"You have to learn to trust me at some point."
The whisper in my ear heated my skin, and I tried not to wiggle against the body pressed to mine. I didn't understand what he wanted.
"You. I want you."
And he could always read my thoughts. Damn irritating.
His low chuckle filled the darkness as his hand slid over my belly. I was naked. I was always naked, floating in the nothingness, and he was always here.
A dream. Just a dream, except I wasn't asleep. Not always. Not this time.
"It's hard to see you and not touch you. To see you and know that you won't let me hold you."
Let him? Nobody let Ferrara do anything. If he wanted to hold me, he would.
And that's how I knew it wasn't real. This was just the mate I wanted. The hero. The one who would listen and understand.
That was not the real Ferrara Knox.
"Are you wet, baby? Let me see."
I never stopped him. Never wanted to stop him. My body never reacted this way to anyone, and what was the harm? Instead, I turned toward him, threw my thighs across his hip while his cock settled right against my wet pussy. He was always just as naked as I was.
"Always wet for me," he growled. "Mine. You're mine, Violetta. I won't let anyone else have you."
"You're nothing more than a fantasy. A dream. You're not real," I told him with a small moan as his hands raked down my body and pressed between my legs. "You're just a way to drive myself to madness."
"You're the one making me insane. You won't talk to me. Won't let me in. All you'll ever let me do is this."
Grabbing my hips, he twisted onto his back, taking me with him until I fell over his chest. In that moment, like every time, I thought of pushing him away. It wasn't healthy to fantasize about him like this. It wasn't real. It would never be real.
But I didn't stop. Ever. Glutton for punishment. That's me. And when I settled on his cock, I moaned just a little as I tried to make room for this thick length. His grunt just made me more slippery as I wiggled.
"Fuck, Violetta. You always gotta tease."
"Not teasing. Just...uh...just figuring out what I like." It wasn't like I had a ton of experience. Or any experience. Mated three years and still a virgin. But I had this. This fantasy that wasn't real.
"Do you like this? Do you like it when I fuck you, Violetta?"
He knew that I did, so I just growled at him and shifted my position so I could take him in a little deeper. He let me play for a few minutes while pleasure coursed through me, but then he grabbed my hips and took control.
Helpless. I was always helpless in his hands, but I always felt safe.
Another way that I knew it wasn't real.
Ferrara Knox was not someone who was safe. Not for me.
But that didn't stop me from screaming out his name as he fucked me into oblivion.
I was not in my bed.
Blinking, I stared down at the rag in my hand and realized I'd completely lost myself in one of those stupid dreams, and I wasn't even in my bed.
Or in my apartment.
The bar was empty. We'd been shut down for two hours. Normally, by now, I was curled up in my bed with a book, but I hadn't cracked open a book in three weeks. Not since Ferrara made Charlie the manager. Now, like every night, I'd been given a ridiculous cleaning task that always took at least two hours. Tonight, I was oiling the baseboards.
All of them.
Never mind that we had buffer tools to handle this or even that the baseboards really needed a new coat of paint. No, Charlie had decided that the place was far too filthy and needed a good shine.
And I was just the girl to do it.
I ached from my head to my toes. Charlie hadn't given me a single day off. The first time I refused to come down, he'd broken into my apartment and hauled me down to the bar himself.
I'd been wearing nothing but a T-shirt and a pair of panties, and that was how he made me work. And whenever there weren't any customers in the bar, the employees would find ways to entertain themselves.
My bruises had bruises.
They had two goals. One was to make me cry. I'd come damn close when they'd taken the poker to the grill coals and scarred my legs.
The second was to see my wolf.
I hadn't shifted once since my father was killed. Not when Ferrara demanded it so he could identify my wolf. Not when Parker pleaded that it would help me heal.
Now everyone wanted to see if pain would let her out.
I would die before I let any of these assholes get their hands on her.
The phone on the bar rang, and I jerked my head up. It was almost four o'clock in the morning. Who the hell would be calling Confections bar at this time?Convinced it was a wrong number, I went back to my job. I was so close to finishing, and Charlie had already told me that I needed to be back at eight in the morning for inventory.The phone rang again. With a sigh, I dropped the rag and crossed the rough wooden floor. Wiping my hands on my pants, I looked down and swore. My pants were streaked with the damn oil. It would be a nightmare to try and wash out, assuming that I would ever have the time to do laundry.This was my only pair of jeans. Leaving the bar to go shopping wasn't exactly an option.I did my best to stay tucked away in my own corner, and I didn't exactly have a ton of money. I didn't get a paycheck, but I did get tips from people who didn't know who I was.Or at least, I did until Charlie had copied the key to my apartment. My squirreled-away money disappeared, and
The moment the clock on the washed-up wall struck twelve, the shadows emerged.The rain was pelting down heavily now, as lightning blazed across the dark, furious sky, revealing half a dozen silhouettes just a few feet from the three, huge sycamore trees down the path that led to our little house. Panic lodged itself in my chest as I looked back to alert my father. “Father, look!”Before I could finish my sentence, they were already edging closer to the door, their eyes beaming a conspicuous yellow in the dark."Forgive me, Violetta," Father said, grabbing and hurling me toward them like a bowling ball before shifting into his wolf form and breaking through the back door. I cried out in pain as two bodies went down under me. Shock turned to immobilizing fear, and fear turned to tears.Strong, powerful hands pulled me back up. "Hold her."Two words. All he said, but that voice...it was mesmerizing.Confused, I snapped my head around, but he had already shifted. His wolf, though smallis
Three years laterI let out a sigh when Charlie's hands accidentally brushed against my butt for the third time in thirty minutes.I hated how patient I was with his antics, and there was no point in glaring at him or pushing his hand away. He'd just give me a sleazy grin and mouth sorry. It was just a show for the customers, or at least those customers who didn't know who I was. When we were alone, he didn't even bother with the fake apology, but the shitty grin always remained.He didn't have to apologize to me. I didn't deserve it.I didn't deserve anything.So I tried my best to ignore him as I pulled the wine out of the cooler beneath the bar and faked a smile at the customer in front of me. "Our chicken caprese sliders would go great with this wine," I said as I pulled the cork. After pouring his glass, I nudge the menu in front of him."Caprese, huh," he grunted as he eyed me, the gleam of his wolf front and center. I didn't need my own wolf to tell me that he was more powerful
I sank as low as I could against the floor in total submission, thankful I hadn't let my wolf out earlier. Had I done that, she would have clawed through the floorboards, certain she wasn't worthy of being on the same level as Ferrara.Pathetic.Ferrara guffawed, and my skin flushed with humiliation, while my mind raced. Why had he dropped by today? For three whole years, we hadn't seen each other, and it wasn't like he always came around when I wasn't at work. I lived right above the bar. I was always here, so he had over a million opportunities to come see me if he cared.But knowing Ferrara, and his hatred for me, I figured he'd just left me here to rot with the bar.I changed tactics, throwing myself at work and making sure the Confections bar turned around and began making more profit than before. I'd hoped that by doing so I would gain his attention. Prove that I could have a purpose in the pack.I was dead wrong.Nothing. Not a glimpse. Not a note of thanks, or appreciation. It