After dinner, which had been almost too normal, Riley wandered slowly down the hall towards the den. She’d shown all the guys her nails and was surprised by how completely fascinated by them they all were. The growl that had come from Brenton had made her break out in goosebumps. They were all growly when they thought something was hot, and she wondered what their reaction would be to the toes.

“Riley,” Troy called to her from the door to the den. “It’s your movie choice, tonight.”

“Let Brenton choose,” she told him as she stopped to look at one of her favorite paintings, the deer. Captivated by the viewer, as if it knew the predators were always watching it. She had a hard time catching and eating animals in her feline form, but the guys had told her that it helped soothe the feline in her. They’d been right. Even now, she felt the cat prowl in the back of her mind, though it had gotten plenty of exercise recently. It remembered the hunt and the kill and craved it. It still remembered killing the hunter as she and Thomas made it back into the compound where her pride and his pack were held. “And I want to sit with him tonight. Is that okay?”

“I’ll let him know,” Troy chuckled at her with a smile.

She stood for another moment in silence, glancing towards yet another SSTF guard wandering around. She had yet to understand why they felt the need to be in the house.

“Good evening,” she called to him, and watched the guard turn towards her with a frown.

“Good evening,” he replied with a thick layer of confusion. She took a whiff and paid attention. He was a serval like her mother.

“How are you?” She asked, not yet ready to sit down in the den for a movie. She was also trying to be polite.

“Good,” he answered, eyeing with apprehension. “Do you need something?”

“No.” She shrugged. This was the most stilted conversation she’d ever had. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting by saying hi to him, but it wasn’t this awkward exchange. “Just trying to be polite.”

“No need,” he huffed and continued on his rounds. She watched him walk away and sighed.

“Let’s watch a movie,” she whispered to herself, heading into the den.

Troy and Gabe were closest to the door, always on their right-side couch while Zachary and Andrew shared the left. Brenton waited, seeming tense, on her favorite middle one. He looked over to her as she walked up, and she noted he was all the way on one side, leaving her a lot of couch to give her space.

“What are we watching?” She asked him, with a smile.

“A comedy. Something we can get a laugh at.” Brenton kicked off his shoes and she wondered why he was still in his suit. He normally put on sweats like everyone else for movies. “Get comfortable.”

“Alright,” she chuckled, falling down onto the couch. Then, she decided to enact her plan. Abigail told her to let Brenton discover the toes on his own, and she was going to let him. “Think you can tolerate giving my poor feet a rub down, love?”

“I can do that,” he grunted, patting his leg. She swung her feet onto his lap. She was wearing socks since it was November in Colorado, meaning it was freezing outside and a little chilly in the massive mansion. As the movie started, he got to work on her feet. He didn’t pull the socks off, though, and Riley wondered how long it would take him.

She closed her eyes and leaned back, ignoring the movie in favor of Brenton’s skilled hands on her feet.

“How thick are these socks?” He grunted after nearly ten minutes.

“I bought them for her,” Andrew yawned from his spot, “so, they might be her winter socks, to keep her tiny ass little feet warm.”

“They’ve got to go,” Brenton growled, looking up at her from her feet.

“Go ahead. They were getting a little too warm anyways,” she said nonchalantly.

She watched him pull off the first sock and listened to the growl that made her a little wet. He ran a finger over her big toenail and quickly revealed the second foot.

“Well, aren’t these lovely?” He snarled, grinning at her. She felt some heat rise in her face at the hungry expression on his face.

“What?” Troy asked from his spot. Riley realized all the guys were watching her and Brenton now.

“She even got her toenails done,” Brenton growled. “I like this…”

She gave him a saucy grin. She hoped he would catch the meaning behind it. He did.

“Fuck the movie,” he snarled, pulling her up and into his lap. She laughed as he stood up with her. “You all can look at them tomorrow.”

“Well, hot damn,” Zachary laughed as Brenton carried her from the room.

“Trying to tell me something?” He growled playfully into her ear.

“Yes,” she whispered back as he took the stairs two at a time.

They passed the serval guard, who looked at them like they were mad. Riley stuck her tongue out at him, which Brenton noticed, claiming her mouth to stop the offense. She found her back against the wall as he devoured her mouth.

“Stop that,” he groaned at her, before continuing the kiss. He hooked a canine on one of her lip rings and tugged gently with a growl. A bit of throat clearing had him letting go of her and looking behind him. Riley peeked around him and sighed. The guard was still giving a wide-eyed look at them.

