And what about Kye, huh? I picked you as his godmother, you can’t leave!”

“I don’t want to, but—”

There was a knock at the door followed by Trey speaking. “Taryn, what is it?” Clearly he’d felt his mate’s distress through their bond.

“Nothing. It’s nothing, I’ll be right out.”

Apparently, Trey didn’t accommodate “alone time” any better than Dante did, because he barged in. “Taryn?”

She turned to him, her lips wobbling. “Shaya’s going to leave.”

“What?”

Instead of elaborating, she dived at Shaya and wrapped her hands around her. “When?” whispered Taryn, tears streaming down her face just as they were streaming down Shaya’s.

“Not until after Jaime and Dante’s mating ceremony. I’d never miss that.” Even in this agony, the female was prepared to sit through a mating ceremony that wasn’t her own and be reminded of what she was missing out on. Jaime couldn’t allow that. “Shaya…”

“Don’t.” She gave Jaime a hard look over Taryn’s shoulder. “I would never be envious of you having that.”

Taryn’s shoulders shook as more tears flowed. “You deserve better than him. Fate is a bitch.”

“Yeah.” Shaya laughed shakily, hugging her friend even harder.

Jaime was close to crying herself, even though she wasn’t one who was prone to having emotional outbursts. Hearing Shaya’s pain, Jaime had to wonder if that was how Dante had felt when she denied him. She wished she could have told Nick to put Shaya first, to claim her and trust that together they could work through what came next. They would always be stronger together than apart.

So why wasn’t she practicing this herself?

Maybe Dante was right and the bond would help stabilize her wolf. Maybe he wasn’t.

Although her wolf recognized him as hers, she was constantly watchful and wary, perhaps recognizing that he was the biggest threat because he was the only one who could truly hurt them.

There was a chance that in time her wolf would come to recognize that Dante, despite the power he had over her emotions, was, in fact, a safety net. Of course there was a chance that she wouldn’t. But there was no chance at all as long as Jaime held back, was there? So maybe it was time to take that risk and stop hurting her mate.

Jaime turned to the fretting male beside her who obviously wanted to ease his mate’s pain and was frustrated that he had no idea how. “I think we should give them a minute alone.” Trey merely spared Jaime a tiny glance. Well, there was another way to get him moving. “Who has Kye?” Instantly he stiffened as his parental overprotectiveness took over and he had a need to know exactly where his son was.

“Go make sure he hasn’t woken yet,” Taryn told him. “He’ll be hungry soon.” Eventually he nodded and left the room. Taryn mouthed “thank you” to Jaime just before she, too, left the two best friends alone. There was someone that Jaime needed time alone with right now.

He wasn’t in the living area, which meant that he could only be in his office. As she swung the door open, an offensive scent hit her nose and she halted. Her wolf growled and flexed her claws.

“…I know, but like I said, you’ll have to come back when Jaime’s…Oh, there you are, baby.” The curved smile he gave her from his chair behind his desk was warm and had a hint of relief to it.

“O-oh, h-hi,” stammered Bitch Face nervously. It was wise of her to be nervous. Having heard Dante’s words, it wasn’t difficult to guess that Bitch Face had obviously hoped to get him alone.

Jaime loved him all the more for the fact that he’d been telling her to leave until—

Wait, she loved him. When the hell did that happen? Okay, it could be said that if they were mates, then it was only natural. But even between mates, love was something that grew over time. It wasn’t automatic. She was surprised that Dante hadn’t sensed it yet. God, she hoped he hadn’t. What greater power could a guy have over a woman than to know she loved him with everything she had when he didn’t love her back?

Or, at least, she was assuming that he didn’t love her back. If she wanted to know for sure, all she had to do was tap into their bond. But she didn’t. That would be the ultimate invasion of his privacy. Okay, fine, she didn’t look because she was a goddamn coward; she was scared to look and then find that he didn’t love her back. It was better to live in a delusional land where love didn’t enter the equation on either end.

