It was better this way. I was here for Audrey, and this was our night. Colton and I were here for the wedding, but that was all. Sure, he’d tied me down and fucked me hard only a few hours earlier, but I couldn’t miss the hands off vibe now.
Oh my God. That was it. The sex earlier had been punishment. He’d even said as much. He’d spanked me and tortured me with edging for what felt like hours. He was getting back at me for what had happened in the motel room.
I’d seduced him, and he’d punished me for it. Sure, I’d loved the punishment, but it made sense. That was it with him. Payback had been a bitch. And incredible.
I’d felt it before. The end. Knew when it was over. I took a deep breath, pasted a smile on my face. This was Audrey’s night. I couldn’t be upset with something that had barely started.
I’d never get what Audrey and Boyd had. Not here. Not now. Not with Colton. I should thank him for showing me what I wanted from a guy in the sack. What I needed and craved and aim for that. I needed to focus on what was going to last, and that was my relationship with my sister, so I got in line beside them, ready to dance away Audrey’s last night of being single. Go a little wild.
12
COLTON
* * *
Once again, sleep had been impossible.
Knowing I couldn’t possibly lay beside her without trying to mark her, I’d dropped her off at her guest bedroom last night with a kiss on the forehead when the limo had dropped us off.
I’d seen the hurt in her expression, then understanding. She knew I was rejecting her. She wasn’t an idiot.
There was nothing to be done for it. I couldn’t very well tell her I was dying to sink my teeth in her flesh.
That wouldn’t go over well. Instead, she thought I was through with her.
Far fucking from it. Maybe once I’d mated her, I’d be able to rest. Fates, I hoped so. Until then… I was going to be stuck in fucking purgatory.
I guessed this was what moon madness was all about. The wolf in you started going fucking nuts because he hadn’t claimed his mate. It felt worse than usual now, not only because it was a full moon in less than twelve hours but because she was under the same roof. Just down the fucking hall. Fuck, I could hear her tossing and turning.
Watching her at Cody’s had been torture. Men had zeroed in on her, and I couldn’t blame them. I’d wanted to rip their heads off, but Marina was a vision. Sassy, fun, lighthearted. She might be small, but she lit up a fucking room or an entire bar. And she hadn’t been the one wearing the God-awful t-shirt and tiara.
Fuck, I ached. Needed. I would’ve thought finding her would make him calm down, but it was getting worse.
Hour by hour. Minute by minute. How was I going to handle this through the full moon much less for another school year?
All I could think about was fucking the lights out of her and then sinking my teeth into that sweet flesh of hers at the nape of her neck. Having her come while I made her mine, filled her with my seed, marked her inside and out.
How had Boyd done it without endangering Audrey? He’d obviously been successful. But that was one of the reasons mating a human was forbidden. We didn’t hurt women. Period. But when it came to this, there was no way around it. That was why Boyd was the only shifter I knew who had mated a human. It came from the old days, before modern medicine, when any kind of flesh wound might mean infection and death. That wasn’t even considering the possibility of hitting a major artery and killing her right away. Humans were also off-limits due to the increased possibility of birthing a defective shifter—a pup who couldn’t shift.
There was a time when I would’ve considered that the worst possible outcome. But here I was, dying to mate a human and put my pups in her belly. And if the halflings couldn’t shift?
Well, that would be all right. As long as they were healthy and happy, I wouldn’t give a shit. That meant I’d have Marina at my side where she belonged. Not across the fucking hall.
I wondered if Boyd felt the same about that halfling he was growing. I imagined he did.
Giving up on sleeping, I’d gone for a crack of dawn run—in human form—because we only let our wolves out up on the mountain. I’d pushed through ten miles and still felt like my head was going to pop off with the pent-up energy.