Having Jessie in his arms was indescribable.

As the Prez’s son, he’d always had his share of willing pussy. And when the MC had started getting a little more infamous in certain circles, and started getting wealthier and had expanded territories, that pussy had been all the more welcoming.

Club whores, chicks who stayed around for the parties Spider’s Venom were renowned for, he’d never been short of a bed partner. He knew what sex was. Had known since he’d lost his V-card at twelve.

And yet, this was more than sex.

This was fucking everything.

He wanted inside her so badly that he could taste her, and yet, he wanted to hold her more. Wanted the connection.

The thought made him feel like a pansy, but he wasn’t. He was just in awe of the fact that this woman was his. And in a way that few would ever experience.

There was no doubting who she was to him.

He’d never known The Nomads were a Shifter clan. If he had, he’d have steered clear of them all the more; except, he hadn’t really had a choice in the matter.

Truth was, though his reasons for having found Jessie were complicated, and had almost caused a war between the two MCs, he couldn’t find it in him to care.

Because of an unfortunate meeting with The Nomads, he’d found her. He hadn’t even known he’d been looking for her, but that didn’t matter. She was here now and that was all that mattered now.

He let out a shuddery breath just so he could suck air in that was loaded with her scent. My goodness it was potent. It was like inhaling a cloud of weed the way it worked on his senses. Both causing tension and releasing it in the next breath.

He shivered and felt her respond in his arms. She’d tucked her face against his chest, and curled her arms about his waist. She was holding him so tightly it was hard to breathe, but he knew she was as overwhelmed as he was by this, their first proper meeting. Their first time alone.

Sure, Mischa, the savior, was out in the kitchen. But one thing he’d learned about the MCs, there were always people about. This was alone as they could be in a clubhouse, a Clan house, as big as this one.

“We’ll be together soon, Jessie,” he breathed into her hair, the words a vow; an oath he had to make for both their sakes. The distance was cutting away at his insides, tearing him to shreds. He wasn’t sure how long he’d make it, and he knew it had to be harder on her. She’d been kept out of the loop, but also knew the richness of a mate bond fully culminated. Whereas he was still floundering in the dark, a little lost as to what the hell was happening to him, only aware that she was his. Something he felt down to his very core.

She pulled back to look at him, and it killed him to see there were tears in her eyes. “You promise?”

He nodded, reaching up to swipe gently at her tears. The liquid he’d gathered on his thumb, he raised to his lips to sup from. She quivered in his arms at the gesture, and like a flower that tilted toward the sun after a night in the dark, blossomed in his hold as he told her, “There’s just a little MC business that is getting in the way of things.”

“No one’s telling me anything,” she whispered, but it wasn’t a complaint. She sounded more bewildered than anything. Lost.

He’d heard rumors that she was a bit of a spoiled brat, that she was used to getting her way, and when they’d first learned of what they were to each other, he’d been standing on one side of the clubhouse gate, she on the other, and she’d wailed up a storm.

Dear lord, the woman had lungs on her.

But her words were tantrum-free. They were even free from reproach. She was confused. Hurting. It was the latter that tore at him.

That butchered something inside him.

He’d never known what a mate was. He wasn’t a pussy; paranormal romances were for desperate chicks who been fucked over by their men in the past and prayed they were mated to a male Shifter whose dicks were biologically ‘tuned’ into them. Still, now he had one he could well understand the appeal.

He wanted to protect her from everything, even himself. He never wanted her to hurt ever again.

And so, he whispered, “A long time ago, before Mars became Prez, he got involved in a spat with a Cartel leader. My brother is in jail with that Cartel leader, and if I don’t do exactly what he says, he’s gonna hurt Sammy. The Council is helping me help Sam.”

“How? Why did you try to kidnap Ava?” She blinked at him. “Why are they trying to help you when you tried to kidnap her? Jeez, none of this makes any sense.”

“I needed to talk to Mars, and I figured the only way to get him on my side for what I desperately needed him to do was to have leverage.”

“Stupid,” she chided, rubbing her forehead against his cut. “You’re lucky to be alive. I don’t know why he didn’t slice your throat for trying to get your paws on her. He’s insane where she’s concerned. All our fathers are where their cubs are concerned.”

“I know that now. Before, I just figured he was a regular guy. Now I know he’s a Shifter? Dear God, I’d have been insane to carry on with that particular plan of action knowing what I know now.”

She heaved out a sigh. “What does the Cartel leader want The Nomads to do?”

