Page 81 of Piece You Saved

“I should let you sleep,” I say, but I don’t move.

Neither does he.

We stare at each other.

He’s breathing harder with each passing second, and it’s only when I notice it that I realize I am as well.

He cups a large, warm hand around my hip.

I try not to take pleasure in the fact his eyes are a little less bleak than they were before. But I do. His gaze dips, and with all the attention he’s paying my mouth, I can’t stop myself from touching my bottom lip with the tip of my tongue to moisten it.

His fingers flex on my hips as he lowers his head so slowly that I know he’s waiting for me to push him away like I did before. I hold my breath, my gaze locked with his.

My hands are gripping the front of his shirt, and I have no memory of when it happened. Recently, I think. When my fingers tighten in the silky material, he pauses.

I draw him closer as I rise to my tiptoes. The hard lines that make up his mouth become my sole focus. So does the need to taste them. And him.

He releases a soft breath that could almost be of relief if it weren’t for the fact his eyes are burning.

I should be stopping him, but I won’t. Ever since I saw that picture of the three men with haunted eyes on Aden’s wall, they’ve called to me on a level I don’t think I will ever understand. But I want them, I need them, and I think I always will.

And so, I kiss a man I know I shouldn’t, and he kisses me back.

That first touch is soft. Light. Yet something in me loosens and unfurls. Relaxes.

I let my eyes drift closed as he strokes a hand up my back and makes a fist in my hair. Slanting his mouth over mine, he gives me a deeper kiss as he draws me into the hard warmth of his body. He tastes like hot passion, sharp need, and it leaves me wanting more of his kisses.

The hand in my hair tightens a second before he groans, a hungry, needy sound he spills in my mouth. I echo it, wanting to feed that hunger as he feeds mine.

I’m sliding my hands under his shirt, needing skin-to-skin contact when a growl rumbles up from his throat and into my mouth.

He thrusts me away from him.

I yelp as I land on my ass, throwing my arms out to stop myself from rolling right over my head. It doesn’t hurt. Maybe it does at the time, but my focus is elsewhere.

“Dariel?” He’s half-turned away from me, his back a stiff line and his jaw just as tight.

His eyes snap open, and an enraged wolf stares back at me.

Claws burst from his fingers. White fur sweeps over his jaw and cheeks. He snarls as he lunges.

Right at me.

A scream pours from my lips as a hand grips the back of my t-shirt and yanks.Hard.

Suddenly I’m in motion, my hair whipping me in the face as I fly back. A white door slams shut, cutting off the view between Dariel and me.

I’m in the hallway when a heavy weight thumps the door, making my heart smash into my chest.

“Angel?” Kade sets me on my feet.

Another thump and a wet snarl draws my gaze back to that door.

“Angel, are you okay?”

I stare at the white wood. “Stupid,” I whisper. “Stupid. Stupid.Stupid.”

Kade is saying something as I rip myself out of his grasp and sprint down the hallway and into my room, slamming the door shut. I’m safe now. But I’m shaking as I back up from the door to perch on the edge of the bed.

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