Cazz in that very first moment I’d ever seen him, walking towards me out of the dark like an apparition manifesting out of hell itself—tall, broad, so strong, and so cold…
…Cazz, staring at me intently, his arctic eyes chill and his tone so full of self-satisfaction. “Kitten, I can make them do anything. I can heal—or I can stop their hearts with a word. I could, if I wished, tell you to die, right here. Right now. And you would…”
…Cazz standing with his head dropped between his arms, and his hands so tight on the bar in that room off the Den, his knuckles were white. The door shuddered with another barrage
~ JESSE ~He sighed. “Perhaps not. Perhaps your heart wants something you have no words for?”“No, Cazz… I’m serious. I didn’t offer myself to you because I thought I could beat you.”“Why did you offer yourself? Truly?”“Because you were the first man I met who it seemed like could genuinely protect me from the others.”A wave of feeling came through the bond then. That shriek in him. That hollow pain that cried out to be soothed.He had already pulled
~ CASIMIR ~‘I want to watch you get stronger, and stronger and I want to watch you win. I want to be proud to be your mate,. I am proud to be your mate, Cazz—’I’d already had her, just hours earlier. But when she spoke those words it didn’t just light a fire in my belly, it sent a bonfire through my veins. There wasn’t time to consider why, because my wolf threw itself forward as if she were prey to be devoured.I couldn’t speak. Could barely think as I descended on her, forced to take a grip on myself or I might actually have bitten her delicious tongue, I
~ CASIMIR ~Jesse’s eyes were closed, but her mouth was wide, her breath tearing in and out of her extended throat. As our bodies joined again and again, she gave small, sharp cries of joy. And just when I worried I might be too rough, her hand clawed down my back to grip my ass and pull me in harder.Oh fuck.“Jesse… Jesse, say it… say it again—”“S-say what?” she gasped.I shivered, my body flinching from the embarrassment, but my heart rushing towards it. But I couldn’t say it.‘Open your eyes,’
~ JESSE ~I just love you. I just love you and there’s nothing better than when you give yourself to me. It’s… beautiful.I hadn’t meant to say it, but it was there and it was true, and the bond was so deep and close, it just came out.I knew it was a terrible mistake the moment Cazz froze up. Desperation and fear rocketed through me and I held onto him, gripping him, one hand on his beautiful, square jaw, the other buried in his hair.“Don’t do it, Cazz, please,” I breathed, panicking. He didn’t move. His eyes were locked on mine and he stared like he was trying to see inside me.And he could. He could!
~ CASIMIR ~My entire body trembled as I worked to accommodate that torrent of power she’d imparted to me. My head was spinning, my heart was full, and the bond was alive. But it was overwhelming, all of it. So I shook, and I doubted and I tore in half, right down the middle of my soul.Half of me was terrified—this was exactly what I’d been warned about. Exactly what I’d feared. The closer we got, the stronger she would become. And as Alpha female, her power would draw the wolves. She fed off of me, and whatever she gained would benefit her in their eyes.It wasn’t even a matter of loyalty. They sensed it in her, and the animals within followed that kind of power w
~ CASIMIR ~ My father stared at me, power crackling and boiling in the air behind him. I rushed to soothe his suspicions, raising my hands in surrender, which was the only kind of submission he’d accept. “No, no, Dad! I just meant, that’s the hierarchy—if the male dies, the Alpha female is supposed to be the one who leads until the next Alpha takes the—” “And what do you think it does to her if she believes that’s her due? What would you do if you knew that with one step you could snap my neck and take it all fo
~ JESSE ~Cazz was gone the next morning when I woke up.When I realized he was gone, I sat quickly, heart racing. My body wanted to panic. But the moment I was awake he was in my head.'Good morning, mate.''Oh, Cazz. Thank God. I thought you'd run away again.''No, sadly I was called out of the furs by Ghere. The throne needed me. But I'll come to you as soon as I can. Are you meeting Maya this morning?''Yes.''Good.'There was a hea
~ JESSE ~Maya burst into cackling laughter when I delivered Cazz’s message—which made me giggle too, but would disappoint him, I suspected. He had wanted to piss her off.I watched her face and tried to fix the memory in my mind to share with Cazz later, because I couldn’t reach him from here in her cave—a fact that made my chest a little cold.This morning I had almost turned around and fled back to my quarters when I was halfway to Maya’s cave, because I could feel Cazz fading. But I had made myself keep going. He needed space, he was going to get it. And I would survive.He’d said the link would come back when we were closer. I just prayed he was right. And that he didn’t take