Page 35 of My Bad Boy Alpha

“What if they do?”

“I’ll turn them to dust and give you their ashes.Over and over and over again.”

“Stone, you can’t do that,” she said.

“Watch me.”

She gave me thatare you seriouslook, then playfully smiled and swiped at my shoulder.After a second, she bit back a smirk and looked away from me.“You know, the Moon Goddess also told me that you should fuck me in front of the mirror more often.”

I chuckled and pulled her on top of me.“Is that right?”

Another laugh escaped her mouth.“Maybe …”

An easy silence drifted upon us, but I didn’t want to push my luck and breed her tonight.

“When I was a kid, my grandma used to force me to sit in front of the mirror and tell her what I liked about myself,” I whispered, staring up at her.“I hated it so fucking much at first, but I learned to love it, and you will too.”

For the first time, Zuri relaxed on top of me and smiled.“Why’d she have you do that?”

I paused.“The full story will take a while to explain.”

“Well”—she smiled—“we have some time before the Moon Goddess bestows another bout of heat upon me again.Tell me all about it, Stone.About your childhood, your pack, and your father and your brother.I want to know all about you,mate.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

STONE

While I had promisedZuri that I would tell her everything, as soon as she turned toward me to give me all of her attention, the words seemed to stick in my throat.I snapped my mouth closed and sighed softly, scooting to the end of the bed and dropping my feet to the floor.

“Do you see my tattoos back here?”I asked, drawing my fingers across my back.

The bed dipped behind me, Zuri inches away from me on the mattress.She drew her fingers across the tattoos on my back, the skin that I had hated for years of my life.

“Yes,” she whispered.“What about them?”

“They cover up a birthmark that spans from shoulder blade to shoulder blade.”

“A birthmark?”she repeated.“Why would you cover that up?”

“Because it’s disgusting.”

“Stone, how do you know it’s disgusting?”she asked.“You can’t even see it.”

I pressed my lips together.“Because it is red and blotchy and huge.”

“And?”

All this time, I had been telling Zuri not to worry about what other people thought about her, that their opinions didn’t matter.Yet, I had been the biggest hypocrite in existence.I had let my father’s and brother’s opinion make me hate my skin.

“And …” I whispered.“Derrit and my father would hurt me for it.”

Zuri sucked in a small breath, then moved closer to me until she sat flush against my left hip.She moved her fingers across my back, right over the birthmark that I had hated forever and ever.For fucking years.

“How would they hurt you?”she whispered, her mouth against my shoulder.

Kissing the ruined skin.

Once her lips lingered there for a few moments, she finally pulled away and glanced over at me, her eyes burning with such intensity that I thought I was sitting next to the Moon Goddess herself right now.

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