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Faith frowned, wondering what this had to do with anything.
“I remember. ”
“Wolfe and I, we hoarded money that we stole on our missions, waiting for a time that we could escape and establish safety. From my stash, I bargained with a sympathetic guard for the lotion you now use. At the time, it was so expensive that Wolfe and I argued over it continually. But your skin was so soft, Faith. Even as a child, it glowed with satin and purity. I could not bear to see it irritated by our harsh conditions. ”
Shock held her immobile. She had thought Aiden had provided the lotion. She had never known it had been Jacob.
“The apartment you cherish so dearly,” he continued. “I provided for you. The moment I would learn there was something you wanted, something you needed, I ensured you were able to purchase it, no matter the cost. Because I wanted to bring you joy. I wanted you comforted, even though I wasn’t there. I did this, Faith, not knowing, never realizing I did it because I loved you past reason. I did it merely for the thought of the joy it would bring you. I would dream of your surprise, your pleasure, when you acquired what you sought. That is all that has kept me going for years. For these things I have fought for. ”
Faith licked her lips, pain tearing through her at the sacrifices she saw through his eyes. To others, it may seem little enough. But to Jacob and Wolfe, money was security, it was safety for the Pack, it was freedom. To know he had paid for the comforts she so cherished, showed her that Jacob had not forgotten about her as she had always feared. He had instead, been with her the only way he knew how.
“Those comforts brought me more joy than you know, Jacob,” she whispered tearfully. “But they do not replace you. I will not live without you again. Not for a moment. We are mates. We fight together, or we don’t fight at all. If I return to the compound, then you will return with me, or else we will never be together again. ”
His lips thinned. As though he had expected his announcement to sway her decision.
“You are so damned stubborn,” he growled, throwing his hands up as he stalked away from her. “Why are you this way?”
“And you are trying to manipulate me with the love I feel for you, and your own emotions,” she accused him. “Why can’t you stop, Jacob? Why can’t you admit you can’t protect me as you wish? Do you think the job of Liaison is without danger? That I am not forced, on a regular basis, to protect myself?”
He stopped pacing. She watched his body still, the muscles of his back tighten in rejection of her claim.
“It is not the same,” he finally growled.
“The barrel of a gun at my head, and Council soldiers hunting me down is somehow safer than being with you?”
She watched the blood drain from his face as her words hit him. His hands came up to wipe at his face, then tunnel through his hair once again. When he faced her, resignation and a strange kind of relief seemed to fill his expression.
“I love you, Faith. But you terrify me,” he said deeply, his voice strained. “I will die of a heart seizure due to fear for you, before any Council soldier can get a chance to shoot me. ”
Faith rose from her chair then and walked to him. He stood alone in the middle of the room, watching her intently, his face drawn and tight, his eyes bright with such a maelstrom of emotions that it made her want to weep.
“All I can think about is holding you. Being wrapped in your heat. And the hell my life would be without you. ” He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, warm against his bare chest. “What would I do now, Faith? Without you. ”
She heard the dark loneliness, the years of pain and bitterness that he had suffered without her. The same dark years alone that she had suffered as well.
“What would I do without you, Jacob?” She held tightly to him, wanting nothing more than to melt into his skin, to be a part of him for all time, wherever he went, whatever he thought, to be a part of it.
His hands smoothed over her back, creating a heat, a longing unlike any that had come before it. His touch was firm, sure, his hands cherishing rather than possessive, though the dominance of his touch would never change, she knew. And he was dominant. He held her close, despite the lightness of his touch, as his arousal began to flame higher.
Faith tipped her head back to stare up at him, but found her lips caught in a kiss that mingled desperation, hunger and devotion instead. He licked at them, then plunged his tongue inside as she moaned in rising need.
She held onto him tightly, moving her body sensually against his, her nipples rasping against his bare chest, the friction of her cotton T-shirt creating a heat that made her desperate to remove it.
Jacob was ravenous in his demands for her kiss, as well as her touch. His hands gripped the neckline of her shirt, ripping it from her with one strong movement of his hands. Her cunt spasmed at the action, the sensuality of it ripping through her body with the strength of a hurricane.
Then his hands were on her bare back, pulling her forward, pressing her breasts firmly into his chest as he groaned with dark arousal.
“I hunger for you,” he whispered as he lifted his lips from hers, his hands working at the snaps of her jeans. “My entire body, Faith, hungers for you. ”
Faith licked her lips and lowered her eyes.
“Then eat me,” she whispered, watching his eyes widen, then narrow.
His hands pushed her jeans down her legs as he lowered his body until he was kneeling before her.
“Red Riding Hood ran from her wolf,” he told her with an edge of amusement.
“Red Riding Hood didn’t know what the hell she was missing,” she groaned, her voice rough and filled with heated longing as his lips caressed her inner thigh, his hands lifting one leg to pull her jeans from it, then the other.
