Page 70 of Tempted By the Alpha Outlaw

It makes me feel like I can breathe again.

“You’re not scraps to me,” she whispers. “You’re not fragments. You’re whole, Colt. Maybe a little battered, a little rough around the edges, but you’re whole.” Her fingers graze over the bite mark again. And you’re mine.”

Her light seeps into every shadowy corner of me, filling the cracks I’ve tried so hard to ignore. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this—to deserve her—but I’m too selfish to push her away again. Not now.

Not when she’s here, looking at me like I’m her whole damn world.

I lean forward, pressing my forehead against hers, and I breathe her in. Her scent wraps around me, soothing the chaos inside, quieting the relentless storm that’s been raging since the day I clawed my way out of the Host’s grip. She smells like wildflowers and honey, like spring after a long, brutal winter.

She’s thawing me out, one kiss at a time.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I admit, my voice low and rough. “I’ve never…I’ve never had this before.”

Her hands slide back up to cradle my face again, her thumbs brushing against my cheekbones in slow, gentle strokes. “Neither have I,” she says. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

Together. The word settles heavy in my chest, foreign and strange. I let my hands find her waist, pulling her closer until there’s no space left between us. Her body molds to mine, warm and soft and perfect, and I feel my wolf settle in a way I didn’t think was possible.

“I don’t deserve you,” I murmur, my lips brushing against her temple. “But I’m not strong enough to let you go.”

She pulls back just enough to look at me, her eyes shining. “Then don’t,” she whispers, her voice daring me to argue. “Don’t let me go, Colt. I’m not asking you to be perfect. I’m just asking you to stay.”

I don’t say anything. I can’t. My throat is too tight, my chest too full of things I can’t articulate. Instead, I tilt her chin up and kiss her, pouring every unspoken word, every jagged piece of myself, into the press of my lips against hers.

She melts into me, her hands slipping into my hair, her body pressing closer. I lose myself in the taste of her, in the way she sighs against my mouth like she’s been waiting for this, like she’s been waiting for me. It’s not just a kiss—it’s a promise, one I’m terrified to make but even more terrified to break.

When we finally pull apart, we’re both breathing hard, her forehead resting against mine again. “I’m staying,” I whisper, the words raw but true. “For as long as you’ll have me.”

Her lips curve into a soft smile, and she brushes a kiss against my cheek. “Forever, then,” she says, her voice warm and certain. “Because I’m not letting you go either.”

25

MAGNOLIA

His words hang in the air between us, heavy and light all at once. I’m staying. It’s everything I wanted to hear, everything I didn’t dare let myself hope for. My wolf hums in satisfaction, her instincts settling, a low, steady thrumming ofmine, mine, minerunning through me.

But it’s the way he says it—the way his voice cracks, raw and vulnerable, like he’s handing me the last unbroken piece of himself—that undoes me.

He’s staying.

For me.

I press a kiss to his cheek, my lips brushing the roughness of his scruff. “Forever, then,” I whisper, and I know it’s corny…but it feels right. Like it’s the most true thing I’ve ever said. Like he would never judge me for it because he already knows.

When I pull back just enough to look at him, his eyes are dark, searching mine with an intensity that makes my breath hitch. His hands stay on my waist, anchoring me to this moment, but his fingers flex slightly, like he’s holding back.

Like he’s waiting for permission.

And I realize I want to give it to him. I want to give him everything.

My pulse quickens, my skin prickling with heat as the air between us shifts. I feel his breath against my lips, the faintest hint of hesitation in the way his hands tremble slightly where they rest on me.

I don’t want him to hold back.

“Colt…” My voice is barely above a whisper, and I swear I see his jaw tighten, his wolf stirring in his eyes as I say his name. I slide my hands from his chest to his shoulders, letting my fingers trail up the back of his neck into his hair, pulling him closer. “Kiss me again.”

For a moment, he doesn’t move, and I wonder if I’ve pushed him too far, if the weight of his past is too much for him to let go of. But then, his grip tightens on my waist…and he leans in.

Last night’s kisses were frantic, almost brutal, like he’d been dying for me for years. This one, though? It’s soft…and it melts me completely. Gentle at first, deepening, then his tongue slides across my lips, asking for entry.

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