“Again,” Sally said, her voice rough. From crying no doubt.

“You’re beautiful, I need you, I want you, you’re mine.”

There was a pause and then a choked sound as Sally spoke again. “Again, please.”

“Sally mine, I’m lost without you. I crave you, the sound of your voice, the scent of your body, the touch of your hands. Please, Brown Eyes,”

“No, no, no, NO!” Sally screamed, sobbing at the same time. “Don’t call me that. Don’t ever call me that.”

“Okay, okay, beautiful. I won’t ever call you that again. Will you please come back and sit down?” Costin sounded so patient and loving.

Jen felt Jacque take her hand and looked at her friend to see she was crying just as much as Jen was.

“If you won’t let me touch you, at least tell me what changed? Earlier you let me touch you all over. What happened to make you not want my touch?”

“The dream,” Sally said so softly that they had to press their ears against the door.

“Everyone was telling me that I didn’t deserve you. Jen and Jacque were asking me how I could have betrayed you in the worst possible way. They stood there shouting at me that you should never have to touch me again, not after I’d given that privilege to another male. They’re right,” she muttered.

“Love, it was a dream. You know none of us, especially your best friends, think those things. You know I don’t think those things. You can feel it. You can see it in my mind. If you’d let me touch you, you’d know the truth of what I think. I’m on my knees begging you to let me touch you. Please, Sally. You aren’t the only one hurting here, beautiful.”

Sally sucked in a breath. “Why are you hurting, Costin? Because your mate SLEPT WITH ANOTHER MAN? BECAUSE SHE’S NO LONGER INNOCENT?” Sally screamed at him.

Jen slid down to her knees, her legs unable to hold her as she realized the depth of suffering her friend was experiencing. Something crashed against the door causing it to shutter, and Jen’s legs decided to work again as she jumped up, intending to storm in there and check on Sally. But a short, redhead got between her and the door. Jacque shook her head and mouthed, “He won’t hurt her.”

Jen knew that, but she didn’t like Costin throwing things. Not that her own mate didn’t throw things now and then.

They pressed their ears back to the door, not that it was necessary with the roar coming out of Costin.

“I’M HURTING BECAUSE YOU ARE HURTING. THE ONLY REASON THAT I CARE THAT HE TOUCHED YOU IS BECAUSE IT’S DESTROYING YOU. YOU, Sally, you are all I care about. This has nothing to do with how I feel about what happened. It only matters because you are hurting as a result of what he did. Don’t you get it?” Costin’s voice had deflated as he tried to reason with this mate.

“Get what?” Sally hiccupped.

“Get that you will always be more important to me than anything else. You, your safety, your health, your pain, your joy—all of that is more important than him. He is dead now. He doesn’t matter. I dealt with my own feelings when I tore him apart. Now it’s about you.” He was breathing hard by the time he was done pouring himself out to her.

“Costin,” Sally said.

“Yes, beautiful?”

“I want your touch.”

“Bloody hell, thank you.”

Jen made a motion for them to step away and Jacque nodded and followed.

When they were far enough away, they stopped, both wiping their faces.

“Well, that was painful as hell,” Jen rasped.

Jacque nodded. “Costin is good for her. He’s the perfect mate to deal with this. It’s going to take time, probably a long time, but that man will never let her go through it alone.”

“Thank the Great Luna for that,” Jen muttered.

“Sorry I dragged you away from Fane,” Jen said as she shifted from foot to foot and looked down at her nails.

“I would have been mad if you’d gone without me,” Jacque told her and then pulled her into a hug.

When they stepped back from each other, Jen motioned with her head toward Jacque’s suite. “Go calm the beast. You know he’s in there pacing like a mad man.”

“Well, you did give him an Alpha command not to leave the suite. That took balls.”

Jen laughed. “Sometimes it pays to be head bitch.” She winked at Jacque and then went to her own suite and her mate who she desperately needed.

Jacque was dragging her feet on the way back to her suite. And since Fane was all up in her business through the bond, he knew she was stalling. Her emotions were still running high and Fane was a little less than happy with her for avoiding him for so long.

She took a deep breath as she finally arrived outside their door. She reached for the knob but stopped when she heard his voice in her mind.

“Are you nervous, Luna?”

She was afraid to answer.

“If you’re not, you should be.”

Okay, so that just went all over her. How dare he try to intimidate her. Jacque turned the knob and practically threw the door open. She sort of hoped he’d be right on the other side so it would smack him in the face.

“Such harsh thoughts, love,” Fane said as he stood from the couch and walked toward her.

“What the crap, Fane? Why should I be nervous?” she barked.

“Because I’m not happy with you. In fact, I’m quite angry.”

“HA! You’re quite angry? Is that right? Well, guess what, wolf-boy, I’m beyond quite angry. I have crossed into the city limits of pissed the hell off.”

Fane clucked his tongue at her. “Language, Jacquelyn.”

She was going to kill him. She was seriously going to murder the father of her child. Jacque turned to head to the bedroom but only made it four steps before an arm was wrapped around her waist, pulling her tightly against a muscular chest.

“We aren’t done talking,” he whispered in her ear.

Jacque was determined not to give him the satisfaction of knowing what he did to her. Unfortunately, what he did, he did really, really well.

His teeth scraped across his mark on her neck and she bit her bottom lip to keep from making a sound.

“I say we are done talking,” she finally bit out and pulled out of his hold. Jacque was just about to be home free as she started to close the bathroom door and lock it when Fane pushed his foot into the doorway.