Page 130 of Never Submit

She steps between my legs, reaching out to take my face in her hands, and the role reversal has me squirming. Not in a bad way. “I’m not sure what’s going on,” she says, biting her lip, “but it seems to me we’re in uncharted waters.”

“A romanticanda pirate,” I joke.

“I’m trying to be serious here,” she chides playfully. “I have more than one mate. It’s a fact. You are my mate and I adore you, but so is Mathis and I adore him too. We are going to have to find a way to coexist. The three of us.”

I stare at her, her skin so soft against mine. “What about?—”

She stifles a chuckle, knowing where my mind has gone. “Dax is something else. I’m not sure about him, but I know I’m drawn. The same way I was to you and to Mathis. And to Torin.”

I jerk slightly at my alpha’s name.

“You really want to talk about them now?” I run my hands along her sides until I reach the hem of the dress andslide my way underneath it. Touching her bare skin and loving the way gooseflesh erupts.

She shakes her head. “No. I want to hold you. To soothe your hurt feelings.”

“Don’t treat me like a baby,” I scold her. “Otherwise I’ll have to spank you.”

Ren wraps her arms tighter around me. “Is that a promise, Noble?”

It’s a sweet moment where it’s just the two of us and those feelings of hers. Those feelings ofmine.

I pray to any fucking god or goddess who will listen that she’s never taken from me.

Chapter 30

Torin

Fucking Ren.

With the wedding nearly on me, she’s the only thing I think about. Consuming me. She makes me think of sex, of what-if scenarios that can never be. She’s in the middle of every bit of bedlam we experience in this camp and my beta is furious with me because of her.

Because of me.

It’s my fault. Of course it’s my fault.

I stalk over to the cabin’s small window and stare out at the lake. I miss the city, my building. I miss my office, my desk, and the power I felt there.

I don’t belong here.

Circumstances dictate sacrifices be made, but even sending Noble and Dax out to hunt for Andras brought us up short. It’s as if every step I take ends up being the wrong one.

The door clicks and it’s loud as a shotgun.

It’s her, Ren. I know it before I even turn around. Her intoxicating scent—her presence—leaks into the space and invades my senses.

I’m at the edge of everything, the pressure on my control threatening to burst. All because of her. Having issues holding back my urges is a complication I’ve never had before.

And I hate her for it.

The need goes against my wants. It dissolves common sense like spun sugar in the rain. The deep calling of blood, speaking directly to the beast within me.

I know exactly what she’s been doing. My wolf rises immediately.

I refuse to be stripped down to animalistic demands. What happened with me, her, and Noble in the billiard room had been a mistake. A crack in my resolve.

It won’t happen again.

“Go away, Ms. Wexler,” I say without turning. “You don’t belong in my office.”

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