“What is it?” He sighed. “Possession. You own me, Liza. That’s what mating ensures. Heart. Body. God, my very soul. You own it all. We belong to each other in ways we’ve never belonged before. In ways I never imagined I could belong to anyone.” His lips pressed against her shoulder, warm, lazy with satisfaction. “I love you, Liza. With every part of my body, my heart and my soul. I love you.”
Trepidation was rising inside her now. She’d already begun to suspect the truth, and the certainty of it now filled her with dread.
“I wasn’t in the market to be owned,” she whispered as panic tried and failed to rise inside her. “I liked myself nice and free and single, thank you.”
“I think you’re very nice,” he drawled as he eased his c**k slowly from the grip of her pu**y and collapsed beside her before pulling her against the warmth of his chest. “You’re free. You’re single,” he said gently as he brushed his cheek against her hair. “But, you have to admit, Liza, it’s nice to belong, isn’t it? To know you were the dream that kept me fighting for my freedom, for all the Breeds’ survival. For this moment in time, for the heart of a woman I knew awaited me. Surely it’s not so terrifying?”
Terrifying? No, it wasn’t terrifying.
Levering herself up enough to stare into the drowsy depths of his now dark blue eyes, Liza glimpsed the wild, dark, primal core of the man now.
He was like the earth itself: safe, strong and as unpredictable as the wildest storm.
And he wanted to belong to her?
He believed he did belong to her?
“What makes you think I deserve you?” she whispered then, her lips trembling with a sudden surge of impending panic.
“What could ever make you believe that you don’t?” He brushed her hair back, the gesture so tender, so gentle that her heart clenched in such emotion that it sent a shaft of agony radiating through her senses.
“Ah, Liza.” His expression softened, though still, the arrogance and dominant male power was still there. “You deserve better than I could be. But I’m such a selfish bastard. Completely and irrevocably unredeemable where my need for you is concerned. I’d die without your heart to warm me now. I’d cease to exist if I thought I’d never have your love. I told you, no matter the fear, no matter the secrets you have, nothing can change what I feel for you. Nothing can ever touch my determination to protect and hold you. You and your secrets, should you ever trust me with them. I’m yours, sweetheart. But I’m not the only one who belongs. You belong now as well. To me.”
She belonged, and she could feel it, whether she believed it was safe or not. Whether she believed, before him, she had even wanted it.
She belonged to him.
And she knew, somehow, someway, she knew—
“You’ll destroy me.”
CHAPTER 19
By the time Monday rolled around, Liza was more than ready for a break from the spiraling emotions converging on her.
The only thing that saved her was the ever-present sexual arousal that seemed to flame between them with just a look.
That didn’t help when she slept though.
When dreams invaded and further confused her.
Who was she?
As she dressed for work the question plagued her, just as it had plagued her since she had gone to the crash site five nights before.
“Do you know, young children, the choice you have made this night?” Joseph Redwolf, grandfather to the mate of Braden Arness, Megan Fields Arness, whispered through her mind.
Holding the mascara brush carefully and applying her makeup, Liza fought to ignore the memory that wasn’t really a memory.
It really was like a dream.
Just as her memories of her childhood were—until the day after that wreck, Liza really had no clear, concise memories.
Finishing the mascara, she picked up the lip gloss she normally wore before her gaze landed on the tube of color Stygian had packed.
He’d collected most of her additional clothes and accessories, including the makeup in her bathroom the day before. For the most part, he’d chosen things she preferred to use, with the exception of several tubes of colored lipstick.
She’d bought them to use at Halloween with the Goth costume she’d intended to wear on Trick or Treat night. Instead, she, Claire, Chelsea and Isabelle had been called out by the Navajo warriors who fought for the Breed Underground.