Page 17 of Claimed By the Damned

Knox brushed his fingers against the curve of her breast, pulling her out of her mind. His touch stung a bit due to the wound being fresh but the pain seemed to ground her. She looked over at him and realized that he appeared to be quite proud of himself. He obviously didn’t understand what he had done by marking her the way he did and making her mark him as well. He didn’t realize how much he had messed with her life. Or if he did know, he didn’t seem to care.

“You’re a dick,” she told him with a sigh.

She was not looking forward to the conversation she was going to have to have with her father after this. Nor did she have any idea how to even bring it up. Thankfully, she had a little bit of time to figure that out since Knox had marked her in a place her father never saw.

Knox just grinned at her in response. “I seem to recall you liking my dick.”

Amara slapped his sweaty chest, but she was unable to keep the smile from creeping to her lips. There was something about Knox’s playful nature that was infectious, no matter how hard she tried to avoid it. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

He gasped, clutching his chest where she had slapped him, and nodded his head toward Zeke. “You want to be careful, little bunny. We have a witness to domestic violence.”

Beside her, Zeke chuckled and shook his head. “I didn’t see shit.”

“In that case, hurt me a little more,” Knox stated, grinning wildly.

The sight of him so happy was both a blessing and a curse. The fact that she had been the one who made him happy elated both her and her wolf, however, she was also going to have to ruin that happiness by reminding him of how badly he had messed things up.

“You’d like that too much,” she quipped. “Besides, I’m trying to be serious here. Do you have any idea what you’ve done, marking me the way you did?”

“I made you mine. I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Knox replied instantly and without any remorse.

She sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Knox, I already told you that this wasn’t going to work. And now you’ve made it so we don’t have a choice. How do you not see a problem with that?”

When Knox looked over at her, all humor was gone, and his face had grown serious. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched. “That sounds like a fucking rejection.”

“It’s not a rejection,” she said quickly, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. “It’s just… we were supposed to take some time to figure things out. Not rush into it.”

“I don’t need time. I take what I want, what’s mine.” He was growing angrier by the second, and that hadn’t been her intention. She just wanted him to understand.

Clearly, there was no point in arguing anymore anyway. It was already done. His mark was already in place, and so was hers. There was no taking it back. They were going to have to figure out how to make this work, whether they liked it or not. Their futures were now intertwined in the most intimate way.

Amara looked over at Zeke, deciding to let Knox calm down a bit. “So, why didn’t you mark me then too?” she asked softly. “Was I not good enough or something?”

Zeke raised an eyebrow as if she should already know the answer to that. “I was respecting your wishes, Princesa.”

Amara pressed her lips together in thought. She hadn’t expected that to be his response. Especially considering how easy it had been for Knox to convince him to touch her back down in the bar. She had thought that, once he lost control, there would be no stopping him. Apparently, he had far more self-control than Knox did.

Scrubbing her hands down her face, Amara let out a breath. “So, what are we supposed to do now?” she asked no one in particular.

“I could ask you to stay,” Zeke told her, brushing her hair out of her face. His touch was gentle. Sweet. It was the exact opposite of how he had been with her just a little while ago. “To move in here with us. But I don’t think that’s what you want.”

“It’s not that I don’t want it,” she told him honestly. “It’s just not possible. Every shifter wants to find their fated mates, you know that. And I am no different in that regard. But my… my home life is complicated. It’s not as easy as just accepting this and moving in.” She paused and glanced back at the door, the now familiar sting of hurt piercing her heart whenever she thought of Drake. “Besides, I think Drake might have some serious reservations about that too.”

“Man, fuck Drake,” Knox growled. Clearly, he was still pouting.

“He’ll come around. Things are complicated for him too,” Zeke added.

Swallowing hard, she sat up, still clutching the sheet to her chest. The guys may be perfectly fine with being butt-naked in front of each other, but she was still very much self-conscious about her weight.

This was too much. It was too much for her to handle and process all at once, and she was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. She ran her fingers through her hair and wiggled her toes, making sure that she had feeling in them again before she tried to move. She had a lot to think about, a lot to consider. She needed some time to figure out what she was going to do. There was no way she could reject them now, even if she wanted to. Not with Knox’s mark on her body.

As scary as it was for her to admit, Amara didn’t want to reject them. The pull between them all was far too strong, no matter how hard she or Drake tried to deny it. What happened between the four of them had proved that. As did how happy and satisfied her wolf was. She already felt so strongly for all three of them that it was both exhilarating and absolutely terrifying. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but it was a good one. She was just afraid of it all falling apart and never being able to feel that way again.

“I should go,” she said softly, climbing off the edge of the bed to find her clothes. She needed some time to think, and she couldn’t do that with them around. Not with the way they affected her.

“Wait, that’s it?” Knox exclaimed, propping himself up on his elbows. “You are just going to fucking leave?”

“I told you, Knox. My home life is complicated. I have to get back. I shouldn’t have even stayed this late.”

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