She growled, raking her nails down his thigh.
“Ellen,” he bit out. “Dammit.” His hand cradled the back of her head. Her silky hair against his palm, the lick of her tongue around his shaft, the vibration of her growl along his dick. He groaned and stared down at her. “Fuck,” he said again.
There was nothing as erotic as seeing him disappear between her lips. Her eyes were closed now, the light scrape of her teeth and the tightening of her grip on his erection making him throb and pulse in her mouth. He couldn’t wait. Or stop. Her eyes fluttered open as he came, watching as he arched into her, a broken groan tearing from his chest.
He slumped against the wall, panting and weak. While Ellen stood, smiling victoriously, in front of him.
“Clean yet?” she asked, yawning and stretching like a cat. A very pleased-with-herself cat.
“Sleepy?” he asked, slightly breathless.
She nodded.
“Good.” He was, too. With any luck, he’d sleep out of pure exhaustion. He turned off the water, wrapped her in a towel, and led the way out of the shower stall. Five minutes later, they were crawling into his bed.
“Sleep. For now.” She rolled onto her side and burrowed under the covers but reached back for his hand. With a sigh, she placed it on her hip and relaxed.
Hollis flipped off the bedside lamp and lay still. He concentrated on the beating of her heart, the way her respirations grew longer and deeper, and the slight twitch she made as she slept. Peacefully.
She was his responsibility now, whether she saw it that way or not. Whatever life had thrown at her, she’d survived. And now he’d make damn sure nothing happened to her. The glimpse into her past had jump-started a primal instinct. Now the urge to protect ruled everything else.
He stared down at Ellen, feasting on her as she slept. Here was his reason to fight. He owed it to her to acknowledge the wolf he’d caged inside himself. Ellen’s past had brought the wolf raging to the surface. It had demanded justice, demanded violence. Hollis feared the beast would tear his way out of his body, if his heart was strong enough.
The wolf had retreated, and his body seized from the flood of endorphins. Then—nothing. He’d need his wolf’s help to beat Cyrus. Shifting might be impossible, but they’d find a way to make it work.
For Ellen’s sake.
Now the wolf lurked in his mind, remaining silent after being so long ignored.
She rolled over, her hand searching across the mattress for him. He smiled, lifting her hand and placing it on his stomach. With a sigh, she drifted back to sleep.
He could still feel her on his fingers, taste her on his tongue. All he wanted was to claim her. Rational thought and planning had taken a back seat to raw hunger and need. Losing control was new. She made it easy.
He ran his hand down her back, watching the smile that creased her face. Even in sleep, she responded to him. That was all it took to make him throb with need again. He couldn’t help it. Being buried inside of her was heaven. Nothing compared. Nothing.
Nothing compared to the hell her memories had put him through, either. He couldn’t erase the image of Isabel from his mind. He’d held her, smelled her, known her—loved her as Ellen had. And when Ellen lost her, he’d shared her grief. It couldn’t compare to what her mate had endured, he knew that, but it had damn near crippled him.
William… Hollis didn’t want to think about William. The man had left he
r to defend their child. He’d come back on the end of a chain to see Ellen, bleeding and injured, screaming over their lifeless daughter. He’d given her no words of comfort, asked for no forgiveness. No, the bastard had told her to avenge him.
William had been proud and selfish, and Ellen had paid the price.
“What’s the matter?” she whispered, her face shadowed by the dark.
“Sorry, I woke you.”
Her fingers threaded with his.
He shook his head, a hard knot of anger lodged in his throat. But one look told him she wouldn’t let him off that easy. “Thinking. Your mate, William.”
She flinched and burrowed into his side. “He was. No longer. You are very different men. William and I agreed to mate. Our wolves chose each other—unable to resist.”
His brows rose. “Agreed? That’s different? Than this—us?”
She nodded. “It is. You and I were fated, pulled together no matter how hard we resisted.” Her hand pressed again his cheek. “Our bond is natural and final.”
“Maybe we should have resisted harder,” he teased, kissing her palm.