Page 103 of True North

“What are you doing?” I croak as she walks toward me with a sensual swing of her hips. Her eyes focus only on me, her body language warm and inviting despite the day.

“Let’s call it stress relief,” she whispers as she reaches my side of the bed, slinging a leg over my lap and settling on top of me.

I’m sure as hell not complaining.

I put my hands at her hips, my fingers digging into her flesh so I can admire the fingerprints left behind when I move them to her thighs. She trembles slightly, which makes me hesitate. “Are you sure you’re okay enough for this?” I have to ask because it feels like nervous trembling, not the trembling of a woman so turned on she can’t be still. And she’s certainly already shown me that difference.

“No,” she sighs.

“No?”

“No, I’m not okay. I’m not okay tonight, I won’t be okay tomorrow, hell, I probably won’t be okay next month. But right now, all I want is to forget. Can you make me forget, Dominic?”

What red-blooded male could ever say no to a request like that?

I run my hands up her sides in answer, letting my fingers caress the sides of her breasts where they slope slightly. Her nipples are hard for me. I put a hand on her shoulder to pull her closer so I can put my mouth on them, tasting the delicate pink peaks.

She whimpers as I tease her with my teeth, lightly grazing them against her. She’s so responsive for me. I’m hard as a rock under her, my dick desperately seeking out her warmth despite the layer of my boxers between us.

“Dom,” she breathes out my name as her fingers brush over the top of my head. If I had enough hair for her to grab, I have no doubt she’d be grasping at fistfuls of it by now. Instead, she moves her hands to my shoulders and squeezes as I feast on her perfect tits, wringing little gasps of pleasure from her.

Her hands slide down my chest. "More," she pleads, desperately grasping at the waistband of my boxers. All the sexual tension from a moment ago vanishes completely. My Luna needs more than a desperate-to-forget fuck.

I grab her wrists and look her straight in the face. She looks like she's seconds away from cracking, and if she does, I know it's going to fucking ruin me. I flip her over on the bed and trade positions, climbing atop of her as if we're continuing what she started. Instead, I use my body to pin her down and give her a firm kiss, pulling away before she pulls me in deeper.

"Sex won't fix anything," I tell her. I can't believe the words are coming out of my mouth—I know now from experience that the best feeling in the world is sinking my dick into my mate—but nothing is more important than making sure she’s going to be okay.

Right now, she's fragile. Breakable. All the things I worried she was when I caught that first glimpse of her at eighteen.

“Fine.” Tess blows out a long breath and relaxes under me. It’s the first time she’s relaxed all day, but I can still see the worry in her eyes. It’s eating her alive, what happened today.

“Which part of you hurts the worst?” I ask her. I do my best to soften my voice, but the question still comes out too harsh. I’m on edge myself, the adrenaline spike from seeing Tess show up when I told her not to hasn’t quite faded all the way away. Where her lingering adrenaline is making her worry about everyone and everything, mine is making me yo-yo between concern and anger.

“Nothing hurts. I’m fine.” A few small wrinkles form just above the bridge of her nose.

“You sure?” I run the back of my fingers down her arm, smirking when goosebumps break out. I hear a little catch in her breath as I make it to her right hand, lightly grazing the palm. “Because it would be completely acceptable if you were carrying some tension after today.” Goddess knows my hands hurt just remembering what the hell her hands did today. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“Oh, it would beacceptable, huh?” She narrows her eyes at me. I’m relieved to see it; I like her better with a little fire in her.

“You know what I mean,” I tell her, moving my hand to her neck. I’ll never get sick of touching her mark, reminding myself it’s there and there’s nothing anyone can ever do to change that. “You’re small but tough. That doesn’t mean you can’t let your guard down in here. Let this—letme—be your safe space.”

She reaches up and cups my cheek, staring at me long enough to make me feel self-conscious. Anything could come out of this woman’s mouth. She’s good at catching me off-guard.

You are my safe space,she says across mind link, surprising me. After a second she adds,Asshole.

Ah, there’s my girl.

“Dominic?” she whispers my name.

“Tess.”

“How are we supposed to find out who was responsible for today? Are we going to be looking over our shoulders all the time now?” Finally, all of the anxiety she’s been carrying comes leaking out.

I don’t want to lie to her, but I’m not sure I have an answer to satisfy her. I already asked a team to look into things, though I’ll have to revise that in the morning now that Luca is otherwise occupied with Tess’s friend.

What a fucking mess.

“You know what?” It’s not a perfect answer but… “I think we’ll figure it out. One step at a time, yeah? Let’s focus on figuring out what’s going on with you and these powers of yours. Maybe even try to figure out how to give you a little more control over it. For now, we’ve won the war.”

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