Page 17 of Into the Dawn

This is going to complicate things, and it’s a terrible idea, but it’s hard to care right now when I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted right here, and I feel better than I ever have.

His stomach grazes my belly as he licks a path between my breasts, up to my neck.

“Mine.” He snarls against my skin. I shiver at the claim and the sheer male aggression coming through in his rough words. “No matter what happens, remember that, Nessie. You were mine first, and you always will be.”

I’ve never been anyone’s first choice but Ben’s, and to hear him demand my submission is enough to throw me over the edge of my climax. My body convulses around him, my core gripping him hard and claiming him as my own.

He bucks up into me, a string of expletives tumbling from his lips as each aftershock has my pussy pulsing around him. With a guttural shout, he presses me down as he thrusts his hips up, clamping me down against his powerful thighs. I feel every twitch and surge as he empties into me, and the hot splash of his seed paints my insides.

Gasping, I tug at his hair as it sets off a fresh wave of pleasure inside me that leaves me speechless while Ben continues to fixate on where my body joins with his.

“Yours,” I whisper, wrung out and exhausted, as I cling to his broad shoulders and sag against him.

Bundling me up in his arms, he holds me tightly as the chilly air cools the perspiration coating our bodies. Nothing, not even the cold nipping at my skin, could make me leave the cocoon of him, my mate, wrapped around me.

When Ben tries to move me, I whimper. “Don’t.”

Sighing, Ben stands, still inside me, and makes for my bedroom door. “You need to rest. We both do.”

His voice is husky, and the deep vibrations travel straight to my core. I can’t help it when I tighten around him once more, and he grunts, biting his lower lip as he ignores my body's attempts to start up round two.

“Stay with me, Ben. You can go back to hating me in the morning,” I mumble, not caring how desperate I sound.

This could be the last time we’re together, so I want to drag it out for as long as I can, but apparently, he doesn’t agree.

When he lowers me to the bed, one knee on the mattress, I moan, disappointed, as he slips from my body. I feel his stiff posture soften as I catch his wrist, imploring him not to go. Instead of leaving, he slides under the covers behind me and hooks an arm around my waist, pressing my back to his solid chest.

“Sleep, Nessie. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.” As sleep tugs him under, he takes a deep lungful of my scent then exhales. “I’m not sure I can let you do this. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I go completely still. “You have to let me help you, Ben.”

“Do I?” he mumbles, holding me closer as his breathing evens out, and he falls asleep, like he hasn’t got a care in the world. Like he hasn’t thrown our plans wide open.

Well, shit.

10

BEN

Ilet out a satisfied groan and try to roll over onto my back, stretching one arm out across the crisp white sheets, but frown to myself when my fingers meet nothing but cold cotton. My beast is unsettled by the emptiness beside us, still drunk on the lingering scent of our mate, and the memory of how close we came to marking her last night.

I crack one eye open, my body humming with the afterglow of incredible sex and a night's sleep next to my mate. My beast remembers how she'd tilted her head, exposing her throat to us in the heat of passion, and how my teeth had grazed the sensitive spot where her neck meets her shoulder.

One bite then, and she'd have been mine forever. Part of me wishes I'd done it, consequences be damned.

Bathed in my mate's scent, the ghost of her presence still clings to my skin. Everything had felt right in my world for those few precious hours. My beast had been at peace for the first time in years. But when my hand meets fresh air instead of silky-smooth skin, he goes on high alert.

The mark I didn't give her seems to burn in my mind, a missed opportunity that might have changed everything.

Instead of finding Vanessa curled up on the far side of the bed, maybe even looking back at me sleepily but adoringly, she's nowhere to be seen. The spot where she should be is empty, just like it's been for years.

My happiness ebbs away as a sinking feeling takes hold. Her scent has faded, and the spot on the bed she previously occupied is cold. She hasn't been beside me for a while. Just like before, she's made her choice, and it isn't me.

She’s left me. Again.

It's not the same situation, but my body acts like it is, the ghost of that crushing devastation returning to make my chest ache and my pulse rapid. My beast howls in protest, angry that I didn't mark her when I had the chance. At least then she couldn't have walked away so easily.

I'm an idiot. What did I think was going to happen here? That we'd rescue John and disappear into the sunset? That one night of passion would erase years of her choosing her family over our bond. She didn't want to do it once, more than likely, she still doesn't want to do it now.

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