Not anymore.

With that one word, he’d given a warning. Any who touched her would regret it because . . .

Mine.

No one hurt what was his.

He carried her from the room that smelled of death and blood, and he didn’t look back.

When the bedroom door closed behind them, Kayla knew just what Gage had planned.

Not like it would take a genius to figure this one out.

“Gage, I need to find—”

He kissed her. Lowered her feet to the floor, then pushed her back against the wall. Her wolf was aroused, no doubt about it. And, okay, maybe she was, too. The guy knew how to kiss.

Hell, yes, he did. Adrenaline still spiked in her blood, making her heart beat faster and letting that wild heat inside of her surge ever hotter but . . .

She pulled her mouth from his and sucked in a fortifying breath. “We have to—”

“Fuck,” Gage said, voice guttural. “I need you.” His eyes blazed down at her. So bright. She loved the blue of his eyes. “Not about the pack. Not about hunters. I just need you.”

Her breath seemed to freeze in her lungs. Wasn’t that what she’d always longed for? Someone who needed her? Someone who just wanted her, exactly as she was?

Darkness, scars, and all?

His hands tightened around her arms. “I didn’t marry you . . . because you might be able to give me children.”

That whole mate thing again. It could make a girl tense.

“I married you because I couldn’t breathe without tasting you.”

Oh, well. She wasn’t even sure what to say to that, but the words sure made her feel good.

Besides, it didn’t matter that she couldn’t toss out a ready comeback. Gage didn’t give her a chance to respond. He kissed her again. His aroused flesh pressed into her. Long, full, so thick.

Why did I marry him?

Not for the mission. Not because he was a job.

Because I wanted him.

She still did. Always would.

So she didn’t push him away. Why couldn’t she have what she wanted? Couldn’t she just take it? Take him?

Her hands wrapped around Gage’s powerful, broad shoulders, and she pulled him closer.

She loved the way he kissed. The slow thrust of his tongue, the sensual press of his lips. She got wet just from his kiss.

His hands slid down her body. Curved around her ass. Lifted her up against his cock.

Yes.

Her body was already eager for him. She rubbed against him and liked it when he tensed against her. Power. It could come in so many forms.

His mouth lifted from hers. He stared into her eyes. “I’m not letting you go.”

He wasn’t talking about that moment. She got that part. But she didn’t want to think about the future then. About what could happen—or who could tear them apart.

Then hewas kissing her neck and she could just moan and shudder because, oh, yes, that part of her body was sensitive. When he used the edge of his teeth in the lightest of caresses, her eyes closed and her tight nipples pushed into his chest.

“Bed,” he muttered against her. “I want—”

Her eyes opened. “No.” Because this was also about what she wanted. Her hand pushed against his chest. That wonderful, naked chest and all those fabulous muscles.

Her sex clenched in eager anticipation. Soon he’d be thrusting deep and hard into her, but first . . .

He was naked. His thick cock pushing up toward her. So she wrapped her hands around the aroused flesh that she craved. Stroked him. Pumped once. Twice. He swelled even more beneath her fingers.

Her mouth had gone dry. She wanted to taste him.

Kayla eased onto her knees.

“Sweetheart, you don’t have—”

She put her mouth on him. That move shut up her wolf. The guy’s eyes seemed to roll back into his head. She licked him. Sucked him. Loved his taste.

Her hands wrapped around the base of his cock as she took his aroused flesh into her mouth. Deeper. Deeper. She tasted him with each caress of her lips and tongue. Salty, wild. He tasted just the way she’d thought he would.

His hands were slammed against the wall now. Not on her. Gage wasn’t trying to guide her movements or force her to take more of him. No. He was staring down at her with feral eyes. His claws were out—in that wall. And a ragged groan that was her name tore from his lips.

She smiled up at him—then took him deeper.

“Kayla.”

She wanted him to come and—

His claws ripped from the wood. He grabbed her. She started to flinch away. His claws . . .

“Never . . . hurt you.” His voice was barely human.

But he wasn’t hurting her. He was yanking her clothes off, tossing them aside, and pretty much shredding the material with his claws, but he wasn’t hurting her.

Then he was lifting her against the wall. The claws never even skimmed her skin. He lifted her up and parted her legs.

Kayla guided his cock to the entrance of her sex. When he thrust, she arched toward him so that his flesh sank deep within her.

Yes.

Their eyes locked. She couldn’t look away from him. There was so much intensity in his stare.

Her sex clenched around his cock. Thrust. Withdraw. Thrust.

Kayla’s hands locked around his shoulders as she rose up and then slid down, pushing back against him. She wasn’t going to be able to hold back for long. She was too aroused. Slick, sensitive, her sex parted easily for the driving thrust of his cock. Again and again and—

She opened her mouth, screamed his name. Kayla didn’t care who heard her right then.