9. The Need

~ JESSE ~

I’d flinched when that wave of power left him, felt the impact in my bones like a sonic boom. And yet, when I took a breath and blinked, I was still myself, while every man around me cowered or knelt, all their eyes on the floor, every head bowed. Except Rake.

As if the wolf had seen it coming, he’d stepped back and away, and was obviously untouched. Stunningly, so was I.

Cazz hadn’t touched me with it.

I looked up at him, trembling. What was he doing?

He didn’t even look at me, just swept me up like I weighed nothing and carried me from the room without a backward glance.

His breath was harsh in my ear as he stormed through the maze of tunnels and hallways outside. Voices raised in protest behind us. But he ignored them completely, one hand under my knees, the other curled at my ribs, his chin low and brows pinched, eyes glaring—and glowing again.

I would have felt afraid because he looked enraged. But from the moment he’d let go of that power, I could feel him again. Could sense the tangle of anger, jealousy, thrill and desire that twisted together inside him.

I stared at him and saw him as the others must—cold, calculating, disdainful. And yet, it was the strangest sensation to also feel him from the inside, to know that alongside those cold things he was carrying that dark, aching abyss.

Then he muttered a curse, and the sense of him disappeared like he’d slammed a door on it.

I tensed, pulling tight against his neck where I’d laced my fingers when he picked me up. But moments later I realized he wasn’t gone entirely. That I was still aware of him. But like a voice through a thick door: Muffled. Unclear.

I peered over his shoulders, watching as a handful of the men stumbled out of that chamber, calling after us.

“Do you like what you see, Jesse?” he snarled without turning his head.

I looked back at him, his stunning profile—jaw tensed and muscles flexing, eyes shining, lips peeled back slightly from his teeth, which were gritted.

He looked like a fallen angel, about to rain hell on someone who deserved it.

Thrill and nerves coursed through me. “Yes,” I breathed, stunned by how different it suddenly felt to be close to him.

As if I knew him. Understood him. As if we were already… intimate.

I blinked.

“It’s the bond,” he muttered, turning a corner so tightly my toes brushed the wall. “Do you feel the pull of it?”

I nodded slowly, still stunned and trying to understand what was happening. “Why are you running? Is there danger?”

He huffed, his lips curling up into a wicked half-smile that made my stomach flutter. “The only real danger in your world now, Kitten, is me.”

I should have been terrified. Should have been screaming, fighting him, running… But despite the nerves and thrill, despite the uncertainty and sheer desperation of this entire day… since that bond had snapped into place it was as if I’d found my purpose.

I understood why I was here. Why it had to be me. And what I was supposed to do.

If he’d let me.

Then the door he’d slammed on that link between us cracked open and a jolt of desire came at me through the bond. I gasped, suddenly aching.

Casimir gave a low, throaty chuckle and smiled again, shaking his head. “It’s always fun at the beginning,” he murmured.

“What is?” I asked breathlessly.

“The bond. The need. The insatiable appetite…” He finally turned his head to meet my eyes and if I hadn’t been in his arms, I think I would have sunk to the floor under the weight and promise of those eyes. The flames roaring behind the slick, frigid ice he placed between himself and the world.

And every tongue of flame that licked at the ice of him, also flickered at the core of me. My breath was coming faster, the hair rising on my arms.

“Yessssss,” he hissed. “That’s it. Dear god, it’s going to be good between us.”

“You need to show me… I haven’t…” I stammered, uncertain how to say it. But he cursed again.

“I know. I told you… you do not need to fear me.”

And yet, at those words, it wasn’t fear I felt, but a chill that turned in his chest. It was muffled and distant, the roll of thunder far enough away you weren’t sure where it came from. And yet…

“Stop blocking me,” I whispered. “I understand better when you don’t.”

“Kitten, you understand nothing.”

He was practically running up a flight of stairs now, taking them two at a time, carrying me effortlessly. Then he took the turn to a landing at the top and suddenly, we were in a massive, echoing space, with triple-height ceilings and a plunge off to his right to another level below. A thick, hand-carved banister kept us safely on the wide mezzanine, but while I marveled at the massive chandelier hanging from the tall ceiling and the grand pillars and double, arched doorways, he only fixed his eyes on a door halfway along the mezzanine and picked up his pace until he was practically running.

Shouldering the door open, he kicked it closed behind him, then walked me to the center of the massive room and finally, with some care, put me back on my feet.

The moment I had my balance, he let me go, muttering again, but it was only to stalk back to the door and lift a large beam from where it leaned against the wall, slotting it into braces on the thick, double-doors with an echoing boom… and we were locked in.