“Let’s get into my room.” She chuckled at Brenton, who nodded silently, pulling the door open and locking it once it was closed behind him.

“You know, just earlier today, I was getting fucking cranky about not being with you,” Brenton growled against her neck before he dropped her on her bed. “It’s been a fucking long day.”

“It’s been a long week,” she gasped as he leaned down to kiss her neck.

“It has,” Brenton murmured, running his hands up her sides under her tank top. “And I’m just fucking terrified of scaring you…”

“I’ve thought about that,” Riley whispered, as Brenton slowly rubbed her sides down to her hips and back up. “I think it’s just when I can’t see you, or you catch me unexpectedly.”

“So, no more spooking you on accident,” Brenton purred, and she realized he was becoming distracted.

“I’m not scared of you when you walk in the room, or when I see you in the halls,” Riley continued, hoping he was listening at this point since he was doing a fairly good job making her lose her train of thought as he peppered kisses on her stomach. “I think I’m just… getting over it. It could be worse…”

“It could be,” he agreed, as he pulled her yoga pants down slowly. He left her thong in place, tracing it with a finger as she felt her heart beginning to do weird things. It wasn’t sure whether it wanted to race or stop completely. “I think we need this.”

“We do.” Riley propped herself up on her elbows, but Brenton tsk’ed at her quietly.

“Stay on your back and just let me…” he took a ragged breath. She didn’t know what he was looking at, but something had bothered him. “Let me make this good for you. Let me have some control, or I might take this too fast.”

She nodded slowly and went flat on her back again. She kept her eyes locked on his; those molten gold pools were heated and filled with apprehension. He didn’t want to go rough and scare her, which meant she couldn’t taunt and tease him like she normally did. And Zachary was also right. He needed to feel in control for a moment.

He tore her tank top open down the middle and freed her breasts, leaning down to trap a nipple in his mouth. She kept her eyes wide open and watched, even as a moan left her lips. She couldn’t take her eyes off him being gentler than she had ever seen.

“You don’t need to do this,” she murmured, as he slowly pulled the ruined tank off her.

“Yes, I do,” Brenton told her as he slowly went over her body with kisses. It took her a long time to figure out what he was trying to do.

Every place the faint yellow of a bruise was still there or small scar, every place a bruise or cut had already healed, he kissed. Every place she’d ever gotten hurt since they met, he touched gently, as if he was trying to replace the memory with this moment.

He even got her hands and feet, once covered in cuts. He pulled her thong off with care as he went down to her feet.

“Yes, I do,” he said more softly as he continued. He made it to her lips, and the kiss he gave her was scorching. She was sensitive and putty in his hands. Riley couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t think of anything except him, in that quiet moment, as he laid over her and kissed her.

“Brenton,” she said airily as he pulled up over her.

“I love you,” he growled softly. “And I am sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” she whispered as he put his forehead to hers.

“Riley…” he growled softly. “My family did this to you. I brought you into this. I did this to you.”

Riley wanted to weep. There it was, the real guilt, the real pain Brenton was dragging around. The cherry on top of the violent world she’d joined at his invitation. It wasn’t just politics and vengeance, though those were bad enough. It wasn’t just hunters and violations to their security and privacy. It was that he blamed himself for all of it, and she knew he didn’t know how to fix it.

Wasn’t this something she had just dealt with? Gabe had felt the same way—the underlying guilt and belief that it was all his fault. And she refused to believe that. She refused to allow the men she loved to believe it.

“Brenton,” she said once more, stronger, taking his face in her hands and pulling him in for another kiss. “Don’t do this to us. Don’t let them get in between us. Don’t let them win. I love you too much to allow it.” She didn’t have the power to back that statement up, but she hoped he could feel what she did in that moment. The overwhelming amount of love she had for him. For all of them.

“Okay,” he sighed to her lips. “Okay, beautiful.”

“Love me,” she whispered, and he obliged, giving her a deep kiss as he laid out next to her. One of his hands ran down her side and over her stomach. She moaned into his mouth when he used a finger to rub her clit gently, and then he sank it inside of her.

Her back arched as he slowly slid it in and out of her, and she held his shoulders as his thumb leisurely rolled over her clit. She felt his erection pressed against her thigh, straining to get out of his navy-blue suit, but he made no attempt to undress himself. She pulled the buttons of his shirt open, making him growl as they flew.

“You just don’t know how to slow down, do you?” He asked, pushing a second finger deep in her. He pressed both to that glorious spot and rubbed, making her cry out.

