“I do,” I blurt, not really thinking that through.

It just sort of pops out without any sort of forethought.

His lips curve up very slowly.

“I wanted you like I’ve never wanted a woman before. You got under my skin, even though I fought with all I had to keep my distance. Arion claims to fall the hardest, but it’s not true. He just gives so much of himself so completely that he considers that proof enough. I’m who falls the hardest. I fell so hard that I couldn’t get back up until my wolf found me a new mate.”

She broke him.

She literally broke him.

First, she made him sacrifice his most important love—his family’s wolves. Then she treated his wolf’s claim like a defilement of her body.

She rejected him, even after he threw away so much to be with her. She didn’t respect any sacrifice he made, and only made him continuously sacrifice more.

“Even as I hated her, I still loved her, and she toyed with me, mocked me, and ruthlessly tore apart the wolves I loved to punish me when I didn’t behave accordingly. You’re like the breath of air I’ve spent my immortal life trying to catch, and I finally caught that breath the moment my mark was on you. My wolf was more broken than I was, Violet. Until now, I didn’t realize how much damage her rejection caused. I feel whole again right now.”

He runs his fingers along the strands of my hair, his gaze far too adoring, as he drinks me in.

“To be completely honest, I’d likely track you down to the ends of the earth if you tried to get away from me. It’s just noble and honorable to pretend I’d be okay with letting you go,” he states as though it’s a confession.

His eyes do that wolfish thing they do when the full moon is near, but there’s no full moon.

His smirk deepens, as though he’s enjoying the wolf stirring so close to the surface.

“I’ll give you the world if you ask it. I’ll give you anything you ever desire. That mark is as much my surrender as it is yours,” he goes on, his lips ghosting mine. “I should have known I’d never be able to fight you for long, because I couldn’t stay away, no matter how hard I tried. And I certainly tried.”

I’d like to say he kisses me, but it’s me who kisses him, because I can’t stop myself.

My hands go to his shoulders, and I slip back over on him, prepared to go round three, because I desperately need him inside me right now.

Mate.

My mate.

I have a mate.

I’m essentially married, and it’s to Emit.

The guy who first made me feel okay about being a monster.

The guy who gave me peace about something I’d never had peace with before.

The man who accepted me from the beginning, and who has always been there, even if he was pushing as hard as he was pulling.

The man who has handed over omegas, land, and anything else I’ve needed along the way, without ever once complaining about it.

The first person to ever survive around my monster’s emergence without looking at me with any fear. If anything, my monster has only brought us closer together. Little by little.

And his decided we needed to be together a lot more.

I kiss him harder, just because I can’t help myself, and he drinks me in as though this really is our honeymoon.

Even though I still don’t really know how I feel about it, I do feel myself smiling uncontrollably against his lips, and kissing him with a hunger I can’t deny.

I always knew he was holding back.

I just assumed it was because he didn’t really want to be with me.

I never considered there might be a much deeper reason.

It only makes me more desperate to have him inside me again, and he doesn’t waste time obliging.

For the third time this morning, a monster has his way with me, and I love every wicked second of it.

CHAPTER 21

VIOLET

“You fucking codgers don’t need sex to live,” Damien gripes. “Now she’s in an orgasm-induced coma, because your wolf earned you special privileges, and the vampire is like a virgin to her.”

“Finally, my loyalty is paying off,” Arion chides, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. “Your man-whoring ways have finally caught up with you, Morpheous.”

One blowjob, and suddenly his head can’t fit in a room.

“Fuck the lot of you. I’m so out of my element that I can’t get the damn girl to stop looking at me like she’s surprised any time I do anything less than perfectly proper,” I hear Vance griping, which has me covering my mouth to muffle a startled laugh.

I peer around the doorway, watching as the four of them walk down the stairs.

“How long will it take her to sleep it off?” Damien asks, sounding genuinely irritated.

Their voices trail off, and I only catch bits and pieces of their conversation from there.

“The best thing you ever did was break up with them. They sure as hell started missing you real damn fast,” Anna chirps from my side.

“What’s Idun up to right now?” I ask her quietly, barely whispering the words.

“According to our male ghost that gives you the creeps—”

“Who?” I ask, distracted by the sound of Vance’s rare laughter.