Right now, Jaime really wasn’t emotionally equipped to deal with the female in front of her who, for whatever strange reason, wanted to come between her and Dante—which was so not going to happen. “Get out.” When Bitch Face went to speak, Jaime held up her hand. “I don’t want to hear it, I really don’t. Out.”

The female looked at Dante, clearly expecting him to intervene on her behalf, though he had no idea why. When he didn’t, she marched out of the room and slammed the door behind her. He felt his smile deepen as his gorgeous mate approached the desk, hands on her hips. Jaime in full-on Beta female mode was unbelievably hot.

“And the reason you were in your office alone with your ex-half-mate was what, exactly?”

“She came in here to talk about Greta. Apparently, the old woman is giving her a hard time, and she wanted to know if I’d deal with it.”

“That was just an excuse to talk to you. If you hadn’t been trying to make her leave, you’d be in deep shit for being alone with her.”

As much as he disliked that she was hurting with the jealousy he could feel running through her, he couldn’t deny that it turned him on. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. “Come here.”

Jaime almost jumped. He hadn’t raised his voice or snapped at her, but his tone had made that subtle change from normal to deep and dominant.

“Come here.”

There it was again. It sent a bolt of electricity through her, making her cl*t tingle. But she simply arched a challenging brow at him.

“I want your taste in my mouth.”

Now that sounded interesting. Slowly she walked around his desk, as alert and aroused as her wolf. When she neared him, he reversed his chair slightly and gestured for her to stand between him and the desk. Then he shoved some of his files aside, causing some to fall to the floor. If he expected her to clean up that mess afterward, he was so wrong.

“Lie back.” When she didn’t, Dante wrapped his fist in her hair and yanked her face to his, taking her mouth with a force that made her instantly wet. Then he got rid of her T-shirt and bra, gripped her by the hips, and lifted her onto the desk. “I said, lie back. I want your taste in my mouth.” Finally she did as he’d asked. He removed her boots and peeled off her jeans and thong—all of which joined the rest of her clothes on the floor. He took a moment to drink in that amazing body that belonged to him and only him. He really was a lucky son of a bitch.

Curling his broad body over hers, Dante kissed her hard again, growling when she sucked his tongue into her mouth. He relished the moans she made as he kissed, licked, and nibbled his way down her body, pausing briefly to suck and bite each nipple. When he returned to his chair, he brought it closer to the desk. “Spread your legs for me.” Without a hint of defiance, she did.

At the sight of her pu**y, a low, territorial growl rumbled out of him. He wanted it. Needed it.

It was his. It belonged only to him. He wanted to lick it, suck on it, drink from it, sink his tongue into it, bite it, f**k it…He was seriously at risk of becoming obsessed with it, if he wasn’t already. Her incredible, sinful scent assaulted him and was like a narcotic to both him and his wolf.

“Are you just going to stare all day or—” She broke off and gasped in outrage at the hard slap to her clit. “Oh you did not just spank—”

“Of course I did. I can do whatever I want to this pu**y, baby. You’ll let me have it whenever I want, however I want. And if I want to spank it, I will.” Ignoring the curses that she spat at him, he slid his hands beneath her to cup her ass, then leaned down and lightly fluttered his tongue through her folds. Her intoxicating taste zinged through him, inciting and inflaming him. He needed it on his tongue, needed it in his mouth, needed it burned into his system.

Jaime bucked as his tongue finally got to work. Surprising her, each lick or stab of his tongue was unhurried, casual, like he had no objective at all and simply wanted to taste her. She tried moving her legs to hook them over his shoulders, but he must have thought she was attempting to pull away, because he growled warningly and it reverberated through her. God, a growl almost had her cl**axing.

Soon she was shaking and squirming as her orgasm began to creep up on her, asking him to hurry up and f**k her, but the absolute bastard continued his leisurely movements. “Dante, seriously, I can’t take any more.” And she meant it. But it was like talking to a freaking wall because he was so completely absorbed in tasting her. Even when she bucked hard enough to get his attention and dislodge him, he simply grunted and returned to what he’d been doing. “I want to be f**ked!” Nothing. Fine, if she wanted to distract him and get him as irritated as she was, she’d just have to play dirty, wouldn’t she.

