~ JESSE ~Cazz’s touch was warm and sure. His kiss soft but insistent. The noise in the adjoining room suddenly seemed loud—the whirr of machines, low voices talking, laughing, cursing, rolling thuds and the snip of large shears…All that sound was louder than my breathing, though I had to pay attention to keep it that way.‘Stop thinking,’ Cazz growled in my head, teasing his fingers along the top of the bodice so that goosebumps rose to my collarbones. ‘Be here with me.’I wanted nothing more than to be there with him. I was just—Cazz sighed and leaned down, swinging me up and into his arms. I squeaked and grabbed h

 ~ CASIMIR ~ I was drowning in her. Kneeling there, slumped together, muscles trembling, breathing ragged, and my heart… God, it was terrifying what she did to me. Taking her had felt more than necessary. It had felt… urgent. I’d been bathed in lust before, driven for a female, or just for pleasure. But this… this felt like she had slipped those little fingers between my ribs to grasp at my heart and wasn’t letting go. I didn’t want her to. And yet… ever

 ~ CASIMIR ~ Jesse sighed and rolled her eyes. “Sure, sure. Sounds like an excellent plan,” she muttered. But I didn’t have to reply because she had already leaned into me and up on her toes to kiss me one more time, quick and hard. She’d meant to pull away swiftly, but I held her there in the kiss for a long moment until she sagged in my arms, then groaned—though not because of me. “I have to go, Cazz,” she sighed, tipping her head down to my chest. I stroked her hair. “I’m not stopping you,” I grinned down at her, because it was gratifying to know she was as reluctant to leave me as I was to have her go. 

~ JESSE (Earlier in the morning) ~I got a lot closer to Maya’s cave before I lost the verbal link with Cazz this time. He’d already explained that he was able to reach much longer distances than I could with wolves, so I prayed that link between us would keep growing and one day I wouldn’t lose contact with him when I came to Maya. Or maybe even further.That ache that I seemed to carry for him just wouldn’t let up. Even though we’d only just been together, I was hungry for him. Everything in me pushing, driving me to turn around and go back, to ignore the demands and responsibilities and just be skin to skin all day.More than once I stopped walking, began to turn, then mentally slapped myself. It was the bond, that was all!&

~ JESSE ~Maya let me go almost an hour later than usual, “to make up for my tardiness.” By the time I literally ran out of her cave, I was aching for Cazz, and also angry, and terrified. It was such a confusing turmoil in my chest and body because the longer I was away from him, the more my flesh ached to have him again—but knowing what I knew now about how an Heir was selected…It made me cold.I couldn’t stop thinking about the grief he’d had in his eyes when he talked about killing his siblings—and also the intensity when he spoke about reaping the benefits of it.I hadn’t understood at the time, I’d been consumed with wanting to help him stop beating himself up, but maybe… maybe the reason he felt bad about it was because even though he hated it, he didn’t w