The barrier that had stood so strongly between us was broken, and the rush of feelings that followed its destruction was unlike anything I'd felt before. If I could have melted into him right there in my living room, I would have. He'd laid himself bare for me, showing more vulnerability than I would have thought him capable of. We'd never been closer. His eyes told me that he felt the same when he broke our kiss and again cupped his hands against my cheeks.

"Do you want to..." I trailed off, suddenly too shy to ask for what I wanted outright. Instead, I nodded toward the loft. His touch remained tender but I could tell by the hunger that flashed across his features that he wanted nothing more. I turned my head to kiss one of his palms then pulled him to the ladder.

Nervously, once I reached the top, I retreated into my closet. I slid out of my clothes and quickly changed into a nicer bra before pulling my sleep shirt on roughly and fluffing my hair. I needed to buy sexier pajamas.

"What is that?" Gabriel had been sitting on the edge of my bed but rose when I came back into the room. His voice was pitched low and there was an edge there that set alarm bells off in my head.

"What, this?" I tugged at the hem nervously where it grazed my upper thighs. "It's my shirt, the same one I always sleep in. Why—"

"Take it off," he growled. "Now."

His eyes darkened and I knew that he was struggling to maintain control over his wolf. I took a step back.

"What's wrong with it?"

Through clenched teeth, Gabriel hissed: "It smells like him."

Oh. I realized, looking down at the shirt once more, that it had been Jack's. I'd taken it from him ages ago, but it was still what I wore every night when I slept beside him. I stripped it off quickly and tossed it into the laundry hamper. Shivering in my underwear, I approached Gabriel cautiously.

"There, all gone." I assured him. He was still breathing heavily, chest heaving in an effort to keep himself in check. I slid my hands up under his shirt to lay my palms on his chest; I knew the skin-to-skin contact would soothe him. It had the intended effect: he took a slow, deep breath, then sighed. He moved closer and traced the outline of my body slowly, studying every inch.

"Much better," he purred. When his hands reached my waist he picked me up and I wrapped myself around him. In his arms, I felt light as a feather.

I giggled into his kiss.

"What?" He asked.

"You were jealous. It's kind of cute." He tossed me onto the bed and quickly stripped off his jeans before he crawled up after me, kissing over my legs until he reached the sensitive skin of my stomach and I tried to wiggle away. He held me still.

"Cute, huh?" He growled against me. The hot tip of his tongue traced a line just above the waistband of my underwear and I gasped, arching my back high.

"Fine," I gave in breathlessly. "Not cute."

Gabriel spread my legs and knelt between them before he pulled his shirt off over his head. His muscles flexed dangerously as he lowered himself back over me. He reached one hand down and I lifted my hips to help him pull my underwear off. He slid his own down as well.

I was ready for him, ready to feel him inside of me. My whole body vibrated with anticipation as he lined himself up at my entrance, stiff and throbbing. Under the moonlight that filtered into the room through the snow-covered panes overhead, I watched him adjust himself around me until he dragged his eyes up my body appreciatively to meet mine. My heart, though racing against my ribs, felt so full.

Gabriel slid into me slowly and only halfway, bearing most of his weight on his arms that propped him up on either side of my head. He was trying hard to be gentle. I wove my fingers into his tangled hair and pulled his head down towards me so that I could run my tongue over the spot on his neck, just below his ear, that I knew would drive him wild.

"You're not going to break me," I whispered against his skin and gave his earlobe a soft bite.

That was all it took. A deep shiver shook his body and he slammed his hips against mine, filling me up.

I cried out harshly. It took a moment for my body to stretch to accommodate his size. It had been a while since I'd had someone inside of me; Jack and I hadn't had sex in at least a year. Our relationship was intimate, always, but we loved each other in a different way.

The initial pain almost instantly gave way to an intense, deep pleasure that found the both of us clutching at each other's bodies, desperately crushing our lips together. We found our rhythm easily, without even trying. By the sounds escaping both of our mouths, I knew neither of us would be able to last long. I ground myself against him, almost unable to breathe for the tension that my body was under. Gabriel reached up to steady himself against the headboard as he pumped into me hard and fast, still somehow managing to be gentle despite his primal urges. He wanted to take care of me as much as he wanted to claim me for his own.

There was a lightning storm raging inside of me, all electricity and light and raw, untethered energy.

