Pack Ruin (The Splintered Bond #3)

10. At Last, Enough

10

At Last, Enough

GLEN

F or my entire life, I’d known I wasn’t enough.

My father and mother were so strong, so capable, and I’d accepted that I would never measure up, not really. I had plenty of power, but none of the relentless ambition my parents possessed.

I had inner strength, but it wasn’t something to boast of. Especially when the closest friends I had were far stronger. Brand’s burgeoning Alpha power had made my knees tremble a little the first time I met him, though we’d still been children. These days, with his eyes shining like twin moons, he seemed even more obviously one of the Moon Goddess’s most blessed.

Finn had always been suave and sophisticated, far more politically astute than I could hope to be, with an array of dark talents that I wished he’d never had to learn. But I was thankful he called me a friend, as his loyalty knew no bounds. He would kill to protect me… and those he loved.

I’d known from the first day I met Flor that I was not worthy of her. She was fierce and wild, strong in ways I’d never imagined someone so young could be. And all I wanted to do was make her smile.

Well, maybe not all. I also wanted to make her cry out in pleasure, fall apart on my tongue, and look at me with even half the love that shone in her amber eyes as she gazed at Brand.

Of all the Heirs, I was the joker, the comedian. But right now, I couldn’t even muster a smile. Flor was baring her throat, offering herself to me. I had to be certain she knew what her posture meant. And then I had to be absolutely certain that she knew I in no way deserved to claim her, or to wear her claim in return.

“Love, what are you doing? What are we doing?”

Her eyes snapped to mine, and a small smile played around the corners of those mysterious pink lips. “Glenda, for a wolf with your reputation, you’re awfully slow on the uptake. I’m asking you to fuck me. Fuck me, and bite me. Claim me.”

“I… I can’t,” I rasped, my throat suddenly dry.

She went still. “What do you mean? You don’t want me?” I could see her closing up, almost feel her shrinking inside.

“No, Flor! I want you more than I want to breathe. But I don’t deserve you.” A droplet of water landed on her cheek. No, a tear. I let them fall, unashamed. I wouldn’t hide anything from her. “You need mates who are stronger than you, or as strong. Ones who can protect you, who’ll never dishonor you.”

“Mates like Luke?” she mocked.

I shook my head. “Like Brand is. Like Finn will be. They have so much to offer y?—”

One of her hands moved from my wrist to my lips, shushing me. “Glen. You said you loved me. Was that true?” I nodded immediately. “Do you love me enough to stay with me, no matter what’s coming? To…” She blushed, but forged ahead. “Enough to share me with Brand, and Finnick, and maybe even Luke and Grig?—”

I shook my head. “Not him, Flor. You don’t know what he is. What he’s done.”

I could tell she wasn’t impressed. She shrugged. “Okay, then. With the other Heirs. Do you love me enough to put up with all my shit, and still smile at me at the end of the day?”

“For the rest of my life, no matter how long that is,” I vowed.

Her smile crept back. “Then that’s all you need to say to deserve me. I want you. I want you to claim me, and I want to claim you back. Because I’ll do the same. I’ll stay with you and fight for you, even if every stupid fuckhole of a pack on the continent chases you out for being a rogue. Even if we have to go somewhere, all of us, and form a pack of our own. I want to do it all with you.”

We both went silent for a long moment, my heart pounding loud enough to hear, hers shining in her eyes.

Then she growled, “Now fuck me.”

“No.” I pressed a finger to her lips now. “I’ll never fuck you, princess.” She blinked, flushing again, until I went on. “I will always make love to you. Worship and honor and cherish you, from this day until the moon falls.”

“Such a poet,” she teased, as I leaned down and began my worship at her pert nipples, then along her neck. Her skin was warm and smooth as I finished removing her clothing, followed by mine. I took a long moment just to feel her, to memorize the way her skin changed as I stroked her. To listen as her breath came in shorter pants as I traced every gentle curve and slope of her honed body, ignoring the way her legs parted as she writhed.

“More,” she begged. “Make love faster.”

I almost laughed. “Hush now. ‘You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.’” I quoted her favorite line from Pride and Prejudice , then set my mouth to her breast again. She squirmed as I lavished attention on her nipples one at a time, quoting my favorite lines from Austen between kisses and gentle bites, then moving on to the Romantic poets.

Once she was lost in the sensations, I let one hand trail lazily down her torso until I reached the center of her pleasure, tracing slow circles around that spot, learning her desires. I was in no hurry at all. If time stopped right now, and I was caught in this moment for eternity, I would never complain.

She began to tremble as her first climax overtook her, and I watched her face transform, wishing I could capture that expression forever. I’d have to settle for making her come every day, so I could see it.

“So beautiful,” I murmured, then moved down her body, reaching behind her to lift her hips up and taste her. Cinnamon and salt, jasmine and her own sweet nectar was the best meal I’d ever imagined. I lapped up her sweetness with my tongue, devouring her.

I’d made her come twice by the time I moved back up her body. As I stared down into her damp, flushed face, and whispered, “‘And all that’s best of dark and bright, meet in her aspect and her eyes,’” she snapped.

Her wolf rose, her eyes glowing with impatient fire as she growled a demand. “Claim me now, mate!”

“Yes, my love.” I lowered myself until my mouth hovered over her inner thigh. My teeth had elongated, and I tasted the evidence of her pleasure as well as the tang of her blood as I claimed her.

Power flooded my veins. A maelstrom of power and energy, a hurricane of it. I felt it leaking from me, blazing in my eyes and down my throat as I swallowed.She rolled us over until she sat astride me, sliding down to encase my cock in her heat. Rising and falling, taking her pleasure.

Driving me to mine.

“I’m coming,” I warned her as she shuddered on me, then leaned forward, her dainty, sharp teeth piercing the flesh at the juncture of my neck and shoulder, and driving in more deeply as I filled her.

A long moment passed where we stared into each other’s eyes, connected. Complete.

Then her expression changed, filling with pain and shock, as if someone had stabbed her. She slapped a hand over the mating mark on her neck from Finn, and her eyes filled for just a moment with strange red sparks.

She blinked, and they were replaced by tears. Tears of… rage?

“That chickenshit!”