He touched a thumbprint on her skin, a bite mark and two strawberries. “When my wolf is close, I get rough. I didn’t try very hard to hold back this time.”
She frowned at him. “I don’t want you to hold back. I want all of you. You don’t scare me.” She paused, thinking it over. “Well, sometimes, for just a moment, not because I think you’ll ever hurt me, but because the feeling is so amazing I’m afraid I can’t stay sane through it. Never be afraid to love me how you need to. I can handle rough. I love rough.”
He kissed his way down her neck. “Tell me whenever you’re afraid, Branka. We can stop until you feel safe.”
“That’s part of the perfection for me,” she admitted. “That delicious sense of being prey for your wolf. You have your wolf, and I have fire. So much, Zev. I burn so hot.”
His chin nuzzled her shoulder. “I love your fire, Branka.” There was a smile in his voice and his arms tightened around her.
“Sometimes I think from all those years locked in the ice, the fire just smoldered, sitting there, freezing, desperate to come out, and now, every time you touch me, it ignites the blaze.” She sighed, snuggling closer into him. “There’s so much heat in me, building and building and it starts spilling out and I can’t contain it. Then you put your hands on me or your mouth and I just go up in flames.”
He kissed the nape of her neck and bit down gently on her shoulder, sending chills through her body. She could stay there with him for all time, feeling safe and thoroughly loved.
Zev looked around the cave. It had been lit up with her fiery energy, but now it was dark and bleak again, no more red-orange glow, no red ground or flames crawling up the walls.
“I love you with all my heart and soul,” he said. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“Zev.” Branislava nuzzled his throat. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I can’t imagine you asking me if it’s okay for you to go hunting rogue packs.”
“Don’t try to compare the two,” Zev warned, bristling all over again. “When I hunt rogue packs, you’ll be right there with me. This is entirely different. I can’t possibly protect you when you try to remove this shadow from Damon. Better that I just kill him and get it over with.” He rose in one smooth, fluid motion, taking her with him, setting her on her feet. “Maybe that’s what I’ll do and the argument will be finished.”
She lifted her hand to smooth the lines carved so deep in his face. “We’re not arguing, Zev. I’m not arguing with you. I made a mistake. I should have talked it over with you before I opened my mouth. I’m afraid to face Xaviero. He always terrified me. The thought of him out there hurting other people is just as terrifying. Someone needs to stop him, and believe me, I wouldn’t mind taking the easy out and backing off, letting someone else take the lead against him.”
She waved her hands to clean and clothe herself. Zev tried not to smile. She was in a different outfit from the one he’d shredded. He followed her lead, refreshing his appearance.
“So you’ll tell the others you won’t be taking the shadow out of Damon.”
“If that’s what you want me to do,” she said, her gaze on his expressionless face. It was impossible to read him. “Zev, I want you happy. I want to please you. I don’t have any experience here, and you make it difficult sometimes. Do you really think I want to get anywhere near Xaviero?”
“Come here,” Zev pointed to the spot directly in front of him.
His voice turned her heart over. So much love turning his usual commanding tone to a velvet caress. Branislava moved without hesitation, stopping exactly where he’d indicated. Zev tipped her face up, his hands sliding along the curve of her cheeks and along her jaw, to her neck, tilting her face to his. His mouth came down on hers, not with his fury, but with such tenderness she felt the burn of tears behind her eyes.
His kiss was gentle, almost reverent. She felt love pouring into her mouth, down her throat, spreading through her body so that there wasn’t a single cell that wasn’t saturated with the intensity of his emotion. When he lifted his head, she touched her lips with wonder.
“I can’t believe you could do that,” she whispered.
“I can’t believe a woman like you even exists, let alone that I have the privilege of her belonging to me. I am a wolf, Branka. More, I’ve been an alpha almost from the day I was born. I’ve always been in the position of leadership. I expect that deference and when I don’t get it, the alpha wolf reacts in the way it would to keep the pack together. I can’t do anything about it. That’s my makeup. That’s who I am.”