"Fuck Kiera," he panted. The sound of him moaning my name punctuated by each thrust, voice thick with pleasure, was enough to do me in. I clenched my thighs around his hips, holding him still at the deepest point, and tossed my head back. I dug my nails into his shoulders as I rode wave after crashing, crushing wave of my climax. He wasn't far behind with his own. He pulled out at the last moment and finished on my thigh with his head buried in my neck before collapsing on top of me.

Once he'd caught his breath, Gabriel wrapped his arms around me and rolled over, pulling me to lay on top of him. I settled in against his chest, face flushed and slick with sweat. I thought that my body might never come down from this high.

As our breathing slowed and synced, I propped my head up on my hand and let my eyes roam over his tattoos. They were captivating. The rhythmic rise and fall of his chest could have lulled me to sleep if I'd let it, yet I couldn't resist the urge to explore the tapestry of ink that covered his skin. My fingers gently traced the patterns and shapes, studying the intricate lines and symbols painted into his flesh. He held still while he let me discover each piece.

"Aren't tattoos a human thing?" I teased.

Gabriel shifted underneath me, pulling us both up slightly so that he could lean against the headboard and get a better view of me. He shook his head. "How is it that you know so little of your own culture, hmm?"

I shrugged.

"Tattoos have always been a part of our history." He played with my hair as he spoke. "More so in some packs than others. My father was covered in them. It's true that humans have adopted the practice, but it was ours long before it was theirs. Though I'll admit they've perfected the equipment."

"Big of you to admit that." I smirked. "You really got all these done in the last year?"

"Most. I've become a bit addicted," he confessed. "I got my first big one not long after I met you."

"In the clinic?" My mind went back to that day, to the first time I'd laid eyes on him. To the excitement and fear that mingled inside of me and the feeling of electricity that shot up my arm when I first touched my fingers to his bare skin. I suppressed a shiver.

He nodded silently.

"What made you start getting them?" I asked.

"Victor." He chuckled. "He said he always feels better after a long session. He set me up with the artist."

"And does it?" I tilted my head to look up at him. "Make you feel better?"

"For a time. Do you have any that I haven't found yet?" His fingers were drawing circles over my shoulder blades now and I pressed back into them.

I blushed and shook my head. "They never really caught on in our pack."

"The pain is..." He paused to find the right word. "Grounding, in a way. When the pressure feels like too much or emotions are running too high. It helps focus me when I'm feeling overwhelmed. The endorphins don't hurt, either."

As I listened to his explanation, I found myself admiring the layers of complexity that made up the man lying beneath me. Gabriel, the cold, cruel Alpha, who found solace and healing in the feeling of needles driving images into his skin. It seemed that after having let go of the last of his reservations earlier, he was now ready to fully bring me into his world. I hadn't expected him to spill out so much of himself to me in one night, but I was grateful for it.

"So, it's like therapy?" I tried to summarize.

"Catharsis," he corrected. "This year has been hard."

I scooted up the bed to place a soft kiss on his lips. His eyes fluttered closed briefly and he held me like a lifeline, one hand on the back of my head to keep me there just a second longer. "Thank you."

"For what?" He released me reluctantly so that I could slide back down and rest my head on his shoulder.

"Sharing that. Sharing everything. I understand it's hard for you." I wished I could find better, more meaningful words to express what I felt in my heart for him in that moment. Every sentence I tested out in my mind felt too minimal, too shallow. Nothing could quite capture it.

"You make me want to practice." He drew in a breath. Let it out. It tickled across my bare skin. "I don't want you to think I'm holding back from you because of another woman."

I hugged him tight. "I don't, not anymore."

Gabriel tipped my chin up with two fingers under my jaw, forcing me to meet his eyes. They glinted in the dark. There was no hint of his wolf there now, just him. "Don't ever compare yourself to her, Kiera." He pronounced each word slowly, clearly, as if forcing me to hear each syllable would better cement them in my brain.

I couldn't help the smile spreading across my face or the blush blooming across my cheeks. I liked this side of him—so protective that he wanted to protect me from myself, too.

I wouldn't fool myself into thinking that this would be easy, nor would I be so blind as to think he would keep me around forever. As he said, his loyalty and responsibility was to his pack. If he ever felt I was becoming too great of a distraction, he wouldn't hesitate to end things. The best I could do would be to take it one day, one moment at a time, and appreciate him while he was mine. And no matter how things ended, this moment was one I'd keep in my heart for as long as I lived.