Page 54 of Claimed By the Damned

With a sigh, Drake looked down at his feet for a moment before peering up at her from under his lashes. “Stay with me?”

“Are you sure?” she asked, fidgeting nervously. “You only just agreed to give this a try, and I don’t… I don’t want to push you or anything.”

Crossing the room in a couple of strides, he immediately picked her up and carried her to the bed. When he laid her down, he kissed her softly. “I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t sure.”

She nodded and brushed the hair out of her face. “Okay. I was just trying to be considerate and all that.”

Crawling onto the bed, he settled on top of her. Her legs parted to give him room, and he balanced his weight on his elbows so that he didn’t crush her. Even with her curves, she was a tiny thing compared to him. “Well, stop it.”

“Alright, geez,” she laughed. “Sorry for trying to be nice.”

Drake stared at her, taking her in. Her soft hair was splayed out across the pillow, and her eyes twinkled with contentment in the soft light filtering in from the window. The stress and worry that her face had held over the last few days was easing, and that knowledge made him smile.

“God, you are beautiful.”

Her cheeks flushed with color at his words, and she squirmed beneath him.

“Tell me something about you that I don’t already know,” he pressed.

Amara chewed on her cheek in thought. “Um, I have a weird obsession with pigs?” she offered.

Chuckling, he rested his forehead against her collarbone. “Of all the cute fluffy animals you could have chosen, you chose pigs?”

“Yes,” she said with a giggle as she ran her fingers through his hair. He shivered at the contact. “My mom gave me my first stuffed pig, and it just escalated from there. What about you? Tell me something?”

He lifted his head. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. Anything. I don’t know much about you, except for how big your dick is and how hard you like to fuck. Just give me something so that I can know you just a little bit better.”

He thought for a moment. There were a lot of things he could tell her, a lot of random tidbits that would appease her desire to get to know him. However, there was one thing that he should tell her because it would explain why he had been such an asshole to her. She deserved to know the truth, especially if they were going to make things work between them.

Reaching up, he brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “I was a part of a pack up until the time I was about eighteen,” he began.

She froze beneath him, the smile fading from her face as if she knew what he was about to divulge.

“My father was actually the alpha, and when he claimed my mother, he did so knowing that she wasn’t his fated mate,” he continued before he lost the nerve. “They were happy, for a time, had me, and life seemed to be going pretty well for us. Then, my mother met someone else, someone she claimed to love more than life itself. It eventually came out that the two of them were sleeping together behind my father’s back, and when he tried to put an end to it, the man killed him and took over as the alpha. The moment he did, he banished me to become a rogue because I wasn’t his heir. And my mother didn’t do shit to stop him.”

“Oh,” she breathed. “Is that what you’ve had trouble telling me?”

He nodded, refusing to meet her eyes. Instead, he focused on his finger as he brushed it down the side of her neck. “It’s not something I’m proud of. I didn’t do anything to protect my father, and my own mother disowned me. She’s the reason that I’ve been so closed off, so against this bond between us and everything it represents.”

“And now?” she asked, shivering beneath his touch.

The corner of his lips tilted up ever so slightly. “What’s life if not a series of risks? I can’t let my past dictate my future anymore; that’s no way to live. I can’t let it decide whether or not I get to be happy. The only one who can decide that is me, and you showed me that. And I want to be happy with you, Amara. Well, you and those two idiots down the hall. I figured my own happiness was worth the risk. That you are worth the risk.”

Amara cupped his face with her tiny hand, turning his gaze to hers. “I’m not your mother, Drake. I would never betray you the way she betrayed your father.”

Gripping her wrist, he pressed his lips against her palm. “I know that now. And I meant it when I said I was sorry about the way I’ve been treating you. I never meant to hurt you.”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. I understand now, and I’m not blaming you for it.”

It was too much. She was forgiving him way too easily. She should be angry with him for the way he had treated her, just like he was angry with himself. He would never forgive himself for that, and he knew that he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her.

“No, it’s not okay,” he corrected. “You deserved better. You still deserve better. But fate seems to believe that the four of us belong together, so who am I to argue with fate.”

With a smile, Amara tugged his head down so that she could kiss him. She gripped the nape of his neck and tilted her head, angling the kiss so that it could deepen. His cock, which was already half-erect, hardened instantly.

He brushed his tongue along the seam of her lips, and she opened for him, their tongues tangling and their breathing becoming faster and more uneven. He may not have ever brought a girl home to sleep overnight with him, but he had definitely never kissed one like this either. It felt right, having his mate below him while they explored each other’s mouths. But it still wasn’t enough for him. He wanted more, a deeper connection. He wanted all of her.

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