Faking a bored tone, she asked, “Are you okay down there if I just make a few calls?” His response was a growl. “I was thinking we could order pizza. Maybe pepperoni.” Another growl. “By the way, which one of us smells like fish?” A louder growl and a nip. “Um, I hate to bother you again, but…when is this supposed to start feeling good?”

Instantly Jaime regretted that one, because instead of punching his c*ck punishingly inside her as she’d hoped, he abruptly sucked her cl*t between his lips so hard that she cried out. He sucked unrelentingly on her clit, occasionally nipping it or flicking it with his tongue before sucking it between his lips again.

Her inner muscles were clenching, wanting something inside her—which was obviously why Dante was doing this instead! He continued his assault until finally her body tensed and she came hard, quivering. When she was able to pry her eyes open, it was to see him staring down at her and licking his lips clean. Shit-stain.

“I’m going to fill you up and f**k you now,” he rumbled. And then he was going to fulfill that fantasy they had both been sharing for a while, but he wouldn’t mention that just yet.

Jaime didn’t like the wicked, lopsided “I know something you don’t” smile that surfaced on his face, but her intention to comment on it went straight out of the window when he unsnapped the button of his fly, lowered his zipper, and his c*ck sprang out. He spread her thighs wide, gripped her hips, and tugged her body toward him so that her ass was hanging off the desk. Jaime wrapped her legs around his waist and gasped at the feel of his c*ck probing her entrance.

“Ready?” In a sluggishly slow movement, Dante sank his c*ck inside that perfect pu**y that was made only for him, filling her with every inch of him. Then, in a movement just as slow, he withdrew until only the head was inside. Any other time he would have given Jaime a series of slow thrusts just to tease her, but he wasn’t in the mood for playing. He needed to f**k her, needed to feel her come apart around him. Needed to hear her beg. Needed to know that his mate wanted him so much she would do this. Yes, she’d done it during their claiming, but that was because she’d been pretty delirious. “I’m going to f**k you so hard you can’t walk,” he promised her. “Just as soon as you beg for it.”

Jaime’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“You heard me. Beg for it.”

“Oh you sack of shit!” When she tried to lift her upper body from the desk, he brought his weight down on her, caging her there. She wasn’t sure whether he ignored her struggling or simply didn’t notice, but in any case, it galled her that her struggles came to nothing.

“Beg me, Jaime. Beg me, and I’ll f**k you as hard as you want.” She stopped writhing. “As hard as I want?” she echoed, suddenly not so averse to the idea. No matter how many times she told him she could take his roughness, he always held back a little. The only time he hadn’t was during their claiming, and she wanted it again.

“I’ll f**k you so hard you’ll think I hate you. Beg me, Jaime.” Now that did sound intriguing. After a moment of silence, she finally said, “Please f**k me.” She cried out as, with their gazes locked, he abruptly thrust forward and drove his entire length back into her. “Oh God,” she breathed as he began pounding into her with ruthless, intense, stretching thrusts that gave her that full, stuffed sensation she loved. His pace was frenzied, as though he couldn’t f**k her hard, fast, or deep enough. This was exactly how Jaime wanted him: barely restrained, poised on the brink of violence. The fact that she could drive him to the edge of his control thrilled her like nothing else.

“You’re so tight.” He lifted her leg and hooked it over his shoulder, allowing himself to go even deeper with each thrust. Growling, he sank his fingers into her soft, pliant br**sts. “I love these.

And these pretty ni**les.” He pinched the pert buds hard, knowing she loved it. “And you have the most gorgeous ass. I can’t wait to have my c*ck inside it.” Seeing that she was about to protest, he quickly stated, “It is going to happen, baby.”

“Maybe in your wet dreams, Popeye, but that’s all.”

Jaime gasped as he suddenly withdrew, brought her to her feet, spun her around, and then bent her over the desk. “What are you—”