He pulls up one of my knees and angles his cock back to my entrance. I wince when he sinks in because-yeah. I’ve already taken a lot.
He sees the wince and immediately pulls out. “Shit, baby. I have to get out of here.” He starts shoving his legs in his boxers.
I sit up, pulling the covers over me as if they’ll shield me from his abandonment.
“I meant it when I said I’d fuck you all night. I mean I really can’t stop. And I’m afraid something bad will happen next time. Worse than bruises.” He yanks on his jeans and zips them. “Believe me, I want to stay. But there’s no way I can. I care about you too much to risk your life this way.”
He stops to kiss me. I expect a quick peck-I think that’s what he went in for, but suddenly he’s claiming my mouth with the same aggression he claimed my body, tongue plunging between my lips, hand rough on the back of my head.
He curses when he pulls away. “I gotta go.” There’s an urgency in his tone, like he’s a ticking time bomb about to explode. “Really.”
“Okay.” I can’t hide my disappointment. My sadness.
He sees it and regret swims in his expression, but then he’s gone, leaving without another glance, his motorcycle roaring to life outside.
I can’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks.
Of course he’s gone. I knew that’s how this would end all along.
Jared
“Dammit!” I pull the drill out of the plywood and pluck out the broken bit. It’s the fourth one I’ve broken from leaning on the drill too hard. I worked all night and straight through the day today working on Angelina’s warehouse. I set up a studio in the back, complete with a sprung hardwood floor, mirrors, and barres. She can teach dance there if she wants to do classes, or use it as her rehearsal space. The main section of this warehouse is her performance space. That’s where Trey and I are working now. I’m finishing up the stage.
Anything to keep myself from rushing back to Angelina’s place and marking her. Trey was right-the full moon brought on the urge.
She’s definitely my mate.
Which makes this warehouse transformation all the more important. The warehouse and my own transformation.
I try to see myself through her parents’ eyes. Would they view me any different if I was coaching disadvantaged youth? Or would they still just see a guy covered in tattoos who uses his fists for a living?
One who lets their daughter ride on the back of his motorcycle in a sundress?
Fates, I’m an asshole. I put her in danger on my bike and last night she was in danger with me. But I’m going to prove to her, and her parents, that I’m worthy.
And then maybe I can keep her without marking her. I could just disappear during the full moon. Keep my distance for her safety.
The moon is full is in two days. Parker scheduled the first fight for tomorrow night, which gives the wolf participants-my pack-an advantage. If we’re fighting other kinds of shifters, that is.
“Hey Jared, like this?” Trey’s up on a ladder hanging the rigging for the aerial dance Angelina envisions.
“Yeah, looks good. Hang three of them like that.”
Next I’m going to build wooden flats-like room dividers on locking wheels, so she can move them around to create the space any way she wants it. I ordered a ton of black stage curtains, too, which can also be setup on movable tracks.
I don’t know anything about art, but as I shape what Angelina sketched, I grow more and more excited. She really has an incredible vision here.
“So you just going to keep working in here until you collapse?” Trey asks when he comes down from the ladder. “Have you even eaten anything since yesterday?”
“Nah. I’m not hungry.”
“You’re trying to stay busy to keep from marking her. Is that what this is about?”
I wipe the sawdust off my hands. “Yeah.”
“If you figured out she’s your mate, why aren’t you over there figuring out how to claim her without too much damage?”
I pick up another board and put it in place. Trey holds it for me while I drill a screw through. “I can’t just claim her. Not without her permission. Not until I’ve proven-” I wipe the sweat dripping into my eyes and hang my head, feeling the weariness for the first time. “That’s why I’m here. To set things up so I have something to offer her.”
“Ah.”
I can’t stand the sympathy I hear in that single syllable.
“Do you really think that’s necessary? I mean, I think she likes you for you already.”
I shake my head and drill another screw in. “You don’t get it. Her parents have plans for her. She needs someone respectable. Someone she can introduce without cringing.”
“If you’re just doing this boxing thing with the kids for her, then-”
“I’m not,” I cut in. “I want to do it. It’s the one thing I know how to do, right? So wouldn’t it be good if I used it to help people instead of hurt them?”
Trey stares at me for a long moment. “Yeah. But only if that’s what you want. Not if you’re doing it to impress a girl.”
“I’m not.” I’m actually certain of this. Angelina inspired me, and yes, I am trying to prove something to her parents, but the idea is my own. And it’s one that excites me.
“‘Kay. I’m gonna take a break and get something to eat.” He waits a beat to see if I’ll offer to quit, too, but I don’t. “See you later.”
“Yep. Later.”