But he didn’t. It was the same as always. He wanted her for sex, not for life.
And she wouldn’t complain because she wanted him too. But she also wanted more.
After Magic mated, Owyn went to visit Tana and the dogs. He didn’t even tell her he was leaving. The next day, he was just gone.
He pulled back, frowning. “Your scent’s changed.”
Doc shook her head.
“Did you have another while I was gone?”
Shit. The fact that he’d jumped right to that assumption hurt. And told her he’d probably done exactly what he was accusing her of.
“No,” she ground out. “I would never. You know that.”
“Then what is that smell?”
Sadness. The smell was sadness buried so deep she hardly ever admitted it was there. And he didn’t recognize it because what little time they spent together was all about arousal. Arousal cancelled out sadness. Usually.
“It’s nothing.”
His frown deepened to a scowl. “I don’t like it. I want it off of you. I want…” His throat worked around a swallow. “I want you to smell like me.”
But that wasn’t true. Showering immediately after their union was always a requirement. But if she was honest, it was probably her favorite part. Or maybe bittersweet. She loved the tender way he bathed and cared for her; she hated watching his scent go down the drain.
“For just a little while,” she said, hoping he was trying to tell her something different this time.
But he nodded. “For a little while.”
His mouth swooped in to kiss her lips, but she stopped him. She had to know first.
“Did you?”
The question barely made it past her voice box. If he was with another female it would crush her. She’d be dust in the palm of his hand. They’d made a promise in the beginning. They’d never break the clan’s no-mating pact, and always fulfill their sexual needs with each other. There was no way to know for sure if Owyn had kept his part, but she had.
His eyes narrowed. “If I had, do you think I’d be here right now, needing you so fucking bad I want to kill somebody?”
That wasn’t an answer.
“Just tell me,” she snapped. “I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”
Those words weren’t true. She could never handle something like that. It was why she’d joined Magic’s clan in the first place.
Owyn fumed. He was strung so tight, he was mentally more animal than man. Whatever was going on with him, he needed a release.
“I’m going to fuck you now, unless you stop me.”
She couldn’t stop him. Oh sure, she could say no, and he’d honor that. Owyn was a good man. But her heart, her body, it bent to his will no matter what. She needed this pairing as much as he did. And inside, her cat wailed for him.
She needed and wanted him just as badly as he did her.
It was their bond. They were secretly mated. Her secret pleasure, her secret torture.
She had one final thought as he prepared her for his body.
What would their secrets do to them before it was all over?
And then she lost herself in her mate’s attention.