Chapter 6– Mark Me

Lori's POV 

I stood there like a fool with my heart cracking open all over again, watching Silas press Janie against the boards of the rink like she was the only woman in the world who had ever mattered to him, his hands roaming the swell of her hips while her fingers tangled in his hair, and I felt that familiar sting behind my eyes that I had promised myself I wouldn't give in to anymore... but there it was anyway, a single tear slipping down my cheek before I could even think to wipe it away.

"You're crying."

I flinched at the sound of Dante's voice, and I remembered that he was behind me all these while. When I turned to stare at him, his gaze was already locked intensely on me.

"I'm not crying..." I said in a small voice. "Looking at them hurts, yes." I told him honestly, "but to cry for him? Never again."

"It hurts..." he murmured at that and took a step closer to me, close enough that his cologne seeped into my nose.

My eyes unconsciously looked up to meet his. He was so tall that I had to even crane my neck to see him, but Dante hadn't stopped closing the distance between us.

"What..." I gasped and took a step back. "What... What are you doing?"

He didn't answer for a full second as he reached out to brush his thumb across my cheek where the tear had fallen, showing me the wetness on his skin with a raised eyebrow that made my stomach flip.

"I'm just showing you that you're more than hurting." He muttered, and his eyes left mine, and through its reflection, I could see his gaze locked at Silas and Janie down below.

"I'm fine." I stepped back from him instinctively, trying to put space between us because something about the way he was looking at me made my skin feel too tight and my breath came too shallow, and that was the last thing I needed on top of everything else. "I should get back to organizing my supplies before practice ends."

"Wait." His hand caught my wrist before I could escape, and his grip wasn't painful but it was firm enough that I knew he wasn't asking, he was telling me to stay right where I was, and when I looked up at him with what I'm sure was a very confused expression, he tilted his head toward the glass where Silas and Janie had finally stopped kissing and were now walking toward the locker room with their arms wrapped around each other like a matched set. 

"Sir?" I tried to say professionally so he would get the message and move back, but he didn't seem to notice, instead his eyes dropped to my lips, and I felt my breath hitch.

 "What if I told you there was a way to numb that pain?" His voice had dropped to something lower. "A way to make you forget, just for a little while, that Silas Crane ever existed?"

"I don't—" I swallowed hard, my heart hammering so loudly I was sure he could hear it. "What are you talking about, Dante?"

He braced his hands on either side of my head, caging me in without actually touching me, "I'm talking about marking you, Lori. Mating you. Right here, right now, against this wall if you want." His eyes dropped to my neck, to the spot where my pulse was fluttering visibly beneath my skin, and I watched his pupils dilate as he stared at it like a starving man looking at a feast. "I'd bite you here." He reached up and traced the column of my throat with one finger softly, and I gasped despite myself because the touch sent electricity shooting down my spine. "Claim you. Make you mine in a way that you wouldn't remember your own name, let alone his."

My entire body froze at his words, but my cheeks flushed so hot I could feel the heat radiating off them, and I stared up at him with wide eyes because I couldn't tell if he was serious or if this was some kind of cruel joke designed to humiliate me further. "You're suggesting we... that you would..."

"I'm suggesting we fuck, Lori." He said it plainly, and his mouth curved into a smirk which made my knees feel weak. "I'm suggesting I take you to my bed and remind your body that it's capable of feeling something other than pain and betrayal and grief."

"This is insane." My voice came out breathless and shaky, and I hated myself for how much the idea appealed to me... how much I wanted to say yes, how much I wanted to feel wanted, how much I wanted to stop being the victim for just one night and let someone else take control. "I'm pregnant, Dante. I'm carrying another man's children. It would be... it seems wrong, doesn't it?"

Dante leaned in closer, close enough that his lips brushed my earlobe when he spoke. "Wrong?" He laughed softly, and the vibration of it traveled through my entire body like a shockwave. "Lori, sweetheart, that would have made it even more fun."

I stopped breathing entirely.

My hands came up between us, pressing against his chest to push him back, but my fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt instead of shoving him away, and I knew he could feel them trembling because his smirk only widened. "You're teasing me," I managed to say, though it came out as barely a whisper. "You're being cruel on purpose."

For a long moment, Dante just looked at me before his eyes lit up into something I couldn't place.

"Relax, little healer." He straightened his cuffs like nothing just happened between us. "I was joking."

Joking.

The word landed like a slap, and I felt my face drain of color even as the heat between my thighs lingered like a ghost that refused to be exorcised. "You're an asshole, you know that?"

"So I've been told." He was already walking toward the door, his back to me, and I hated how unaffected he seemed while I was standing here trying to remember how to form complete sentences. "Get some rest before we start practicing, Lori. You look like you need it."