into my voice, even Fire jumped to my assistance. Flame burned in my eyes, changing my vision into hues of red and orange.
For a split second the two women stared at me wide eyed, frozen to the spot. “Fuck. Off.” I snarled viciously. No way was I letting them ogle Connor’s glorious body, and he sure as shit wasn’t looking at any other naked woman. “Now!” I yelled.
A chuckle resonated from Connor, but he didn’t move from my embrace. He just waited, his gaze branding me as they gathered their shit and left.
As soon as we were alone I loosened my grip on him.
“Wow, that was so hot. But you don’t need to worry, I’m yours and only yours, I always have been.”
Possessiveness still rode me. “Prove it.” And I cupped his balls with one hand, running my other hand up over his wet body to cup his head and pull him down into a kiss.
There was no softness in our touches. The underlying awareness of the upcoming fights lay between us, driving me as I kissed and kissed him, only coming up for air when I needed to.
He rested his forehead against mine, peering into my eyes. I had learned that was something he liked to do. “Will they make you fight?” I asked the question I’d been frightened to ask before.
“I don’t know.” His voice was heavy. “I haven’t been in the ring for three years, but something’s changed and I don’t know what. Something tells me the warden doesn’t care about keeping any of us alive anymore…” His voice petered off, and he nibbled at my ear and neck as if he couldn’t help himself. “Like Zander said, we are running out of time.”
There was nothing else to say. My heart pounded painfully in my chest. I would ultimately survive, yet Connor could be ripped away from me in an instant. If he died it would shatter me. I grabbed him tighter, unwilling to lose contact with him.
“I can’t lose you,” I whispered against his lips, baring my soul and my heart to him.
He stilled and with his large hands he cupped my face, holding me gently. His vivid eyes held my attention, so intense I wanted to fall inside them and lose myself in that sea of blue. “And I will not lose you. No matter what happens I will always come back to you. Even if it’s in the next life, Ember. I love you. I always have.” And he kissed me sweetly, like he was giving me his heart and soul. This was pure Connor, no wolf. I kissed him back, trying to give him all of my heart too, the words I really wanted to say stuck in my throat. I did love him, so much. But fear stopped me; if I told him I loved him, it might jinx him; and then he would be taken from me just like before.
He pulled back and searched my eyes. I dropped my gaze to his chest. He leaned in and kissed my forehead tenderly. “It’s alright, Em, I understand,” he whispered against my skin. “When you trust that I will always be with you, that I will always find a way back to you, no matter what happens, then you’ll give me your heart.”
“Connor, you have my heart already, you always have.”
“Then that’s enough,” he said and kissed me as his fingers curled around my thighs and he lifted me. With my back against the wall he slipped his hard length inside me and made love to me slowly and thoroughly until we were both shaking and spent, our breath mingling as we came down from the cloud of pleasure. Unwilling to move, we stayed wrapped around each other under the warm jets of water until Kawan coughed loudly and yelled in, “You okay in there, boss?”
We both laughed. “I guess it’s time we moved,” Connor murmured, kissing me.
I agreed, and slowly unwrapped my legs from around him, biting his neck gently before we moved apart and got dried and dressed.
Chapter 22
Connor
* * *
The hundreds of speakers that were fixed to the rafters up above the guards’ platforms crackled into life and all noise in the gym ceased. I met Owen’s steady gaze and despite my stomach doing somersaults, I straightened my spine and lifted my chin. This announcement would be bad—for so many people. The warden wasn’t just bringing up the fight for money. Both Zander and I had come to that conclusion.