Isabelle lay curled in my arms throughout the night. Following Winifred’s recommendation, I wrapped the ice in a thin dish towel and held it to Isabelle’s cheek for fifteen minutes and let her skin warm again before reapplying the ice. Isabelle seemed to like it because she smiled slightly each time.
Near dawn, I got up to shower and do our laundry. While I waited for the wash cycle to finished, I packed up what we wouldn’t need and started making breakfast. It was easy, mindless work that help distract me from my guilt. We shouldn’t have gone out yesterday. I knew it. Grey knew it, too, though he hadn’t said anything.
Now, she had new bruises when the bruises from the fight in the field hadn’t yet fully faded. Would that be our life? Her constantly bruised and me looking at them and hating myself for my inability to keep her safe? Probably.
When the washer buzzed, I threw the clothes in the dryer and started making some scrambled eggs. Feeding her was one thing I seemed to be able to get right. It didn’t help ease the ache over everything I kept getting wrong, though.
Once I had breakfast ready, I cleaned the kitchen and kept the food warm, listening for a change in Isabelle’s breathing. As soon as I heard it, I took her plate to the bedroom and watched her stretch under the covers and slowly blink her eyes open.
“Good morning, Isabelle,” I said from the doorway.
She turned her head toward me.
“Good morning.”
I could smell her happiness at seeing me, and guilt gnawed at me harder.
She patted the bed and pushed herself up into a sitting position. I joined her and offered her the plate, which she took with enthusiasm.
“I’m so glad you can cook,” she said, stabbing a large bite with her fork. “I suck at it, and TV dinners like to go straight to my butt.”
She paused with the fork halfway to her mouth, tilted her head as she studied me, and set the fork back down.
“What part are you upset about?” she asked, surprising me.
“The part where I took you outside.”
“Really? Because I liked all of it. A lot. Until I got hit in the face. That guy pissed me off.”
How could she be okay with what happened? I closed my eyes and took a calming breath. She leaned forward and kissed my neck. In just the right spot.
“Isabelle.” I opened my eyes and found her amused gaze on me. There was so much openness in her expression now. Complete trust. In me. I deserved none of it.
“Carlos,” she said, using the same tone. “Does this mean you’ll chase me again?”
“No.”
“Not even around the couch?”
I almost smiled at her playfulness. Like Grey, the reaction only encouraged her.
“Did you almost smile?”
“Almost. Eat your breakfast.”
She took a quick bite, chewed, and swallowed.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you? Chasing me around the couch.”
Her humor and wit…she was everything I needed. And, she was finally seeing me the same way. I didn’t deserve her, but I knew I would never have the strength to let her go. She would continue to fight and torture me, and I would accept it. All of it. Because it was her.
“I love you, Isabelle.”
She stared at me with wide eyes.
“I saw you fighting in Ethan’s bar and wanted to kill the man who was trying to hurt you. When I saw Ethan touch you in the field, I wanted to kill him, too. Then, I started seeing you for what you are. A fighter. I’m not okay with that,” I said, touching her bruised face, “and I’m always going to want to protect you. But fighting is part of who you are, and I’ll need to learn to deal with it.”
She swallowed hard.
“Wow. Uh, that was a lot.”
She glanced down in obvious discomfort then set her plate out of the way and pushed the blankets off and knelt beside me. Meeting my gaze, she hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her in return, smoothing a hand down her back.
“You feel like home,” she whispered, laying her head on my shoulder.
She let me hold her for several minutes before pulling away. I gently touched her cheek as she did.
“How is it feeling today?” I asked.
“Better than it should be. Thank you for taking care of me last night.”
“Last night and every night,” I promised her.
She looked down at her hands.
“I know what you want,” she said quietly. “That level of commitment seems…” She exhaled heavily and met my gaze. “I still feel like I don’t know you. I need a hint of what you’re feeling sometimes. I feel so blind with you. Everyone else I can read. Not you.”
“I see what everyone else’s emotions do to you. I don’t want what I feel to hurt you.” Or influence her.
“So, you’re going to hold yourself back forever? When you’re mad, I want to know it. When you’re happy, I want to laugh with you.”
I saw my opportunity and selfishly took it.
“Once you Claim me, I won’t be able to keep it locked up,” I said, bending the truth. Most Claimed pairs felt what the other felt because neither had learned to control their emotions.
“What?”
“When you bite me, you’ll feel what I feel.”
