She let out a gasping sob and then she exploded, her body pulsing with the waves of her orgasm.
Iain held his own back, watching her, soaking in the sight of her pleasure. Her eyes were shut tight, her mouth wide open on a silent scream. The tendons in her neck stood out and a dark flush spread down onto her chest.
He rode her through it, keeping up the pace he knew she liked best. Finally, as the last fluttering waves passed through her, she opened her eyes and looked up at him with complete trust. So beautiful.
Iain lost his control. His body spasmed as his orgasm tore through him, strangling the breath from his lungs. Wave after wave pummeled him as his cock spurted inside of her, lodged deep, near the mouth of her womb.
She watched him the whole time, a contented smile playing about one corner of her mouth. He lowered his forehead to hers as he caught his breath, unwilling to stop looking at her. She hadn’t shied away from him—not even after what she’d seen lurking inside. She was as fearless as she was beautiful.
Whoever was lucky enough to end up with Jackie at his side was someone to be envied.
He pulled back enough to stroke her cheek. His luceria glowed golden in the dim light, lovely against her throat. There was no more movement within the band, and not even the rough scars lining her neck could diminish the beauty of that sight. They were bonded. Completely.
If he’d had a soul, it would have rejoiced at the knowledge. Instead, he mourned for her and what she could have had by now if she’d been with a whole man.
“You’re closing yourself off from me again,” she said.
He had to. There was no other choice but to protect her from his secret. It wouldn’t change anything if she knew. There was nothing she could do to save him. All knowing would give her was a responsibility to report him, or the burden of keeping his secret as well. He couldn’t do that to her. She didn’t deserve to have him dump on her like that when she’d helped him feel like the man he used to be for a few short hours.
Iain was sorry that he had to pull away from her. Being with her so close, touching her mind, was a joy he’d never thought to experience. And now that he had, he had to deny himself one more thing.
“I need to call in,” he told her, rolling away to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’ll report to Joseph and the others that we found the cave.”
“We don’t know it’s the right one.”
“It was filled with demons. It has to be cleaned out, one way or another.”
“And then what?” There was anger in her voice. “You’ll ask me to go hunting again? To find the real breeding site this time? I can’t keep doing this, Iain. I’m no good at it, and it scares the hell out of me.”
He couldn’t deny her comfort, not when he could hear so plainly how upset she was. He didn’t know what he could do to fix it, but he had to try.
Iain turned toward her. She’d pulled the sheet up to cover her nudity. The flush of arousal was still clear on her face and throat, but the languid pleasure shining in her eyes was gone. “We’ll go back home. You’ll stay there while the rest of us deal with the problem. You shouldn’t have been asked to go back to where you were held. That wasn’t fair.”
Her chin angled up. “I’m not a coward.”
“I know,” he reassured her.
“But I’m not a fighter, either.”
She was. She didn’t want to admit it, but if she hadn’t been a fighter, she wouldn’t have survived captivity for so long. The fact that she wasn’t comfortable in the role yet was likely his fault. He should have eased her into combat, taking her into safer situations, gradually working their way up to the big stuff.
If he’d spent ten minutes thinking about what she needed, that’s what he would have figured out before now. Instead, he’d been too busy fighting his rage and trying to keep his fucking dead soul a secret.
He didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. He wasn’t even sure he was capable of such finesse. “When we’re…separated, you need to pick a gentler man. Someone who can take the time to train you right and see to it that you’re comfortable in your power.”
“When we’re separated, I’m not picking anyone else. I’m going to live on my own. Besides, you don’t seem to be making any headway with the broken-heart thing. How are we supposed to part ways?”
He ignored her question because he couldn’t tell her the truth. At least not yet. “Cain is a good choice. He’s patient. Kind. He’ll see to it that you have a life that is as close to normal as one of our kind can get.”
Her lips flattened in anger. “Cain? You screw me and then tell me to go into the arms of another man, like it’s as simple as changing a shirt?”
The idea was appalling. Even now, he wanted to rip Cain’s head off and kick it from a cliff. Iain had to take several slow, deep breaths before he could wade through his rage enough to even speak. “It had been a long time. For both of us. We needed the release. But it doesn’t change things. Does it? Do you somehow magically want to be with me now?”
He held his breath, waiting for the answer to that question with more anticipation than he had a right to feel.
“No,” she snapped. “I don’t. I don’t want to be with any of you. I think I’ve made that abundantly clear.”
He couldn’t let her think she had a choice. Her life depended on her accepting her situation. “Cain is the man you should be with. He needs you as much as you need him. Promise me you’ll go to him when we’re separated.”