out how to slip beneath her defenses.
He understood how to soothe her spirit. He saw what she was and what she needed. It didn’t repel him.
Because the monster inside him, the beast shaped by his past, just as she had been by hers, was as desperate to demand her surrender as she was for him to seize it.
They fit. Two twisted souls whose needs matched. Their bodies and souls aligned. They liked to come together in a clash, their struggle wild and raw, full of teeth and fangs and ferocious passion. Animalistic. And when he took her, when he seized her hips and lifted her to ride his cock, the beast inside her finally threw back its head and roared with bliss. Because she felt safe and seen.
No one else knew her like Grif did. No one else controlled her and pleasured her and cared for her like he did. No one else was capable of taking her to the edge as he did.
He was her refuge, but he did not understand yet that she could be his as well.
She would find a way to change that.
“Despite my worries,” she pressed a kiss to the hollow of his neck, feeling brave, “you find way to make me feel lighter.”
“I’m glad.” His fingers played in her hair, sending tiny shivers of pleasure cascading down her spine. “I’m going to have a little chat with Lana all the same.”
She reared back, causing a sharp tug at her scalp. “No. I work it out. You cannot fight all my battles.”
“For you? I’m ready and willing.”
She didn’t smile back.
“Okay. No interfering. But if there are any more problems,” he stretched and she grew momentarily distracted by the play of those perfect muscles rubbing against her, “you let me know.”
It took her a moment to recall they were still talking about Lana. “I will.” They were going to need to work on his inclination to swoop in and fix everything, but a little at a time. Right now, a change of subject seemed wise. “You called out in your sleep.”
A slight hesitation, but then the words slid from him easily, his tone back to teasing. “How is that possible? Somebody seriously wore me out.” He nipped at the tip of her ear.
Her lips tilted upward. She liked his flat teeth now. They had so many good uses. Still, she sensed the deflection beneath and, because she was determined to be brave, she caught his strong jaw between her hands. “You say, ‘help me.’”
He blew out a breath. “Yeah, happens sometimes. Just a bad dream.” He pressed a kiss to her palm. “Less these rotations than before. For a while, the memories were back and uglier than ever.”
“Why do you think?”
He shrugged, but she could see by the way his jaw clenched he wasn’t as casual about the topic as he pretended to be. “It was hard caged below in the prison mines. I don’t like feeling helpless.”
He’d said so before and it made sense. He was so vital and dominant. It wasn’t in his blood to submit.
“That’s not only reason though?” She held her breath, wondering if he’d shut her down.
“No.” He rolled onto his back, but he took her with him so that his side was pressed to her front. “That’s not all. Finding Hope and Melody, seeing what happened to them and their mom and all the slaves.” He blew out a breath and stared up at the tent ceiling. “It hit close to home. Brought back memories better locked away for good.”
She fought the guilt, but she doubted that would ever fully go away. Now that she knew him, she couldn’t bear to think that she had helped to put him in that place.
“Do you think it is good to lock away bad memories?” She wondered the same about her own.
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “No idea. Probably not. I just do what works.”
Her heart ached for him. For the horror of it all. “How you kill your father?”
He tensed beside her. “I choked him to death the rotation my sister took her life. Used the very same rope. Seemed like fitting justice.”
“Grif.” She pressed closer to his side.
“I wasn’t caught. No one had cared what happened to a worthless drunk like him while he’d been alive. They cared even less about his death. I foraged on my own for a while, but was eventually found and sent to the orphan barracks. It was there I was recruited