giving myself a rougher touch. She flicked her eyes up to meet mine, and I came so hard I was afraid of drowning her. I watched her face, scrutinizing as she swallowed every ounce I gave her and continued sucking for more. I swear she took my soul down her throat, as well.
I tugged, and she moved back, daintily licking my crown several times for any remaining seed before nuzzling against my groin then going lower to give my scrotum a kiss. Her fingers rubbed lazily over my abdomen, tracing circles over my skin while I caught my breath.
“I’m going with you when you leave.” She glanced up then, seeking my gaze and trying to read my thoughts.
“Come here.” I patted my chest, and she crawled up until she lay her head over my heart. “I won’t leave you.”
She nodded but didn’t look up at me.
“Belinda, look at me.”
She glanced up again, and I knew this was a conversation we couldn’t have lying down. I scooped her up and moved so she sat on my lap, my back against the headboard.
“I won’t leave you,” I swore. “Promise.”
“I…” She paused, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a long moment. “My parents couldn’t handle my gift.”
“The visions you have?”
She nodded. “I was six when I had the first one. Or at least, the first I remembered. I saw one of our pack getting attacked and killed. When it happened, the ones who knew about the vision said I was a witch. They wanted me sent away.” She shrugged. “Or killed.”
“Jesus,” I whispered, wrapping my arms more securely around her as if I could protect the six-year-old girl she’d been.
“Bastion was there. He was ten when I was born and was always more of a parent than a brother.”
That explained why he’d wanted her to stay with him and his pack. He’d been protecting her for a long time. But remaining with the James Pack would be my mate’s choice and no one else’s. If she wanted to stay, I’d find a way to earn her brother’s trust so we could. If she wanted to leave, we’d go wherever she wanted. Travel the world if that was her desire. I’d been smart with the money I’d earned. My investments were solid, more so with the sound advice my mom’s mate had given me. I had more money than Belinda and I could ever spend.
“What did he do when he found out what people were saying?”
“We left that night. Bastion should have been the next alpha, but he walked away. For me.”
I easily read the guilt she felt over that. I cupped her cheek and couldn’t resist leaning down to brush a soft kiss over her lips.
“Hate to break it to you, but your brother is an alpha.”
“Now. Do you know how hard it was for a sixteen-year-old boy to go on the run with a six-year-old who had visions she couldn’t control? Visons that called attention. Attention was the last thing we needed.”
“It seems like he handled it okay,” I assured her. “When he looks at you, it’s easy to see the bond you two share. The love. You know what I don’t see?”
“What?” she asked.
“Regret or blame. Your brother loves you, and I bet, even knowing the struggle he’d face, he’d do it all again. Because you matter to him. Makes me like him.”
“I want you to like him. I want you to…” She broke off, and uncertainty filled her gaze.
“What do you want?” I nudged her.
“I know we have to leave for a bit. And I want to meet your mom and her human mate. But…this is my home.”
“Even though your brother’s pack isn’t accepting of you?” That bothered me. A lot.
“They don’t know me. Not really. And despite what Raina said, it’s not all my brother’s fault. I hid away. I could have been more outgoing. People fear what they don’t know or understand, but when did I ever give them a chance?”
She rubbed her hands together in her lap, and I covered them with one of mine, squeezing them before taking one with mine and bringing it up to cup my face.
“If you want to stay, then we’ll stay. But you need to understand I won’t tolerate any negative comments about you. Period. I don’t care who makes them. They treat you with respect, or they face me. No exceptions.”
“You can’t beat up everyone, Hannibal,” she admonished.
“Can and will,” I countered, firming my tone to let