He angled his body to the side of me. His arm crossed over my stomach to rest on my damp sex. I hummed a sigh, my eyes rolling back into my head.

“Fuck, Sasha,” Damon whispered. “Fuck.”

“Please… don’t stop.”

He released another deep and throaty chuckle. “Sasha, baby, we’re just getting started.”

“Is that a promise?”

He pressed another molten kiss to my lips before replying, “It’s a fact.”

Then his middle finger slipped between my folds. I allowed my legs to gap wide, lifting my bottom toward him in a silent plea for him to continue. His tongue thrust into my mouth in rhythmic sync with his finger along my clit. Back and forth—the sensation dragging me under, like an anchor that pulled me beneath the water into the depths of the sea.

A bolt of pleasure rippled through my core, channeled across my insides. Another moan forced its way from my throat. I swept my tongue into Damon’s mouth, meeting his tongue in a wild dance. Damon groaned deep in his throat.

He tore his lips from mine, his mouth finding the slope of my breast. He kissed a trail across the swell and I panted, desperate for him to reach the sweet goal. My nipples thrusted out for him, reaching for the wet heat of his mouth.

“Fuck!” I cried as his mouth closed around my areola.

He sucked me in deep. His finger applied pressure to the swollen nub at the apex of my thighs. As Damon delivered more friction, it sent me withering across the sheets. I whimpered, begged, my words an incoherent jumble as his tongue swirled across my nipple, flicking the sensitive bud. His teeth clamped over the proud bud with gentle tenderness and fireworks burst in my brain—short circuited my neurons.

His finger dipped inside my core, curling within and my back bowed, spine curling. Jagged pain sliced through my insides, stabbed at the claw marks like white hot needles. I gasped in pain before hunching over.

At the instant, Damon shrank away from me. “Sasha, what’s wrong?”

He took in my gritted teeth, the pain that bled across my features, then his eyes widened with realization. “Fuck. We shouldn’t have?—”

He gazed at me as if seeing me for the first time. His eyes scanned our half-naked bodies, the bed, the surrounding room. Damon sprang away faster than a cat. After finding his footing, he raked a hand through his hair, teeth bared, disgust glinting in his eyes.

Hurt burst inside my chest at the look he gave me. Shame soon followed on its heels as Damon turned away from me, his shoulders tense.

He’s rejecting me. Again.

My eyes burned, and I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, fighting against the tears, trying to escape. My fangs stabbed out.

I even touched myself while thinking about him!

Never had shame and self-loathing burrowed a hole so deep inside me, blazing through my veins—my very blood. Damon faced me once more. He stepped closer.

“Sasha—”

I shoved at his chest. “Leave.”

He didn’t budge. Just stared at me.

I slammed my fists onto the mattress. “Get out! Just get out. Now!”

Tears spilled down my cheeks, and I swung my head to hide them from the alpha male. “Just… Just leave me alone.” A sob hiccuped from my chest. “Please.”

After a pause rife with tension, Damon rose to his full height. He turned and walked away. The door cracked closed in his wake. And my tears became a torrential downpour.

CHAPTER TWELVE: OF REVELATIONS AND DECEPTIONS

SASHA

Inever wanted to see Damon again.

They kept me captive in his house on bedrest to heal. The healer, Balin, had checked on me daily, and according to him, my wound was mending, as it should. Faster than he would’ve predicted, even. He surmised I would be able to leave within the next two weeks, and I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there.