Heart of Glass

by P. Jameson

  She’d actually done it, broken the hold Bastian had on her. Not physically—there was still danger to deal with—but mentally. Skittles had felt it happen as she busted it out in the storage shed. He’d stood back, helpless, knowing this time, she had to get free on her own.

  And she did.

  She fucking did.

  He kissed her temple as she cried against his chest, and pushed as much reassurance through their unfinished bond as he could.

  Mine.

  Instinct told him she could truly be his now. There was nothing left standing in the way. There were battles yet to be fought, but the one for her heart was nearly finished.

  The thought calmed him.

  With time, her tears faded and her breath evened, but there was no need to talk. Something was happening between them that didn’t need words. Her hand slipped under his shirt to make contact with his skin and it seemed to settle her even more.

  Yes. Touch is the way, his beast purred. His mate was grounded in the physical. He’d known that from the start, hadn’t he? Instinct. He might’ve been afraid of the animal in the beginning, but there was nothing wrong with his Firecat’s instincts.

  He let her hand roam, her fingers grazing over the dips of his muscles as they flexed to meet her touch. He stayed as still as possible, but her hands on him had him reacting without meaning to.

  “Why?” she whispered. “Why does touching you help me?”

  “Because. We match. Our messed up pieces are meant to go together and make something new.”

  Nyla lifted her head to stare at him. “How do you know?” Her eyes were puffy from the tears she’d purged and her midnight skin was blotchy. But seeing her open and honest like this made him even more hungry for her.

  “I feel it. In here.” He moved her hand up to the center of his chest, wishing his shirt was gone. And hers too.

  “Because of your animal. But I don’t have an animal. So… so how do I know?”

  Skittles frowned. “You think I feel this way because of my Firecat?”

  “I think… I think it’s different for you because of your cat. How do I…” She closed her eyes briefly. “Never mind.”

  But her hand didn’t leave his skin. She raised up to straddle his lap, her gaze on his while she eased his shirt upward.

  “Finish,” he urged, and she shook her head. “You can ask me anything, mate. Anything.”

  “I’d rather find out for myself.” Her touch explored him, the same way he had explored her in the bathtub. Like her fingers meant to memorize each dip and ridge, the texture of his skin.

  “Find out what, female?” he rasped, wondering if she could feel his cock growing hard for her beneath her ass. He needed her badly.

  She pushed at his shirt until it wouldn’t go any farther. “Take this off.”

  Skittles whipped it over his head, still intent on getting answers from her. There could be no more uncertainty between them. But just as quickly, she peeled hers off too, soft curves bouncing free and driving his need to explosive levels.

  He gripped her hips hard to keep his hands from going to her tits. But it didn’t matter because his mouth moved forward like a magnet to metal. He would’ve gotten his first taste if her hands hadn’t stopped him.

  Her hands… short nails, dragging downward to the waist of his jeans. Deftly, she unbuttoned them and eased the zipper down, tooth by tooth until his erection was free. She reached for him, and he grabbed her wrist to keep her from touching his throbbing cock.

  One touch and he’d lose his mind. He knew it. So first, he had to know what was bothering her.

  She brought her questioning gaze up, and he could see the lust in her pretty eyes.

  “Never hide things from me, Nyla,” he said roughly. “And I promise to never hide things from you. Tell me right now, what you meant to say.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “Like you did earlier?”

  “Bastian’s feeble attempts? They weren’t important. He will never get to you.”

  She pressed her full lips together, her eyes going soft. “It’s not for you to decide what’s important. Besides, you didn’t want me to know,” she accused.

  Skittles sighed. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Same with me, now. I don’t want to worry you.”

  Touch. She needs touch, his beast guided.

  He wrapped his palm around the back of her neck, slowly bringing her in for kiss. He’d wanted to do this from the moment he found her, but she wouldn’t have understood the feeling behind it. Not then.

  Would she now?

  He brushed his lips against hers, putting all the tenderness he’d always wanted to be capable of, but never was, into it. His mate deserved the same kind of soul crushing vulnerability she’d given to him now.

  Her soft whimper at the contact made his chest ache with so much emotion he had to pull back.

  Breathing hard, he let himself feel what had been denied him too long.

  Love.

  Hers? He didn’t know, but definitely his. He loved her. Maybe he had for a long time. Maybe all the days marked off on the calendar even.

  Pressing his forehead to hers, he tried again. “Tell me what is bothering you, mate. Let me fix it.”

  Nyla let off a trembling breath.

  “I need to know…” she found his eyes, looking nervous. “How do the others know?”

  “The others?”

  “The other mates. Marlee and Vegas. How are they so sure about all this? Why do they just believe that love is real and… and enough? There is so much shit in our pasts. How does this feeling between us fix it all? And how do we know it will last? And…” She shook her head, hopelessly. “How do they know.”

  Mate needs reassurance.

  Skittles fought the urge to crush her close as relief swept over him.

