Aric yanked me to him when I tried to stand. “No. I’m not abandoning you again.” He kissed his way down my neck, burying his face between my breasts.

I squirmed beneath him, my thick lashes fluttering. “Aric, stop.” I really didn’t want him to, but I feared Anara’s link to Aric remained.

“Sweetness, please. We made love when I was more wolf. Don’t deny me now that I’m more man.”

I gripped his shoulders. “You don’t understand. Anara will find us, and when he does, I’ll watch you die.”

Aric’s hatred fired his light brown irises. “Anara has been stripped of his power. He can’t hurt me and he sure as hell won’t touch you.”

Something in Aric’s words, be it rage or brute strength, made me believe him and expunged my fear. As I relaxed, he dipped his head and pulled my nipple into his mouth. My heart pounded like a slew of angry fists. “Please, sweetness, please,” he murmured against my skin. “Let me make love to you.”

I responded with a moan and by pulling his lips to mine. Aric climbed on top of me, running his fingertips down my body and slipping them between my legs. My gasp broke our kiss. He returned his mouth to the tips of my breasts, latching and tugging with his teeth.

My arousal grew too much for him to manage. He pushed himself inside me, thrusting hard and groaning with increasing hunger. We climaxed quickly, and yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop. I rolled him on his back and began to move. His stare held mine, beseeching me with longing and need. He surged to life with each pass of my hips, his thick knuckles skimming and teasing my nipples, encouraging me to move faster. A sultry charge radiated from within me, electrifying my body and clenching it tightly around him.

My heart threatened to explode. Aric intertwined his fingers with mine, helping me through the multiple crashes rocking through me. “I love you, Celia,” he panted. “No one will keep me from you again.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

“Tell me about Anara.”

My body and mind basked in the aftermath of our lovemaking. Hearing that bastard’s name shattered the tender moment and left me shaking.

I sat up, burying my face in my hands. Terror and fury warred when I thought of him, with terror always emerging as the victor. Anara could rob me of those I loved. No matter what anyone claimed, he was still strong and he still had power.

My fear set off Aric’s growls. He tucked me against him until my trembling finally subsided.

Aric swept my hair away from my eyes. “What did he do to you, Celia?” He kept his voice soft yet there was no masking his fury.

I couldn’t initially answer. With his mind cleansed of the moon sickness, any of the Elders could link through Aric’s mind, including Anara. So I listened hard, searching for any trace of howling wolves while scanning the area around us. Aric followed my gaze, scowling with more confusion than anger.

“Celia, please tell me what happened.”

When Anara failed to present himself, I took a breath. My wolf was right, I had to tell him everything. “Aric…since our return from South America, Anara has been using the power of the Pack against me.”

Fury pulsed from Aric’s skin in tangible waves, bending the air like heat rippling off asphalt. “What do you mean he used the Pack?”

I knew that deadly tone, and delaying would only escalate his anger. “He used his link to you and your packmates to multiply his power. Every time I saw you, he materialized and forced me to tell you things so that you’d hate me. He…” I swallowed hard and couldn’t finish.

Aric’s voice was unrecognizable. “What else?”

I tried not to cry—God, I really did. But revealing meant reliving everything Anara had put me through. “He possessed the wolves and turned them against me.”

“My wolves?”

I couldn’t look at him. “They didn’t have a choice, Aric. With our bond broken, their collective instinct to protect me was severed, too.”

Aric held my shoulders, angry tears leaking from his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve stopped him. I would’ve kept you safe.”

His pain lodged the words in my throat. But there was no going back. By not telling him, I’d betrayed his trust. He needed to understand I hadn’t made that choice lightly. “Anara swore to kill you if I didn’t keep my distance and threatened to kill my sisters if I told anyone what was happening. He can hurt anyone from miles away, Aric. I’ve seen it. I had no choice but to obey.”

Aric tried to steady himself. His eyes wandered to my neck, breasts, and stomach. “He’s the one who attacked you and Bren. There were no rogue Tribe wolves. It was all him, wasn’t it?”

I nodded, cringing as the memories bombarded me with ruthless hands. I didn’t want to remember where Anara had clawed me and how Bren had almost died in my arms.

Aric gently held my face, his voice dripping with ire. “Anara has taken our were magic and harnessed it into something evil. But even if he hadn’t, he will die. I swear, I’ll kill him for touching you.”

It wasn’t what I wanted him to say. “Aric, please don’t go after him. All this time, I’ve struggled to keep everyone safe. Don’t let my efforts be in vain.”

He gathered me to him. The scent and warmth of his skin helped alleviate some of the horrible experiences seared into my mind while my body helped to ease his wrath. We held each other for a long while until he abruptly pulled away, the anger he held replaced by a sudden understanding. “Anara made you break our bond.”

It surprised me he hadn’t figured out that little tidbit sooner. “Well, yes.”

“So it wasn’t about my scars?”

The fact that he had to ask really pissed me off. I grabbed his left nipple and twisted.

“Ouch!”

“Aric Connor, when the hell are you going to realize that if you were nothing more than an eye and a foot I’d still love you?”

Aric laughed despite himself. “But sweetness, if I was just an eye and a foot I couldn’t do this….”

I yanked his hands off my backside. “You know what I mean. Are you saying that if I’d been the one burned you’d have left me for someone who wasn’t scarred?”

Aric’s brows furrowed tight. Apparently I’d insulted my big badass wolf. “You will always be beautiful to me no matter what—” He stopped upon catching my smirk. “You don’t understand. I was going through a lot then and felt you deserved more than…”