She frowned.
“So, the floodgates would always be open? You’d end up like my parents, who don’t know who I even am anymore,” she said.
“I don’t think so. Grey and I discussed this at length,” I lied. “According to Bethi, you siphon the emotions you feel around you. What you and I would have… it’s different. We will feel each other in our minds.” The incident in the field had answered my questions about how she would react to my emotions. She couldn’t absorb what I held onto so tightly. She could only feel them.
She slowly shook her head.
“It’s not a risk I’m willing to chance.”
Her sentiment warmed me. She truly cared and because of that, I wouldn’t give up.
“I understand. But what if I told you we could try it, and if you didn’t like it, you could break the Claim?”
“Really? How?”
I shrugged.
“There are several different ways,” I said, unwilling to admit death or Claiming another would be her only options. “The point is that we could try.”
She remained quietly lost in thought for a moment before a thread of excitement drifted in the air.
“So do I need to light candles for you or something? Or just pounce?”
It hurt to hope she was being serious. A shudder ran through me, and my vision changed slightly as I struggled for control.
“Pounce.” The word was already rough.
She didn’t seem to mind, though. With a grin, she flew at me, and I willingly fell back onto the bed. Her red hair created a burning halo as she looked down at me with a sexy curve pulling the corner of her mouth. I started to shake with need. Her scent wrapped around me, calling to me. I wanted to move, but, like on the couch, instinctually knew she’d change her mind. So, I held myself still as she set her hands on my shoulders and leaned toward me until her breath caressed my neck.
She inhaled deeply, scenting me. Unable to help myself, I gripped her waist and pulled her up and over so she straddled my stomach. She didn’t pull back. Instead, she settled her hips firmly. Her heat seared me. I struggled to remember to breathe.
The first touch of her lips to my skin was a perfect blend of bliss and suffering. My hands shook violently as I set them on her back. When she started trailing kisses along my neck, I almost howled.
Wrapping my arms around her, I forced her closer until the small gap she’d kept between us disappeared. Pressed chest to chest, I felt everything. Including the shiver that ran through her and the way she wriggled her hips as if trying to get even closer.
Her teeth scraped my neck, and I groaned. Then she nipped me. I stopped breathing, waiting.
She pulled back to look at me. I almost yowled again.
“Well?” she asked.
I tightened my hold on her waist.
“More.”
She frowned slightly then shrugged.
“Whatever floats your boat,” she said, bending down again. Her teeth scraped my skin as she nipped a trail from the base of my ear to my collarbone. She was driving me crazy with need. Breathing became painful.
“Isabelle.” I panted. “Break the damn skin.”
She jerked back and stared down at me. Surprise lit her features.
“You want me to what?”
I wrapped my arms around her and slowly drew her back to the spot on my neck she’d been nibbling.
“Bite me. Bite me like you’re mad at me. Bite me like it’s the only way you’ll get free. Because it is. I’m not letting go until it’s done.”
She tried pulling back again, but I couldn’t release her. She turned her head, lifting it just enough to look at me.
“You really want me to hurt you?”
“It won’t hurt. I promise.” I could see her doubt. “Please,” I begged softly.
She lowered her head, her exhale warming the spot on the base of my neck. Her lips brushed the skin then her tongue. I shivered and shook in anticipation. Her teeth touched me, and she bit down hard.
A sound escaped me as a new link burrowed its way into my mind. Isabelle. A yell of relief and surprise escaped me.
“You said it wouldn’t hurt!” She jerked back from me, and I let her go, watching her wipe the blood from her mouth.
I exhaled heavily and closed my eyes at the feel of her concern. And the heat of her hips on mine. A thread of desire wormed its way into my mind. Her desire. She was perfect. Everything I wanted and so beautiful. My need for her grew stronger. I wanted to grab her hips and—
“What the hell is going on?” she said, staring at me.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t know. You’re in my head.”
“I mean, is what I’m feeling causing any problems?”
“Yes, you’re so horny I can’t think straight.”
I grinned, unable to help myself. She knew what I was feeling and wasn’t running away from it. And, as I’d guess, she wasn’t consuming it.
“Is there a volume control for this?” she asked.
I closed my eyes and focused. My emotions were still behind my wall, but so was her link. I took a calming breath and tried not to think about how she was still sitting on me.
She eased out of my arms, but I didn’t mind. She’d Claimed me. I could be patient for the rest.