“Why?”

“It makes me hard.” It was the same sound she made when he was tasting her.

Ally chuckled. “You’re already hard.”

“Of course I am. You’re naked.” If he was honest, his cock went hard at just her scent. “Come here. Straddle me.”

Eyes narrowed, she wagged a finger playfully. “Nu-uh. We can’t have sex here.”

He snorted. “Obviously.” It was important to keep the springs clean. “But I want to touch you.” He wanted her close. “Ally.” Rolling her eyes, she shuffled closer to him. He curled his hands around her hips, lifted her, and brought her to straddle him.

“Happy now?”

“Very.” He sucked her lower lip into his mouth; a growl of approval rumbled up his chest when her body relaxed into his. Meeting her captivating emerald gaze, he tilted his head. “So many secrets in those eyes.” Ally Marshall was one big mystery. In the beginning, he hadn’t minded that. Now, it bugged him that there were so many things about her that he didn’t know. “Tell me one.”

She blinked in surprise. “Tell you a secret?”

“Yes.” His interest in her had shifted a fraction in the past six weeks. Become something else. Something more. Something that might threaten their agreement that what was between them didn’t have to be complicated. Yet, he wasn’t fighting it. “Tell me why you like to sleep outside.” He skimmed his hands up her arms. “I know you have nightmares. Where do you go?”

She swallowed. “The dark.”

“You said you couldn’t get out to warn them. What did you mean?”

Ally tensed. “What?”

“Once when you were having a nightmare, I tried to wake you, and you said you couldn’t get out to warn them.” Instead of elaborating, she pulled back, averting her gaze, which was clouded with uncertainty. “One time when I was in juvie, six human guards beat me up and tortured me with electrical rods and Taser guns.” Her eyes whipped back to his, fury replacing the uncertainty. “I knew they were going to kill me, and I knew they were going to rape me first. I’m sure Cain’s told you enough about juvie that you know that’s not uncommon. The only reason I’m alive is that Nick intervened.”

That was why he felt so indebted to Nick, Ally now understood. She wanted to tell Derren she was sorry for what had happened to him, but she knew that would be the last thing he’d want to hear. He was frustratingly too macho to accept compassion. “Why did you share that with me?” It was a memory that was personal, private, and painful.

“Because this isn’t a one-way thing. I’ll share with you, and you’ll share with me.” He brushed his thumb along her cheekbone. “Tell me why you sleep outside.”

“It’s not a pretty story.”

“Neither are any of mine, baby.”

Because Ally figured honesty deserved honesty, she explained. “My childhood pack wasn’t much bigger than this. We all lived together in one huge house. There were only five kids in total. Me and Cain were best friends, and we used to play together in a fort that we set up with the help of our parents. Anyway, one night Cain was chasing me out of the fort, and as we reached the pack house a large pack of wolves invaded our territory.” An ache began to build in her chest as she remembered the screams, the blood, and the chaos. “Our pack didn’t stand a chance.”

“That was the night it was slain?”

She nodded.

“You and Cain got away?”

“There wasn’t a chance in hell that we’d have gotten away . . . but then the battle around me suddenly ended and I was back in the fort with Cain. I realized I’d had a vision. The trouble was that as I tried to get out in a panic to warn my pack, I dislodged one of the rocks. The front of the fort collapsed.”

“That was what you meant when you said you couldn’t get out to warn them,” Derren deduced.

“Yes.” She’d clawed at the rocks, tried her best to dig her way out. “We were trapped there for hours, and it was so dark.” It didn’t matter that her shifter night vision had allowed her to see clearly; Ally had never liked the dark as a kid. “We could hear them screaming and howling. By the time we got out, they were all dead.” Maimed bodies of adults and pups had lain all around the pack house.

Slipping his hand to the back of her head, Derren tugged her close and kissed her lightly. “Did you ever find out why they were all killed?”

She inhaled deeply. “Apparently one of the enforcers raped a mated female wolf. Shifters will burn down whole countries to avenge their mates. The guy was never going to let that go. But instead of killing the bastard responsible, he killed our entire pack in a rage. He must have felt bad about it later, because he didn’t come for me or Cain when he found out two pups had survived; he didn’t try to finish the job.” Cain’s uncles had understood the guy’s rage, but they had still gone after him to avenge the death of their brother.

“I’d say there’s no excuse for what he did. But I know that if my mate was hurt, the last thing I’d be is rational. I’d want to destroy the fucking world.” He’d eviscerate anyone who threatened Ally, whether their relationship was temporary or not. As usual, his wolf snarled at the idea of her leaving. “No wonder you have nightmares. I’m sorry you lost your family, baby.”