Page 88 of Feral

“Yer my mate.”

And just like that, I was furious again. My entire body went hot as I absorbed what he’d just said.

He was just fine pulling out that card when it suited him, whenhewanted to touch me, or keep me from doing my job. But when it meant following what we both wanted, he told me it was fake, that it was just part of the mission.

Tears filled my eyes but it was less about being hurt this time and more about being so angry that I almost couldn’t breathe.

“I can’t believe you,” I hissed.

“Daphne—”

“As you keep reminding me, we are mates in name only.”

“That doesn’t matter!”

“Yes, it does!”

“I’m tryin’ to protect ya.”

“Why?”

He huffed at me.

“Why do you think?”

“Because you care about me?” I asked.

“Aye.”

“But not as your mate.”

“I don’t understand—”

“No, you don’t, Fraser,” I said, my voice breaking, no matter how much I tried to keep it steady. “You want to be my mate when it’s convenient for you, but when it’s something that I want, thatwewant, we aren’t mates, are we? It’s fake, it’s a cover, it’s…it’s not anything more than a burden.”

“Daphne, naw, that’s not how I see it!”

“Yes, it is.”

“Yaaremy mate but it’s complicated.”

“No, it’s really not,” I swallowed down the fear trying to keep me from the truth, and forced the words out. “I want you. And I think you want me too, but you keep saying it’s not alright. But if we werereallymates, if that’s who I was to you, then we’d be locked in here fucking our brains out right now!”

“Aye, we would and you’d be terrified of me!”

His eyes blazed, chest heaving as the words roared out of his mouth.

I stared at him, shocked that he’d actually done more than tell me that I wouldn’t understand.

“Why would I be afraid of something I want?” I demanded.

“Oh aye, ya want me. But I’m just a fantasy, right?”

The way he said it made me flinch. It was full of pain and fear.

“I didn’t mean—” I began.

“You have no idea how much I want ya,” he stepped closer to me, his deep voice broken with longing. “Every moment since I bit ya, I’ve been in hell. No one has ever done this to me, Daphne, no one. Ya occupy my every thought, my every breath. There’s not a moment when the sight of ya doesn’t set me on fire. I’m complete when yer in my arms, at peace for the first time in my life. And yet, I also wanna to shred the clothes from yer body and bury myself inside of ya. I wanna to fill ya with my seed until yer belly rounds with my pup. I wanna to take every base instinct out on ya until neither of us can stand anymore.”

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