CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

“Selena…” Her name slips from my lips, a protest.

She’s wrong—she has to be wrong—because if she’s not, then I’m wrong. And this glorious, warm, enthusiastic young woman will be saddled with me for life, an unworthy man.

The ghost of my nightmare plays in my mind, only this time it’s Selena on the ground, the ogre standing over her, axe raised.

I take a step backward, shaking my head. I can’t do this. I can’t fail another woman.

I can’t fail another love.

And at that moment, I know I love Selena.

I love her more than I ever loved Bruna, even though that feels like a betrayal to admit. Forgive me, I murmur in my mind to that blurry portrait of a girl lost two decades ago. Bruna was a young, uncomplicated love made of daydreams for a future that never materialized.

Selena is the reality of days riding together, her helping me on my quest out of the nobility of her spirit. Selena is nights where we hold each other close and chase each other’s nightmares away. Selena is laughter and life and the most generous soul I’ve ever met. How could I help but love her?

It fills my heart with an aching, bittersweet joy, vibrating through me in a song too pure and beautiful to ever be voiced by mortal tongue. For I love her too much to chain her to me when she deserves so much more.

Selena stares up at me for a few seconds, and I don’t know what she reads in my expression, but she huffs, half amused, half angry. “Looks like I’m doing this the hard way. Not that I mind the hard way.”

As she backs away, she peels off the leather jacket I made for her, keeping eye contact the whole while.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m proving to you this is real.” Her shoes thump onto the ground as she tosses them aside. “What’s between us is real. You want me, and I want you. Even if there’s no goddess here in bed with us, there’s us , and that’s all we need.”

A growl rumbles from my throat as she slides her pants down her legs by turning her back to me and bending over. Her glorious ass waves in the air, covered only by that narrow strip of lace.

My cock springs to life .

Selena straightens and turns, making a production of dropping her pants to the side. Her hips gyrate, making figure eights in the air as she grabs the hem of her shirt and inches it upward in a slow tease.

My hands ball at my sides as I stop myself from lunging for her. Fuck, this woman is going to be the death of me.

As soon as her shirt falls to the floor, her arms raise again, tugging at the tie holding her hair until it tumbles in a lovely wave around her shoulders. The movement lifts her generous breasts until they strain against the thin lace of her underthings.

She pulls down one of the cups while licking her other hand. Her wet fingers slide over her nipple until it hardens into a peak. Selena licks her hand again and trails it down her stomach until it slides into her panties. Her breath hitches, her mouth falling open on a moan as her little fingers work under the lace. It drives me wild to almost see what she’s doing—it’s even more arousing than if she were naked. Wet noises mix with her breathy little gasps, and the sweet scent of her arousal saturates the air.

Every muscle in my body locks tight, vibrating with tension as I barely restrain myself.

Eyes sparkling with anger and mischief, she steps forward. Pulling her hand from her panties, she wipes her fingers across my mouth, painting me with her wetness. Her scent blooms in my nose, the salt and sweet of her spicing my lips, tempting my tongue to lick and lick again.

Her rich flavor blooms across my tongue, salt and tang and woman .

“Fuck.” It tears out of me as I surge forward, no longer able to resist. My arms crush her to me as I lift her for a punishing kiss. I nip at her lips with my tusks, and as soon as she opens, I thrust my tongue inside, plundering with no thought of finesse.

She moans into my mouth, meeting my hunger with her own.

After several fevered minutes, I growl against her mouth. “You don’t play fair.”

“You don’t deserve fair after what you hid from me.” She bites my lower lip with her little human teeth hard enough to sting. “I’m still mad at you.”

I rear back. “But you started this.”

“Anger doesn’t mean I don’t want you.” Her lower hand slides around to rub my cock. “It just means I want you hard.”

“Selena—”

“No.” Her grip tightens on my head with a delicious pressure that makes my hips jerk. “Fuck me, Sturrm. Fuck me hard. I want you on me, in me, and I want you now.”