Crave You

I rolled onto my back, lifting my hips to avoid this new tenderness.

“I’m okay.”

He sighed. “You must relax when Chase gets a hold of you. He gets even wilder than I.”

“What if I don’t want him?” I gave him a long look.

Victor leaned back.

He froze. “Careful what you ask for, Valerie.”

“I don’t want to be hurt.”

“You’re asking me to take on my brothers for you.”

~You’d never do that.~ From everything I knew of Victor I was sure of that. He was ruthless, but he and his brothers shared everything.

~They’d never challenge one another.~

~Especially not for me.~

But he was quiet. A strange sense of power and doubt seeped into me.

I looked up at him. “Would you?”

“Would you let me mark you?” There was a dangerous note in his voice that both frightened and exhilarated me.

~Is he saying if I let him possess me, he’d keep me for himself?~ That is his condition.

A moment of silence stretched between us as I hesitated to answer.

“Victor?” I bit my lip.

“Would you, Valerie?” he demanded, unrelenting.

“Would you hurt me?”

“Have I yet?” he asked.

I thought about it carefully. Things he’d done had hurt my body. But he hadn’t broken me in any way that was irreparable.

Katy and Alana had hurt me more when they cornered me, angry at the attention the Faber boys rained down on me.

“Tell me what you are thinking,” he demanded. He rolled from the bed, straightening his pants back over himself. He swept up his shirt and held it in a clenched fist.

“Well, what’s it going to be, Valerie?”

It was so strange hearing him saying my name.

“You have hurt my body,” I pointed out.

He frowned. “Yes, I suppose I have. It was not my intent.”

“What ~was~?” I challenged.

“To stem the physical pain to come, I’ll have to keep my brothers as leashed as I can.”

If anyone could have any hope of restraining them it would be Victor.

~He’s the only one they listen to.~

“The Mating Moon is already rising, and they will be far more overzealous in their hunger,” he continued, giving me a long look. “Especially for you.”

“Why me, Victor?” I asked in a rising voice. “Why not one of the other breedables?”

“We fancy you. We take care ~of~ you. We care ~for~ you.”

I blinked at him in astonishment. “You do?”

“Yes. That’s why we bring you food, and trade for clothes for you.”

“The whole village does,” I argued, wanting to deny the truth I knew a little longer.

He gave me a chiding look. Slowly blinking large green eyes as he waited for me to catch on. The yellow vanished from his irises as his gaze softened.

“It was you three that were helping me this ~whole~ time?”

“Yes. The others in the pack saw no reason to help you unless you were willing to…” He gave my body a long look before clearing his throat. “Service them.”

~To be a pack bitch, is what he means.~

I knew the females that were usually forced to be pack bitches were lowly ones that had no family to care for them.

~Like me.~ I swallowed. Fearing what could’ve been.

Everything I thought was so awful. I was now seeing in a different light.

~I could’ve become the plaything for the whole pack.~ ~Whether I wanted to be or not.~

I suddenly wondered if that’s what Sabar had been thinking when he’d let me in beyond the wall.

I scurried to a sitting position to glare at him. “Truly?”

“They thought they should have some return for their efforts,” he defended.

“So why didn’t you three think so?” I asked belligerently.

He shrugged and looked to the floor next to him. Suddenly uncomfortable.

I’d never seen him look unsure. The doubt didn’t compliment his features.

“We have time. We hunt for fun, and we thought someone should look after you. That’s why we chased you here to begin with.”

My heart stopped.

“It was you three that drove me to the wall?”

“You were so scared.” He shrugged, fiddling with my bedding. “And you were hurt.”

~My head.~

I stared at him astounded. My tone accusing, I said, “So you thought you were ‘looking after me’ just now?”

“No.” He shifted slightly, disconcerted. Gesturing to me, he tugged the tunic across my lap and over my chest. “This was pure pleasure and preparation. I have no other excuse.”

“Then why have you all gone from looking after me to sating yourselves with me?”

“Because the other females can’t satisfy us. They don’t smell like you, feel like you, sound or look like you. They’re not you.” He paused, brows bunching with some kind of emotion as he gestured to me.

“You smell like honey. You heat our blood. We’re drawn to you…crave you,” he admitted.