When the ecstasy hit she could do nothing but lift to him and gasp for air, her pu**y clamped down on his fingers, convulsing, spilling more of her juices as she shot into her release with a power that left her spinning out of control.
She had never known anything so intense, so erotic and primal. An orgasm had never tossed her so violently into rapture, into such an ecstasy that there was no control, no denial or reality but that of Lawe and the culmination of his touch.
With Lawe, there was no way to throttle back, no way to ease anything or control it.
She was his.
Dependent upon him to remain standing and not sink to the floor.
Dependent upon him to hold her against him, to share his warmth, his heartbeat, to protect her for the few fragile moments she was defenseless and unable to protect herself.
She was dependent upon Lawe to ensure she came back to her own body after flying through space and time. To ease her past the savagery of each aftershock, to croon her name at her ear, to bring her slowly back to earth before he eased his fingers from the tight, convulsive grip of her sex.
Slumping against him as he turned her in his arms, one hand pressing her head against his chest as the sound of his heart raging in his chest beat at her ear. Beneath the furious beat a primitive male growl rumbled as a sob nearly tore from her chest.
His hold, the way he all but wrapped himself around her, the way he dared her to ever allow another’s touch, even as he gave her a pleasure she knew she would never reach without him, proved every fear she had ever had of him.
He would own her.
If she allowed it, Lawe Justice would steal every ounce of her independence, every chance of being the woman she had always fought to be.
She could be herself, or she could be his mate.
Standing in his arms she battled the tears filling her eyes.
She could never be both.
“I can’t be someone I’m not,” she whispered painfully, not bothering to hide the conflict inside her, just as she didn’t bother to hide the pain.
There was no way to hide it deep enough to keep him from sensing it. She was simply too weak, and too torn.
“How do you know the extent of who you are?” His hand stroked gently down her back as he posed the question softly. “How do you know, Diane, that fate hasn’t given you an escape you were unaware you needed?”
She stiffened, her head cradled against his chest as she blinked back the tears and accepted the knowledge that Lawe would never accept the fact that she was exactly who she had been all her life. The fight for justice, the feeling of being a part of that fight, of simply making a difference, just a difference, had always run to the very core of who and what she was.
“I know who I am.” Just as she knew he couldn’t accept it. “I know what fate meant for me, Lawe. You’re the one who doesn’t want to accept it. You don’t want to accept me.”
Yet, she had accepted him. Every part of him. The arrogance. The genetics, the Breed strength and phenomenal confidence he possessed.
She accepted everything he was, and there was nothing she wanted to change.
Nothing except his refusal to see who she was.
His mate.
So much more than a biological match, or even an emotional tie. A mate was more than a wife, a willing f**k or the survival of the Breed species.
She was his feminine equal.
The other half of him.
His right hand, his left if that was what he needed.
His sword.
Warrior to his warrior.
And all he wanted her to be was the toy he took out for amusement whenever he had the time.