Page 117 of Power Shift

All I want is to be surrounded by Landon’s scent, his arms, and feel the burn of his lips on mine again. A whine builds in my throat at the reminder of our kiss and the disarray it left me in. Perfection would be an insulting description.

I let the noise out, unashamed of the way he makes me feel. After all, it’s natural, despite his bullheaded belief that we’re not scent matches. A belief that I can see crumbling further with each moment we spend together.

“It’s not pretty right now. Is that a deal breaker for you?” I ask without turning around.

“Are you asking if I’ll only touch you in a pretty place?”

Heat slides from my neck to the base of my spine. “Yes. I guess I am.”

“Was my home gym a pretty place?” he asks, his tone dripping in dirty reminders and promises of what’s coming.

“Your home is beautiful.”

“Our home.”

My toes curl as I give my thighs a subtle squeeze together. “Don’t taunt me with a future you don’t want to give me.”

“Haven,” he calls softly. I don’t look back at him. The sting in my eyes keeps my attention forward on the mess cruelly left for me to find. “I don’t know how to give you what you want.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not a story for today.”

“What about tomorrow? Or the next?”

He hesitates, and my stomach pinches. I can feel the walls between us coming back up, growing taller than before. I panic, spinning to face him. Shoulders pulled back, I try forcing my way inside his mind. The barriers are thick, not impenetrable. Not like they were before.

“When are you going to realize that you can’t push me away? I’m not a hockey fan parked outside of Surge Centre, hoping for a brief hello and a wave. We’re scent matches, Landon. Just admit it already.”

Lightning flashes in the deep blue of his eyes. He takes two steps in my direction.

“And then what? If I admit it, you’ll take everything from me. One mistake and we’ll be left broken without you. Our pack will crumble, and we’ll be—” He cuts himself off and lunges another two steps before jerking back, as if remembering why he’s keeping his distance. “They’re my family. I can’t lose them.”

Some of my anger shifts, making way for pain. “I’m not going to leave you broken. Do you think that I want to feel like that, either? That I’m not scared too? The four of you could just as easily break me!”

“But we wouldn’t. Don’t you get that? Jasper and Ronan would burn down the fucking world for you already, and it’s only been a few weeks! Dash might act like he’s unaffected, but he’s tripping over himself in silence.”

“And you?”

He rolls his jaw. “What about me?”

“You haven’t said what you’d do.”

His breath comes out sharp, controlled. “I wouldn’t burn the world down. I’d remake it. I’d tear it apart thread by thread until nothing existed but you, me, and our pack. I’d pull the stars from the sky and shatter time itself before I let anything take you from me.”

I’m moving before I can comprehend how. I reach him in three large strides, and he scoops me into his arms, bouncing me up his body as our lips meet. Teeth clink and lips grow sore, the swelling tension so close to exploding that for a moment, I worry what the aftermath will look like.

At least the place is already destroyed.

Landon storms through the apartment, not stopping until we’re in front of the couch. He spins us and then drops to the shredded cushion, keeping me planted on his thighs.

Warm, long fingers slide through my hair. He holds the back of my head and tips it back before gliding his tongue between mylips and into my mouth. I drop down fully onto his lap, my hips rolling forward on instinct.

“Oh . . .” I moan, repeating the movement.

His shorts are thin, hiding nothing as I rub along his hard shaft, my eyes crossing when my clit bumps his knot. It’s been months since I’ve spent a heat at a clinic and even longer since I’ve taken a knot that wasn’t made from rubber. I clench around nothing, slick gushing into my panties.

“We’re saving that,” he rasps, tugging softly at my hair, guiding my head back further. When his tongue swirls over the side of my exposed throat, I preen, grinding down on him. “You’ll get my knot when my teeth dig into your throat.”

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