She pinched him, and he turned his attention to her smiling face. “What the hell? You promise me marking, biting, and then you almost don’t deliver?”
“Betsy. Um…” His own voice sounded foreign to him, as though he was listening to it from a distance. “Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay. Was that what your hesitancy was about? Were you worried I wasn’t okay? We had that whole conversation right before about what would happen. I gave you permission.”
He shook his head and drew her up against his chest before he rolled them until he was on the bottom. “The reality of it was different. I was so close to unacceptable—”
“No,” she interrupted him, “you don’t get to take the single best sexual experience of my life and alter it by making yourself to be some kind of scary wolf. You’re not. You were never going to hurt me. Sheesh, I may ask you to bite me daily to come like that.”
“Really?” He wasn’t entirely convinced she wasn’t trying to spare his feelings. . “It didn’t freak you out that my teeth changed and I bit you really hard?”
“No.” She waved her hand in the air. “Like I said earlier, there are certain things that should be bothering me, certain responses I’m having that should make me scared, but they’re not. Remember which one of us wanted to be chased?”
He grinned, stroking the silky strands of her hair through his fingertips. “Trust me, we both wanted that.”
“I should be certifiable right now and instead,” she yawned, “I’m sleepy.”
“It’s the wolf inside of you. You were always a werewolf. Those instincts were always there. They were repressed. Maybe it’s all falling into line because it’s somewhat of a relief for you to finally be who you should be.”
“Maybe.” She kissed him, and he petted her back. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. But wouldn’t you rather sleep?” Her scent had dulled. Her body craved sleep, and he would see to her needs if she wouldn’t see to them herself. How long had it been since Betsy had a good night’s sleep? He suffered from insomnia, but he’d be damned if she wouldn’t be rested in his care.
“I will. I may even drop off mid-question.”
He laughed, picturing the image like something out of a cartoon. “What do you want to know?”
“How old were you when you became in charge? When you took over as Alpha?”
“Oh.” He wondered what had sparked that thought in her mind. “I didn’t take over. I battled for it when I was twenty. When I won, I took control.”
“Hmmm.” Her voice was getting softer. She really might pass out at any time. “What happened to the last Alpha?”
“That’s not really for a late-night conversation. It won’t give you good dreams.”
She growled low in her throat, and he stared down at her. How had he ever imagined she was passive? “I’m not going to run away in fear. What happened to him?”
“I killed him.” He’d torn his throat out and had his blood dripping from his muzzle. Just stating that he’d killed him sounded much nicer.
“So you challenged him for Alpha, you won, and you killed him?” She drummed her fingers on his chest. Nothing about her scent had changed. Betsy really did seem to want to discuss this, right before sleep, after great sex, and it didn’t bother her at all. His little latent princess was becoming a full-fledged she-wolf.
“Exactly.” There was a lot more detail to all of that, but it seemed enough for the night.
“What made you decide to do that?”
He shifted his position a bit, her words biting into long buried memories he didn’t allow to surface into the light of his consciousness very often. “Shepherd was a bad Alpha. Werewolves kept dying under his leadership. He didn’t take care of us.”
“I’m sure he was.” In the darkness of his bedroom, with her face buried in his chest, it felt okay to answer her. He wasn’t so certain he’d want to discuss this over breakfast. Some things were better left put away. “But I meant, what prompted you to suddenly challenge him? Did you feel overwhelmed with the need one day, or did it happen over time? You could have died in that battle with him. You couldn’t have made that decision lightly. You wouldn’t even bite me without holding back.”
“Oh, well, actually it wasn’t me who thought it was time. Lucian came to me and let me know he thought I was ready and that Shepherd had hurt enough people.”
She yawned again. “Who was Lucian? I know you might have told me. I got a lot of information today.”