“Transport something in one of their loads. They cross the state border now, what with all their merchandise and shit.” He shrugged. “I didn’t care. I just want Sammy to be safe.”

She squeezed him. “I’m sorry he’s in jail.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I know Mars will do whatever he can to help.”

“I just wish I wasn’t bringing this to our relationship,” he said with a sigh. “It’s a hell of a way to start a new life together.”

“If you weren’t, we’d never have met. It’s not like I’m allowed to mingle with other MCs,” she said in a tone that bordered on teasing. “I wish your brother didn’t have to be in danger for it all to be working out this way, but I wouldn’t change anything. Even if it means we have to wait a little longer.”

“Not too long,” he hazarded. “The package they want me to give to the MC is due to be delivered to me tomorrow. We’ll see what’s going on then.”

Jessie frowned. “Is that why Ava’s been locked up in her room?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is she working on another way to help your brother?”

He nodded. “She invested in a Senator’s election campaign. She’s trying to figure out a way to get Sammy’s case dismissed.”

“Why did no one tell me?” she snarled. “I could have helped.”

“How?” he asked simply.

She pulled away from him. “Everyone underestimates me.”

“We’re not underestimating you,” he retorted, tugging her back against his chest. “We’re trying to keep you safe. And where do you think you’re going?” he demanded when she tried to pull free from his arms once more.

She smacked him on the chest. “Why are you trying to keep me safe but Ava’s A-Okay to leap headfirst into this?”

“Because she’s leaping headfirst into the admin part of things. The rest is all on us.”

“So it’s okay for you to put yourself in danger but not me?”

“Of course. I chose this life, Jessie. Me. I made the decision to get involved with my Pop’s MC, and when the shit hit the fan with Sammy, I could have backed off but I didn’t. You made no decision to be a part of any of this. You were born into it, same as me, but you’re not involved in The Nomads in the way that I’m involved with Spider’s Venom.”

“I work for the MC,” she retorted.

He snorted. “Your father told me. You work in one of the clothing stores they have. That’s hardly the same, Jessie. And you know that.” He sighed. “Look, I don’t want to argue about this. It’s the first time we’ve even been together without someone listening in, and I just...” Spyder broke off, then in a soft voice admitted, “I just want to hold you.”

She peered up at him. “You do?”

He nodded. “None of this makes any sense to me, Jessie. I didn’t know The Nomads were Shifters until Ava shifted and attacked my MC. Then, when I came here for that first initial meeting with Mars, I never expected to see you and to have all these feelings.” He blew out a breath, then with a rueful grin, confessed, “I’m a player. Well, I was. I don’t have feelings for chicks. With you?” He grimaced. “I have so many feelings I’m starting to feel like a woman.”

She grinned at that, unable to help herself.

“That’s better,” he whispered softly. “That’s what I want to see.” He cupped her cheek and she tilted her head, letting him take the weight.

“I want to be with you,” she whispered, closing her eyes, loving his scent, loving that the air she breathed was loaded with him.

“And I want to be with you too. We will be soon.”

“That’s not soon enough.”

“I know, but we’re doing everything we can. I have to get my brother out of jail, Jessie. You have to understand that. He’s dying in there. They’re beating him and... Well, doing things to him. I have to get him out.”

Her eyes flared open at that. “Doing things to him?” She gulped when he cleared his throat. Jessie didn’t need to ask what kind of things. She propped herself on tiptoe and pressed her cheek to his. The innocence of their embrace astonished her; this big, bad biker seemed quite content just to hold her, with no slippery hands for her to catch and tame. “You do what you have to do to set him free.”

He pressed his forehead to her shoulder. “Thank you. Thank you for understanding. I don’t deserve you.”

“What kind of person would I be if I didn’t?” she asked him softly, tightening her embrace upon him until there was barely any space separating them. But even that was too far apart, a notion she processed as she inhaled air loaded with his scent and felt the press of his face against hers.

Heaven. She truly knew what heaven felt like now. Because nothing else, nothing, could feel this could. Could make her feel this good. And though the weakness should have put her on edge, it did anything but.

With this man, being vulnerable was the only way to be. The mate bond had decided for her. She had to open up to him, had to reveal her true nature. There was no other alternative. And when he’d shuddered in her arms, had confessed to things that shamed him, she’d realized that worked both ways.

They were both in this for the long haul.

She had to remember that. Had to hold fast to it because it would get her through the long days without him. Days that would make her want to tear the world apart with the need to be with him, but they had forever to be getter. After the Claiming, he would live just as long as she would.

And forever didn’t have to be a long time coming.