she needed the truth. He owed her the truth.
“My reputation was unearned, baby. I have not slept with half the women in the pack. Not even close. No one could ever compare to you. No one else could touch me the way you do. No chance in hell.”
She stopped fidgeting in his arms. The breath seemed to rush out of her, there was a short burst of tenseness, and then she was all pliant female. All his. For the first time, he thought he understood why Harris liked sex with women like this. It wasn’t just about being in control. It was the trust it took, a woman giving herself over so totally. Trusted completely, with everything. Past, future, pleasure, pain.
He was hooked.
He looked over her head to meet Harris’s gaze and saw all his desire reflected there. Ethan picked Gabby up and carried her down the hall, Harris at his heels. He lowered her to the bed, and though she didn’t rise, she did protest.
“We don’t have time. Kade’s party—”
“It can wait, baby,” he said gruffly. “He’ll understand.” He unwrapped the blanket, revealing her like a present. He didn’t lift his gaze, but he knew Harris watched from the other side of the bed. Gabby writhed on top of the thick comforter. Her eyes were feverish, her skin flushed. If Ethan didn’t know better, he’d think she was in heat again, but it was much too soon. He responded to her like she was, though. So damned beautiful, reacting as she could only to her mates. It made him hungry for the taste of her, the feel of her.
He stripped quickly and made room for his shoulders between her thighs. Harris hadn’t come prepared for this, but he made do. Ethan watched as he slid the belts from both their jeans, and felt sharp canines poking through his gums. Not good. He’d already marked her. That craving should be under control. Still it pounded at him, and he turned his head to the inside of her thigh, up high and so close to her pussy all he had to do was turn his head. She moaned, bucking her hips against him, her scent washing over him like fucking ambrosia, and he was back in control again. Of his canines, at least.
He scooted closer, blew a breath over her sex, and inhaled deeply. Gods. Her scent. It would make him crazy. He had to have a taste. His tongue flashed out, over her hole, up to her clit. She mewled like a hungry kitten, and he would have given her whatever she wanted, except he sensed movement and glanced up.
Harris held her hand in his, stretched high above her head, face bent to leave nibbling kisses on his way to her wrist. She trembled every time his teeth scraped her skin, so he did it often. Finally Harris reached her pulse point, and he paused for a long suck before wrapping the belt around it and securing it to the bedpost. He started to walk around the bed, to handle the other wrist, but caught Ethan watching him. He paused with a wicked smile, braced his fists on the bed to lean down, and kissed him. It was all heat and teeth and brawn, but addicting as that taste was, they were both focused on her. Harris straightened and moved to her other side. She didn’t protest when he secured that wrist the same way as the other.
Ethan sat back on his heels and gazed down. Spread out like a feast just for him. So fucking beautiful, he ached to look at her. She met his gaze and held it when he expected her to look away. When he expected fear to make her back off. Which taught him the futility of trying to predict Gabby, didn’t it? She was back to her usual fearless self.
“What do you think, darlin’?” Harris drawled. “Being submissive isn’t so bad.” Harris lay down on the bed next to her, his hand moving to cup her breast while his teeth grazed the skin on her neck. Ethan smiled at the display. She shivered, tiny goose bumps rising all over her body.