“No,” she gasped as he continued his slow pace now with both fingers. She ran her hands over his pecs. She nibbled on his neck. She moaned into him and listened to the satisfied growls he answered her with.

“I’m trying to be normal, beautiful,” Brenton snarled, pushing her closer to an orgasm she refused to have until he told her she could.

“This isn’t normal for you,” she panted, holding on to him. “And I want you. All of you. Alpha. Dominant. Arrogant. Mine.”

“Fuck,” he grunted, rolling over her. He put his mouth next to her ear and growled one word. “Now.”

She exploded. Stars danced in her vision, and she wasn’t sure if they were the ones on her ceiling or just balls of light she couldn’t focus on.

She felt a small breeze as he backed off of her. She tried to focus her eyes on him and watched him strip faster than she’d ever seen.

Then, he crawled up from the end of the bed, and she found herself underneath the massive man she called hers. But she didn’t stay there.

“Let’s do something else,” Brenton growled softly. Then, he rolled over onto his back and pulled her on top of him. She smiled down at him as she bit her bottom lip. Well, she could make this work. “This way you can go however fast or rough you want.”

“How thoughtful of you,” she chuckled, grinding herself on his cock, making him growl. She was just going to have to drive him mad to get the dominant male she wanted. She kept up with that, wet and primed but refusing to take him in.

“Never mind,” Brenton snarled, scooting up so he was propped against the cracked headboard. She laughed as he grabbed her hips and pulled her closer. He directed her over him and held her as she sank down on him. “Oh, fuck, Riley…”

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he began to thrust upwards into her. Her cries echoed through her bedroom, every thrust feeling deeper than the last. His hands moved to her ass and held on tight.

“Brenton!” She moaned before biting down on his shoulder. One of his hands left her ass and moved up to wrap in her hair and pull her head back. She met his eyes, and his lips crashed into hers.

The kiss felt like a prayer. It tasted like salvation, and peace. Riley blinked back tears, and Brenton pulled back from the kiss. They only had eyes for each other in that moment. Nothing was coming between them now. This was just another piece of home to Riley, and she found a small piece of power in knowing Brenton was still hers, no matter what.

“Cum for me, beautiful,” he growled, their eyes still locked together.

She did, his name falling from her lips as he rolled them over and he held her. He continued to thrust as she rode out the orgasm, growling in victory.

“Do not stop now,” he snarled down at her. She felt him angle his hips, causing him to grind across her clit. The muscles in her lower abdomen continued to try to hold him as he gave one last, powerful thrust. They were both panting as he came in her. “Beautiful,” he whispered, kissing her as his dick twitched in her. She moaned with a smile, satisfied.

“There’s my Alpha,” she whispered back. “Welcome back.”

“I did not go anywhere.” He frowned down at her, and Riley shook her head. She poked his forehead.

“Yeah, you did,” she chuckled. “Somewhere up there, thinking I wouldn’t want you here, in my bed and in my body.” He grinned and lowered to kiss her.

“My apologies,” he teased, kissing her slowly afterwards. “It is good to be back.”

“Stay the night?” She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck again.

“If you want.”

“I’ve had nightmares for a couple of nights,” she admitted softly to him.

“Zachary told me,” he murmured. “I will stay for you.”

“Thank you,” she told him as he finally slid out of her body. She noted he seemed to stand a bit straighter as he walked towards her bathroom for the customary hand towel he used to clean them up.

Only ten minutes later, she snuggled her face into his chest and absorbed his scent, reveling in it. He purred, and she wondered if he was even tired as his hands made trails of goosebumps over her.

“You know what I haven’t done in a long time?” He asked with a small smile.

“What?” She frowned, wondering where he was going with this.

“This,” he growled playfully, rubbing his head to hers. She laughed as he rubbed his hair and head across her cheeks.

“What are you doing?” She laughed until she cried. He rubbed his chest on hers and she nearly moaned. Her nipples were hard, and she felt a wave of heat between her legs.

“Marking you,” he growled playfully. “So that fools know you belong to the Kingson Pride. Always. No matter what.”

It made her heart skip a beat to hear. He hadn’t done it since the day she had shifted for the first time.

“And it might help you remember my scent again,” he whispered in her ear, pressed up to her. She bit her bottom lip at the feeling of him hard again.

“Thank you,” she mumbled back, getting a little warm from the idea of a round two with Brenton.

“Anything for you,” he growled, kissing her.

The second round was better than the first.

But it was accented with a single question.

“What happened to your headboard?”

“Zachary broke it. I thought you would have noticed this morning.”