He growled and lifted me, his hands digging into my hips. He throbbed against me, hot and ready, and suddenly my eagerness wavered. “Is it… Will it hurt?”

“I don’t think so. You’re ready, physically,” he said, and I could hear how much he wanted me in every word he spoke. “So ready.” But his self-control was a thing of legend. If I told him to wait, he would wait. “If this is what you want.”

I nodded, my pulse racing. “I want you.”

Nothing I’d said had ever been truer.

His pupils dilated, and his heart beat harder. “We’ll go slow. If you want to stop, just tell me.”

I nodded again, and he glanced at the armchair in the corner, just a foot away. “That might be easier, this time.” His grip on my hips tightened as he sank into the chair with me on his lap. “You’re on top. You’re in control.”

“But I don’t…know what to do.”

Jace grinned and pulled me down for a kiss. “We’ll figure that out together,” he whispered without truly pulling away from my mouth, then he was kissing me again, one hand in my hair, the other on my hip. He arched beneath me, rocking against me, and that simple motion triggered an orgasmic aftershock and pulled a guttural moan from deep in my throat. My body had only ever found pleasure in his touch, and it knew what to expect. What it wanted.

I decided to listen to my body. To forget everything else.

I closed my eyes and rocked against him.

Jace groaned, tense beneath me. Throbbing against me. “I have never in my life wanted anyone like I want you.”

The truth of that echoed deep in his voice. In the cadence of his heartbeat. I could taste it on his skin. I could feel it in my soul. And suddenly, I felt powerful. He wanted something only I could give him. I rocked forward one more time, then leaned down to whisper against his ear. “Show me what to do.”

Jace’s eyes fluttered closed, and his hand tightened on my hip. “You’re already halfway there. Rise up on your knees.”

I did, and his fingers slid into me. Testing. Teasing. My body remembered that part, and when I clenched around him, he groaned and removed his hand. “A little higher,” he said, and when I complied, he guided himself into position beneath me. Against me. “Do you want to feel?” he asked, and when I nodded, too fascinated by the possibility to articulate, he guided my hand to where our bodies met, and my eyes flew open. My gaze met his, and for once, he wasn’t grinning. He was watching me, desire burning behind his eyes. Flushing his skin.

He put both hands on my hips, leaving me to explore the prelude to our union on my own, and I did.

He was hot and hard, yet oddly soft on the surface. I was wet and swollen, and very sensitive. If I lowered myself at all, he would slide inside me. I braced myself against his chest with both hands and held his gaze as I slowly sank…

“Wait!”

I froze, startled, and Jace lifted me by my hips. I groaned when he lowered me onto his thighs instead. Not where I wanted to be. He reached for something on the floor, then held up a square packet I hadn’t even seen him take from his pocket. I watched while he ripped it open and pulled out a condom. “There are only a couple of rules. This is number one.” I watched, fascinated, as he rolled it over his erection. It practically disappeared against his skin except for the ring at the base.

That time, when he lifted me into position, I was ready. He guided and I lowered, and slowly, I slid over him. This felt different than his fingers had. It was blisteringly intimate, in part because I hadn’t closed my eyes and he hadn’t looked away.

“You don’t have to go all the way down,” he said, his voice a gruff whisper. “We can work up to that.” He guided me with his hands, showing me how to lift myself, then lower myself again, as he rose beneath me, so that we met in the space between. He helped me find the most pleasant angles and the most comfortable depth, and as my confidence grew, I began to relax. To move more freely and discover what I liked. What he liked.

What made his jaw tighten and his eyes flutter closed. What made him sit up beneath me and run his tongue up my neck until he could suck my earlobe into his mouth without ever losing focus.

And then I found my rhythm.

With the right tempo and the right angle came true pleasure, and that intimate pressure began to mount within me again, tightening toward another peak. I moved quickly, almost frantically, desperate to capture that moment again and feel it spill over me with him still inside me.

“Abby…” Jace took my nipple in his mouth, and that pressure built faster. It was like chasing an erotic horizon. I could see it in the distance, stretching from one side of my world to the other. I could feel it reaching for me, pulling me…

“Faster,” I gasped, and Jace obliged, as a carnal growl rumbled up from deep in his chest. He arched into me, and I rocked against him, and finally, the world exploded all around me. Through me. Jace thrust once, twice more, then groaned as he ground into me, gripping my hips, and each feverish collision of our bodies sent another wave of pleasure through me.

Finally, I collapsed against his damp chest, my head on his shoulder. His arms wound around me. Aftershocks rocked us both, with him still twitching inside me, and I’d never in my entire life felt so comfortable or secure with another living soul.

I could not let the council separate us.

“Hey, thanks for letting me stay the night.” Robyn tucked a strand of brown hair behind one ear as she set her empty breakfast plate in the sink. “You don’t know me, and you guys are already pretty crowded, so that was really awesome of you.” She shrugged and smiled at Jace from across the kitchen, but before he could acknowledge her thanks, Melody laughed.

“It’s not like he had any choice,” my future sister-in-law said, mopping a smear of gravy from her plate with the last of her biscuit. “An Alpha has to provide sanctuary for any Pride member who needs it. But lately, he’s been giving Abby a lot more than that, if you know what I mean.”

My face flushed and Jace growled.

“Melody!” Patricia scolded. “If you can’t be respectful, you can go straight back up to your room.”

“But I’m still hungry.” She patted her flat stomach. “The baby wants another biscuit.”

Jace grabbed a biscuit from the platter and half crushed it as he slammed it down on her plate. “Eat in silence.”