  “There’s a bond,” he said, starting at the hollow of her throat to brush a finger down her sternum. He stopped just between her breasts. “Inside, when we mate for good, there will be a bond. You will feel it here. You already feel it some. I know, because I do too.”

  “The burning,” Nyla whispered. “The beautiful ache.”

  “Yes. It will make things right between us. Make things solid and there won’t be anymore doubting. But only if you want it. Only if…”

  “If what?”

  “Only if you choose it.”

  Nyla stared at him, not understanding.

  “It’s how the curse is broken. The Ouachita witches wanted to make sure we’d never hurt anyone with our animals again. The only way was for us to be reborn, but this time out of something better. Truer. Stronger than the hate we were born from.”

  Her eyes went soft. “Love.”

  Skittles nodded, holding his breath for what he knew was coming next.

  “But you…” Nyla frowned. “You were already a Firecat when you found me.”

  “Yes.”

  “How?” she breathed.

  He brushed her cheek with his thumb, trying to find the words to explain. “I loved you before I knew you. I loved what you could be and what your existence meant for me. Just knowing you were out there, somewhere, being strong until I could find you. You gave me purpose when I wanted to give up. You weren’t even here, but you made me stronger. You made me better. And I swore I would do the same for you one day…”

  “Skittles.” Her eyes were filling up with fresh tears. He had to get the rest out fast.

  “When I received your S.O.S., the night I shifted. The thought of you dying…” He swallowed hard at the memory of that feeling. “I knew I would do anything to keep that from happening. Anything. Give up anything. Sacrifice anything. As long as it meant you lived. That’s what did it. That’s what brings the animal out. It happens in the moment we decide another life is more important than our own. And for me, Nyla…” He pushed the last part past his aching throat, needing her to believe him. “… it was you.”

  “No me without you,” she croaked, repeatin
g the promise he’d spoken to her before.

  “No me without you,” he confirmed.

  Tears breached her eyelids and her hand came up to cover his on her cheek. Threading her fingers between his, she turned her face into his hand and kissed his palm. “I want it,” she declared softly. “I want the bond. With you. I choose it.”

  Her arms came around his neck, pressing their bodies close, her smooth skin molding against his.

  “Soñadora.”

  “I choose you, Skittles. I don’t want him to rob me of this, of a future. I want this, with you… more than I want revenge. I want freedom. True freedom here, inside.” She put her palm to the spot where he’d told her she would feel the bond. “I’m ready. No me without you.”

  The tremble in her voice told him she had been considering something risky. Revenge. He knew how it could poison a person. And he still wanted to kill Bastian for what he’d done.

  But he wouldn’t have risked himself or Nyla to do it.

  For the first time, he realized, she would have, to save the others. Now, she was taking another path. A better one. Healing in a truer way, that vengeance could never provide.

  Love.

  Maybe for the first time in her life, she was choosing right.

  Just as he had done when he found her picture in the shed.

  Choosing right. Choosing her, choosing him.

  It’s time, his Firecat purred.

  Skittles nodded.

  “I’m going to make you mine, female. So be very sure.”

  Her nails curled into his nape, sending chills down his spine.

  “I’m sure.”

  “Good.”

  And he took her mouth hard, like he’d been waiting to for so long.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  “I’m sure.”

  Hell yes, she was sure. Nyla would place all her bets on this man because she had never been more sure of anything in her entire life.

  This moment, with Skittles pouring his truth out to her so raw… it would be the moment that defined her. The new her. The one who had wrongs on her record. The one who had been through hell for it. The one who had found something worth letting go of the bitterness she housed inside.

  In him, she was redeemed.

  Because this was what she knew now: her wrongs were atoned for long ago. A lifetime ago, on the floor of a dingy basement, helping her sisters the only way she knew how. And she didn’t have to live under those shadows any longer. She didn’t owe Bastian or herself or anyone else another second wasted in pursuit of revenge.

  It was over. It was done.

  It was time to live.

  That was how real freedom was attained. She recalled Vegas’s words. When you move on, that’s when you will be truly free of him.

  Skittles dove for her mouth and she met him halfway, tongues tangling and searching and learning. He raised up, flipping her onto her back as he settled between her legs. The rub of his erection through her jeans was enough to drive her mad. She needed him so badly. But somehow, she knew he wasn’t completely in control.

  Firecat.

  This was going to be earth-shattering. The kind of connection where they’d both come away altered.

  And she was ready.

  He held her face as he kissed her, exploring every corner of her mouth. As if he expected her to pull away and was there to be sure she didn’t. Just to make things clear, she tunneled her fingers into his hair, gripping tight as he plundered her.

  Good god. She could let him kiss her forever. Every pass of his tongue felt like a lick of lusty fire.

  He pulled back to stare down at her. The expression on his face was like he’d conquered a battle, and maybe he had. Because she felt like she’d been through one too. They had both survived, coming out on the other side victors even if they were battered.

  His eyes glowed jewel green, those familiar flickers hidden in the background behind the color. It was evidence of his animal, she knew, and it made her feel wild.

