Page 12 of Forbidden

Ira licked his dry lips. He flattened his hand on Wolf’s chest. “Let me up.”

Wolf straightened, grabbing a paper towel and wiping the cum from their stomachs. Ira’s face burned as he set his clothing to rights. He shouldn’t have let this happen. Heshouldn’t have come here at all. It was too dangerous to even entertain the notion ofthem.

“I… I have to go,” he said.

“What? Wait,” Wolf said, leaping to his feet as Ira made for the door. “You’ve been having these visions about us. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?”

“No, it can’t mean anything,” Ira said. He grabbed the doorknob, but Wolf’s big hand appeared over his shoulder, holding the door shut. Ira pulled, but it was no use. He was no match for a normal human of Wolf’s size, much less a demon with supernatural strength. “Let me go, Wolf.”

“No, I don’t want you to.” His free arm curled around Ira, his nose tucking in the curve of Ira’s neck. He was so warm. The urge to lean back against him was impossible to deny, and Ira wilted, laying one arm on top of Wolf’s.

“You’re going to get us both killed,” he protested weakly.

“You said yourself you haven’t seen that.”

What other option was there? The guild wouldn’t let him justchooseto leave. He was a prophet. Their whole operation hinged on receiving visions from people like him. And even if he could leave, even if he could make the visions he’d seen come true, visions where demons and humans worked together in harmony, the guild wouldn’t stand for it. They would hunt them down.

“You can’t just walk away,” Wolf said, pitched in a way that sounded pleading.

Had he already chosen sides tonight by coming to Wolf’s rescue? Had he already turned his back on the guild? Did he really have any free will at all, or was he always going to wind up here, no matter how much he fought it?

Chapter 4

Wolf was beginningto understand what Talon and Malachi must’ve felt when they met their humans. Seeing Ira rush toward the door had awakened something primal and possessive in him. He didn’t want him to go, didn’t want him to return to a guild that told him to starve himself for their own ends and made him feel unsafe for the visions he’d been having aboutthem. The urge to keep him there completely consumed him. He would do horrible things to stay in Ira’s orbit—but nottoIra, no. Ira needed to be protected, and Wolf needed to be the one protecting him.

A prophet of the Lord was having visions abouthim. Wolf. A nobody halfling who’d never meant anything to anybody. He was important somehow, and now that he’d had a taste of Ira, he didn’t want to let him go.

“You’re mine,” he growled into the soft skin of Ira’s neck, laying his hand flat against Ira’s stomach. “You’re meant to be mine, and you know it. That’s why you’ve been having these visions about us, isn’t it? It’s supposed to happen.”

Ira shuddered, covering Wolf’s arm with both handsnow, gripping tight but not fighting him off. It was as though his body was trying to tell him to stay, too, clinging to Wolf just as Wolf clung to him. “I can’t just abandon everything I’ve ever known.” But he sounded uncertain.

“Even if it leads to something better?”

Ira didn’t speak for a long moment, staring at the door distantly. Finally, he growled under his breath, hanging his head. “Crap.”

Wolf bit his lip, waiting. Ira’s hand slowly traveled from Wolf’s wrist to the deadbolt, latching it firmly. Breathing a sigh of relief, Wolf curled around him and kissed his neck. Something in him recognized Ira, a tenuous awareness that Ira was the puzzle piece he hadn’t even known was missing from his existence, and he’d do anything to keep him here.

“Good, good, thank you.” He rocked them from side to side, and Ira huffed out a laugh at the treatment.

“I think you’re right,” he said, his voice raspy with emotion. “I knew saving you would change things. I just don’t think I expected it all to happen so fast. I didn’t expect one action tonight to change the course of my entire life.” He turned in Wolf’s arms suddenly, his soulful brown eyes wide and serious. “You get that, right? This isn’t a quick fling for me. I’ll have to uproot my entire life. Nothing… Nothing’s ever going to be the same after this. For either of us. Actually, not just us. We’re not the only ones who’ll be affected by this.”

It didn’t sound crazy at all. It was reassuring, in fact. Maybe he didn’t know Ira well, but he trusted whatever this possessive feeling was. Ira was meant to be here. The last thing Wolf wanted was for him to leave, and here was Ira telling him he wouldn’t. Wolf already knew he couldn’t go back to the way things were before. Ira was like a breath offresh air after a lifetime underground. What he was doing before wasn’t living. It was just existing, drifting from moment to moment. Nothing gave it any meaning—until now. He didn’t need visions to tell him Ira was his. Something primal deep within him already knew it.

Wolf nodded, taking Ira’s face with both hands. “I understand. I’m telling you to stay anyway. We’ll go to your apartment right now, pack your clothes and whatever else you want to keep. Leave your phone there, leave anything they could use to track you. I’m not letting you walk back in there and wait until they discover us like Talon and Malachi did. We’re not risking your life like that. We’re not that stupid.”

Ira snorted.

“We’ll make you disappear, and they won’t be able to find you. You can stay here with me. You can tell me more about these visions on our way to your place. What’s our next step?” He swiped his keys from the breakfast bar.

He blew out a breath. “If you want me to figure out our next step, I’m going to need sleep and another twelve hours of fasting, probably.”

Wolf scowled. He didn’t like the idea of Ira starving himself for any reason. Besides, now that he’d mentioned Talon and Malachi, he knew where they needed to go next. Ira had said they wouldn’t be the only ones affected by Ira’s decisions tonight, and he was right. The others needed a heads-up about Commander Sloan’s new orders.

“Actually,” he said. “I know what our next step has to be.”

“What’s that?” Ira asked.

Wolf locked the door behind them and draped an arm over Ira’s shoulders, delighting when the man leaned automatically into him.

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