Page 51 of The Night Prince

He kisses my leg, and his stubble scrapes against the sensitive skin. “Oh, I think that you are.” His hands move up and down my calves, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. “Perhaps I’m not the only territorial wolf around here.”

“You asked her to marry you.”

He looks up at me. “It wasn’t like that.”

I take his face in my hands to stop him from distracting me. “What was it like?”

“I was eighteen. My mother had just gone missing. My father was grieving. My brother was distant and distracted. I was far from my home.” He shakes his head. “I was looking for purpose, I suppose. Claire and James seemed unhappy with the match, and I offered to take James’s place. I wanted to prove myself to my father, to my people. It wasn’t romantic.”

“Claire seemed to think you did it to save her from an unhappy fate.”

“I suppose that played into my decision, aye. Does that make me a monster?”

“No.” I huff. “It makes you a good man, a good wolf. Someone who would rescue any woman in distress, no matter who they were. Just like you rescued me.”

He frowns. “You did not wish for me to rescue you?”

“Of course. I’m happy you brought me here.”

“Ah, so you don’t have an issue with me protectingyou,” he says. “You don’t like the thought of me protecting others? That’s what makes you jealous?”

“No. It’s not that, either.”

I sigh. He doesn’t get it. How can he? Callum is like a mountain—solid and strong.

“What is it then?” His gaze is searching, like he’s trying to solve a puzzle.

I bite my bottom lip. I’m not used to expressing my feelings. I’m not sure how to explain that somehow, sometimes, Callum makes me feel weak. Not in the way that my father made me feel weak—with his control, and his dismissiveness, and his scorn if I showed emotion. In the way that he is so careful with me.

I wonder, sometimes, if it’s my weakness that attracts him to me in the first place, when I don’t want to be weak any longer. I want to be equal to the Wolves in this kingdom. I want to be equal to him.

“You’re very... careful with me,” I say, finally.

“I don’t understand.” His brow creases. “You would rather I was rough? Or cruel?”

“No. Of course not.” I brush my thumb across his cheek. “All of my life, I’ve been taught to suppress my emotions and my opinions. All of my life, I’ve felt as if there was a scream building in my chest that I could never let go of. I worry, sometimes, that you suppress yourself around me, because you don’t think I’m strong enough to handle the real you.”

He pulls back slightly, and I worry that I’ve offended him. “My father didn’t suppress his emotions. He was rough, and cruel, and he treated my mother poorly. So I’ll hold back sometimes, because I don’t want to turn into him. And aye, I’m careful with you, because you’re precious to me. Is that so wrong?”

“I suppose not. I don’t know. This is all new to me.”

“Me too.”

“It is?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve never courted a bonny wee Southlands princess, with fire in her soul, who drives me to despair on a daily basis.”

My eyes narrow. “But you have courted other females before?”

His smile is soft but not remorseful. “I have.”

Jealously crashes through me. It has thorns that ravage my insides. My canines ache, and the urge to bite something, to bite Callum, overcomes me. When Callum growls softly, I know he senses it.

“Fuck,” he groans, dipping his lips to my leg once more. “That jealousy of yours makes me want to do some very bad things to you.”

My lip twitches, despite my dark mood. “Do them, then.”

His warm breath brushes close to the place where I’d like his mouth. “My wolf is very close to the surface right now. You want me to stop holding back with you? Let us wait until after the full moon, once you’ve shifted for the first time.”

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