“My parents are dead.”

Ally rocked back on her heels. “Oh God.” She didn’t know what to say to him. “I’m sorry” didn’t seem like enough. Instead of speaking, she slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him. His skin was cold beneath his T-shirt. “I should be good at comforting people who are grieving, considering I lost my family.” But she’d been too young to grieve in the same way adults might.

Loosely curling his arms around her, Derren rubbed his cheek against hers. “I’m not going through the same grief that you went through, baby. I haven’t spoken to my parents since before I was sentenced to juvie. They believed I was guilty.” And they’d died still believing it.

“That’s why your sister didn’t come and tell you to your face,” she realized. Even so, telling someone that their parents were dead over the phone was a shitty thing to do unless it simply couldn’t be helped.

“I’m surprised she even bothered to tell me.” His sister had disowned him as openly and easily as his parents had. “It’s even more surprising that she told me about the funeral.”

“When is it?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

Ally met his empty gaze. “Do you want to go?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t think you have to go, that you owe it to them,” insisted Ally. “I don’t know what happened in your old pack, but if your parents turned their backs on you, then you owe them nothing. Only go if you want to. And if you do, I’ll be with you.”

Derren cocked his head. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t want you to be alone.”

Her words warmed him. This thing between them might have started out casual and easy, but it was becoming increasingly far from it. “A funeral isn’t a good place for you, baby. All that grief . . . it’ll hurt you.”

Like she cared about that. “I’m not letting you go alone.” Her wolf hated seeing him this way, wanted to rub up against him to offer comfort. Ally felt so freaking helpless. Physical pain she could take away with her gift. Emotional pain wasn’t something she could heal. “How can I help? What can I do?” In a mere moment, his dark gaze went from cold to feverish with need.

Derren answered her question with a hard kiss, ravaging her mouth with his lips, tongue, and teeth. He wanted to lose himself in her, feel something. When he was with her, all he did was feel. Everything about Ally incited his senses. He drove his tongue deep into her mouth, just as he wanted to drive his cock deep into her pussy.

Drawing back, Derren skimmed the pad of his thumb along her bottom lip. “One day, I’m going to have this pretty little mouth on my cock.” Her eyes narrowed in defiance, so he bit her lip. “Because it’s mine.” With one tug, the belt of her robe was undone. He pushed it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor, revealing every perfect inch of her. “I want to fuck you hard and deep. But not yet.”

His hunger called to hers, brought her body to life; that was how it always was between them. Ally moaned when a hand knotted in her hair and arched her back slightly. He swooped down to suck a nipple into his mouth. His hot breath seemed to burn her flesh, sending sparks of fire through her body. A strong, calloused, confident hand cupped her neglected breast. He knew exactly what she liked and exactly how she liked it, and he always gave it to her.

She loved the way he touched and licked her as if he’d never get enough of her; he was aggressive and desperate yet careful not to use his strength against her. The hand in her hair moved down to clutch her ass and yank her against his cock. Ally shivered as he ground against her clit through the denim of his jeans, needing more. The abundance of raw sexual energy that always hummed beneath his skin beat at Ally’s control. She clawed at his T-shirt, tearing it from his body, smoothing her hands over sleek, hard muscle.

“I need your taste in my mouth.” The scent of her pussy was driving Derren insane. “Don’t move.” He kicked her legs apart and dropped to his knees. He gently parted her slick folds with his thumbs and slid his tongue between them, groaning at her taste. As his tongue lapped and teased, she whimpered and moaned; her claws dug into his shoulders hard enough to draw blood. “That’s it, Ally, scratch me.” Mark me. He flicked her clit with the tip of his tongue before suckling on it just hard enough to push her over the edge.

Panting, Ally watched as he shot to his feet; his face was a mask of raw hunger, and there was a merciless glint to his dark eyes. For an instant, those eyes flashed wolf, making her own wolf try to lunge to the fore.

“I want you bent over that table with my dick in you.” Spinning her, Derren placed a hand on her lower back and shoved her forward. She slapped her hands on the table to brace herself, but she growled over her shoulder—a warning that he’d gone too far. She was a dominant female wolf, so of course she didn’t like being manhandled. When Ally would have reared up, he curved his body over hers, caging her.

Knowing it was a weak spot for her, he hummed against the hollow below her ear. “I’m going to fuck you until you scream for me, Ally. I’m going to shove my cock so deep in your pussy, you’ll feel me for days.”

She struggled against the hands that shackled her wrists. “Get off me.”

“No. You’re strong, baby, I get that. I’m not dismissing it. But both of us can’t be dominant in bed.” He didn’t mind that she battled his dominance. But the more their relationship had crossed the realm of “casual,” the harder Ally had fought his dominance—as if she was also fighting what their relationship could become. Derren wouldn’t allow that.