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His scruff glistens in the soft light.

I want to touch him and be touched.

I want to erase the nightmares that sex evokes in my mind, and replace them with something good, something pure. Something that doesn’t involve pain and bleeding and—God, there’s no other way to describe it—hate.

I want Teague to make me feel more.

“N-not now.” I frame his face with my hands and guide him back to my mouth. “That’s not what I want at all.”

Chapter 16

Magic

TEAGUE

Soft hands frame my face, my stubble a rough rasping contrast as Truie takes what she wants. Her kiss is confident but almost tentative. Her delicate fingers seek purchase as they slide toward the back of my head, twisting through the hair I’d meant to get trimmed. When she pulls at the pieces curling behind my ears, I’m fairly certain I’ll never cut it in such a way that this is no longer an option.

The need to be careful with her is waging a fierce battle with the urge to fuck her and make her mine. It’s a battle I’m well acquainted with.

My dick is used to the literal ups and downs of this dance with Truie. We’ve been doing it for ages, but the frequency has ramped up since I grabbed her from the cemetery.

“You’ll have to use your words, hummingbird. What is it that you want?” I tuck my chin, pulling my head back so I can properly search her eyes.

I’ve spent every night since pulling her into my orbit, watching her sleep, most of them with her curled up in a tight ball until she’s passed out. And when that happens, she loses all restraint, burrowing into my heat, draping herself across my chest.

But always on her terms.

Always at her speed.

Always her choice.

I grip her hips firmly, holding her in place as I angle my hips away. I want this woman. I want her badly. I just don’t want to scare her by waving around the evidence of just how much.

“You.” It’s the only thing she gives me for an answer. Her voice is nervous, barely above a whisper. Where she was so strong setting out her terms for me to insert the tracker, now her touch is tentative, almost clumsy and unsure.

Jesus, the way I want her to feel powerful again, like she was moments ago. Like she was before.

Fucking before. The comparison, the then and now, the fact that there is a before and that the after is just so different.

“More, hummingbird. You need to give me more.”

“That-that’s what I want. More. I-I-I…”

The tips of her fingers trace the shape of my jaw, my neck, and skitter along my collarbones, dipping into the hollows and mapping each ridge.

Her touch is electrifying. Every one of my nerves endings is on fire and ready to explode. Hell, if she touches me anywhere south of my belt, I’m pretty sure I’ll be done for. The last thing I want to do is to come in my pants like a fucking teenager.

I lose her touch as her hands twist together in her lap, shaking. Trembling like she’s scared. That’s a hard no for me.

“Truie, love”—I slide my hands from her hips to wrap around hers to calm the tremors—“there is not a rush. No hurry. We don’t have to be on any kind of a timeline for this. I’m not going anywhere, yeah? And if I did, you could find me in a heartbeat now. Maybe we should take a minute, look at how the tracker works and⁠—”

Blonde curls bounce wildly as she shakes her head. Brows pulled together and eyes wide, Truie insists, “No, not now. I… I just want… I want to be normal, but I’m… I don’t think I know what to do, which is so… God, it just doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh, my sweet, sweet little hummingbird. Of course you’re not normal, you’re so much more. So perfectly special. You deserve to be worshipped, to be taken care of, loved. When the time is right, fear won’t enter into it at all.” I know I should be stressing that with the right person she won’t be afraid. But I’d be lying if I said I’d be okay with her seeking out someone else to take care of any of her needs. It would fucking kill me.

A tear glistens in Truie’s eye, and she blinks a handful of times trying to will it away. “This is so dumb.” She pulls further into herself, twisting out of my hold and hopping off the counter. She steps away, putting space between us that I sure as hell don’t want.

“What are you doing?”