She remained silent.

Sighing, he tried another tack. “I should have trusted you. I underestimated you and I’m sorry.”

“You thought I’d whore myself?”

Jerking in surprise, he held her body out so he could look into her face. “What? I never said any such thing!”

“Oh really? And what was yourassumption? Hmmm? You assumed that I was going to seduce the Enforcer over to our side, did you not? Like a whore. Well, f**k you, Gabe. I don’t need to sell my pu**y to figure this.”

He paled. “I… Jesus, Tracy, I didn’t mean it that way. I’m sorry. It sounds that way, yes. But I’d never think that of you.” Leaning in, he brushed his lips over hers and she relaxed in his arms. “I’m sorry, honey. I hate that I hurt your feelings.”

She looked up into his eyes and smiled softly. “I hate it too. And I accept your apology.”

Sitting on the desk, he pulled her to stand between his thighs. “You know, it’s been forever since I’ve been inside you.”

She laughed. “It’s been six hours.”

“Okay, so it’s been longer than I want. Go to Nick and I’ll get permission and make the plane reservations and call my assistant to have my house readied for us all. I’ll be in in a bit.”

Moving in tight against his body, she captured his bottom lip between her teeth. “Okay. See you in a few minutes.”

On her way out, he swatted her ass and she flipped him off over her shoulder. His laugh delighted her and the tension and anger were gone.

But her concern wasn’t. She’d given Nick a bit of time but it was enough and she wanted to go to him.

She felt his pain as she walked into the bedroom. He sat on the chaise near the French doors leading to the veranda, absently stroking a hand over Milton’s head. Milton was really good at cheering people up, goodness knows she’d snuggled up to him plenty enough over the last four years.

“Hey,” she said quietly as she moved toward him.

“Everything okay between you and Gabe?”

“Yes. But don’t worry about that. How are you? I’m so sorry you had to go through that tonight.” She stood behind him, putting her arms around his shoulders to hug him.

“Never in a million years did I ever imagine having to shun my brother and Sarah from the Pack.” His voice was thick with emotion.

“You did the right thing. And you know, Ben is going to help, which makes a huge difference. He obviously can’t stay, the Pack won’t trust him. But he can start over somewhere else, either in another Pack or on their own without the shame. He can raise his children with pride. Everyone makes mistakes, Nick. And where character lies is how we deal with them. We can run like Sarah, or face it head-on like Ben. You faced it, Nick. You did the hard thing. It’s what Alphas do.”

He turned, standing and pulling her to him. “You understand me. I’ve never thought it was important, really, to be understood. But always in the back of my mind it hurt that no one did.”

“I love you, Nick. I know you and I love you.” She went up on her toes and kissed his chin. “I believe in you.” A kiss to the hollow of his throat as her hands pulled his shirt from his pants. Leaning back, she yanked it over his head and tossed it behind her.

The warmth of his skin nearly burned her palms as she slid them up the wall of his chest. His scent hit her in the face and wrapped itself around her, pulling her to him physically and emotionally.

She laid a series of openmouthed kisses over his collarbone, tongue flicking out to taste the salt of his skin. His breathing sped, pulse hammering under her lips.

Moving back to the bed, he spun to push her onto the mattress and loomed above her. She shook her head and rolled, coming to straddle his waist. Putting a finger over his lips, she said, “Shhh. Let me love you, Nick.”

His eyes lit with emotion then and he kissed the finger that had quieted him. And she went back to work.

Back to the slow, sensual exploration of every inch of his face and neck with her lips. She poured every bit of her love for him into those kisses.

Scooting down his body, she looked up into his eyes as she kissed a path over to each nipple, grazing her teeth over each one and delighting in his shiver of pleasure and low gasp. Down she went, her hands working to undo his jeans, and once her mouth reached the sensitive spot just below his belly button she sat up long enough to pull the rest of his clothes off.

Kneeling between his thighs, she gazed up his body. “You’re so beautiful. God, no wonder every woman in Pacific hated me on sight. This is mine, all mine and I’m so not going to share.” She chuckled and he smiled up at her with cocky arrogance and assuredness of his own allure.

She slid her hands up his thighs, over those tight muscles, and felt them loosen under her touch. Each moment she loved him with her hands and mouth, she felt the tension and the hurt fall away a bit more.

Finally, she leaned down and grazed his c**k with her cheek, stopping for a moment to breathe him in.

The scent of fully aroused werewolf male rode her, tightened her gut and made her pu**y slick. Her clit throbbed and her ni**les hardened to the point of near pain. Mate called to mate then and each gave a small sigh of desire and satisfaction.

Her ass swaying, she bent down and took him into her mouth, slowly drawing her tongue ‘round and

‘round the head of his c**k as she did. In slow but sure rhythm, she went down on him, drawing his c**k into her mouth as far as she could and then pulling back up, making sure to flick her tongue over him as she pulled all the way off. She knew he was watching and gave him a show.