Page 58 of Watch Me Burn

He doesn’t answer me. Unless I’m wrong, he looks tooashamedto respond.

Oh, that’s not gonna work.

“Conall. Please. I want to know. Remember, I’m new to being a supe. I barely know about any of this. You have to talk to me.”

“It has to be your decision,” is all he says. “Your choice.”

I get that. But it takes two to tango—and, in this case,mate. He wants me; the erection trying desperately to nestle itself against my heat is proof of that. Whatever else is going onbetween us, I know I want him. But if he only feels this way because of a mythical entity only wolf shifters believe in…

“What about you? What do you want? And be honest with me.”

“I always have,” he grumbles. “I always will.”

I wait.

He exhales, his warm breath fanning the tendrils of my hair surrounding my face. “Okay. What do I want, Red? I want to fuck you.” He snaps his teeth. “To bite you.” He swivels his hips, pushing his erection up against me. “To claim you.”

Conall’s head drops, sucking on my neck. I throw mine back, giving him full access to it as he slips his hand under my shirt. His hand finds my tit, and he squeezes it. “Tokeepyou.”

I dig my fingers into the muscles covering his shoulder blades, clutching to me while tilting my chin up in both invitation and dare.

And then I say three words that change my life as I know it forever—again.

“Then do it.”

CHAPTER 18

CHALLENGE

Conall’s eyes are the prettiest shade of gold. A hint of softness on an otherwise rugged wolf, they’re one of my favorite parts of him. They’s just so damn expressive, and like a freaking mood ring, I could usually tell what he’s thinking by the way his eyes react.

Just now? They flash so brightly, they gleam through the darkness of the cave as he peers down at me.

He doesn’t release his hold on me even as he goes suddenly still. “What was that?”

“You heard me.”

“Bridget… did you justchallengeme?”

Challenging a predator shifter… not the smartest idea, but you know what? I’m sick and tired of pretending that I don’t want this man.

Male.

Conall.

I’ve done a lot of thinking. From when I first learned how a shifter reacts around his prospective mate, to realizing what all those poor dead bunnies were about, and then his public claiming of me when his jealousy got to be too much for him.

I’m his mate. Earlier this afternoon, when I bought that sandwich, I was making a conscious decision. I went to Conall’s house with the express intent to feed him.

Because if I’m his, then he’s my mate, too. Fate put us together. Fate or the Luna or the moon or however he wants to explain it. I might not be a wolf, but I am a witch, and I’ve felt this bond we have almost since the beginning. Even when he made me so angry, I was drawn to him, and now I know why.

All along, I’ve been telling myself that I was looking for the fire opal. That that was what I was looking for.

Wrong.

I haven’t find the fire opal yet. There’s a chance I never will.

But I found Conall, and that means I found something even better.

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