  With a soft growl, Skittles’s hand followed a path down her throat and the center of her chest until he palmed one of her breasts. Her nipple was a hard pebble and the rougher callouses of his hand were the perfect relief. Her hips thrusted upward without her permission and he pressed her back to the bed.

  “Not yet,” he murmured, almost to himself. Because his eyes were on her body where he squeezed and kneaded moans from her. He looked enraptured. No one had ever looked at her like that.

  God.

  “Skittles.” His name left her throat like a prayer as she nudged his jeans further down his legs.

  But his only response was to take both her wrists in one of his big hands and hold them above her head. “Be good, mate,” he scolded softly as his mouth lowered to suck one of her nipples between his lips where he teased and taunted it until she was squirming beneath him for more.

  But relief wouldn’t come so quickly.

  Skittles tongued a path to her other nipple, torturing it the same way before releasing her and sliding both hands under her shoulders to bring her to his mouth like he intended to get lost there for a while.

  And he did, nipping the curves of her breast, licking and lapping like a hungry beast.

  There was something so carnal and satisfying about the way he made love to her. Like it was instinctual to love her this way.

  Oh god.

  She’d never make it. She was going to come like this, with the friction of his hardness between her legs.

  But he seemed to know she was close because he went to his knees, his pants barely past his hips. The tip of his cock poked out the top and he absently rubbed his palm over the head while he stared down at her.

  “Mate is beautiful.” His voice was rough, sending shivers all over her skin. “Mine.”

  Reaching for her waist, he undid her jeans, yanking them past her bottom to slide them down her legs. Then he stepped out of his too, and there was nothing else between them and the promise of a future.

  Skittles prowled up her body, his eyes hard on hers. The colorful ink on his skin rippled as he moved to hover above her, powerful and commanding.

  She’d never known a stronger man. Could he really be hers?

  “I will love you all my days, soñadora,” he vowed. “I will stand beside you always, your king. And you will be my queen. And nothing will ever harm you again because I will guard your heart with everything I am.” The words sounded ancient, not like Skittles at all. Not like the rough way he spoke to his brothers, and not like the tender, sexy way he read poetry. This was different.

  But she realized this was the beast in him, mixing with the man, to vow allegiance to her, and she wanted to give him the same in return.

  “I will love you back,” she whispered, feeling the heaviness of the promise to her bones. “I promise to choose you, over and over again. No me without you.” She would be a good mate to him. She would give him as much as he’d given her. “And…” She remembered the way he liked to feel color. “I promise to make you feel the things you can’t see. Whether it be color or hope or… love.”

  He nodded, a solemn acceptance of her vow.

  This moment, right now, was theirs. And nothing could stop what was forming within them.

  The bond.

  Staring between them, he guided his erection to her sex, slipping between her folds with zero resistance, but not entering.

  “Feel me, Nyla. Feel what’s yours.”

  She felt him all right. So good. His hard to her soft. And every time he pushed forward, the head of his cock nudged her clit tauntingly, drawing sounds from her that should be embarrassing, but just… weren’t.

  He lowered his mouth to her ear. “When I get inside you, I’m not going to want to stop until you’re marked. So I need you ready.”

  “Marked?”

  He kissed her neck, nudged her sensitive nub again. “I will claw you with my mating mark and give you my scent. It will stay with you forever and let any other shifter know
that you are taken.”

  It was a mark of ownership, but it didn’t make her feel like a possession the way her number had. She would wear his mating mark proudly.

  “I’m ready,” she said, but he hesitated, finding her eyes.

  “I won’t do it if you’re not sure. Or if it… hurts you. You will still be mine where it counts.” He kissed her chest where their bond would settle.

  He was worried about triggering bad memories of her time with Bastian.

  “I want it all with you. I want you to make me forget about everything that came before. Replace it with something new. I want to be reborn too, just like you were.”

  Eyes locked with hers, he shifted his hips to guide his hardness to her opening, and pressed inside with aching slowness.

  Nyla moaned as he filled her. And she watched his jaw tick with the effort of his restraint.

  “So perfect,” he gasped. “You squeeze me so perfectly, mate. Your body was meant for me.”

  She believed it. How else was it possible to feel him in her veins the way she did? Like he was a piece of her, broken off and lost somewhere along the way, and now he was found. He filled all the holes left in her heart from chipping away the callouses.

  When he was completely inside her, he stopped moving to watch her face as she breathed through the glorious invasion. He stretched her. Filled her. And she found she wanted to savor every moment of it.

  She’d never wanted that before, with anyone else. With Skittles, she wanted to… make love.

  He drew back, nearly pulling free of her body, one trembling hand moving down to grip her hip. Using his elbow for support, the other hand went to her cheek, holding her face steady for his searing kiss. One hot press of his lips before he leaned back to watch her again as he eased into her body in a smooth glide.

  “Feel me,” he grated, but all she could do was moan as her eyes fluttered shut at the feel of their bodies coming together. “Feel the way we connect. Never forget this feeling, mate. But just in case you do, I will remind you. Every. Day.” Each word was emphasized with the drag and push of his thrusting hips.