Page 12 of Rival Love

Archer nodded. “I can tell you all about my family. Your family now. Later.” He peeled my borrowed flannel shirt from my shoulders and down my arms.

I shimmied out of it and the T-shirt I wore underneath the flannel.

Archer groaned at the sight of my bare breasts, his hands immediately cupping them.

“I couldn’t find a bra to steal.” I relished the feel of his rough fingertips on my sensitive nipples.

“Steal?” He arched an eyebrow at me.

“When I found Vince and Vera together, I rage-shifted and blew through my sliding glass door.” I pressed my breasts more fully into his hands, wanting him to touch more of me. “Didn’t have time to pack a bag of my own things.”

“We’ll buy you all new things.” Archer nosed around in my hair, his hands traveling down to my jeans. With a few quick moves, he had them free of me, and we were both naked now. “Rage-shifting means you’re not as Omega wolf as you think.” He caressed me simply with his gaze raking over me, head to toe and back up to my head. “You are lovely, Selena. Truly lovely.” He coasted his hands to my hips. “I’ve always thought Morelli was a fucking moron. It’s even truer now that I know he gave up the chance to be with you always.”

My eyes pricked. Not because I felt betrayed by Vince—though I did—but because no one had said something that beautiful to me before.

I backed Archer up toward the showers and turned on one of the heads. Letting the water run over my fingers, I waited for it to warm up. “This is probably going to hurt like hell.”

“That’s why you’re going to kiss me while that shower water hits my back,” Archer said. “You’re going to kiss me and make me forget everything that happened today.” He traced my lips with his fingertip. “Everything except the incredible gift Lunai gave me.”

I edged him closer to the spray. I slid my hands over the tattoos on his chest and rested them on his broad shoulders. I pressed my body against his, feeling the tension in his body relax a little.

“Are you sure the bond with Morelli is broken?” His mouth was mere inches away from mine. “Because I can’t do this if I don’t get to keep you, Selena.”

“I’m sure.” And I was too. Totally certain. What had bound Vince and me together had been completely severed by his infidelity.

“Good.” Archer’s hands clamped on my waist, pulling me closer.

When he lowered his head, I met him, our lips fusing as I backed him into the water. His hands tightened on me, and a raspy moan sounded from his throat, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the pain or from the fire sparking between our joined mouths. All I knew was that I wanted more of Archer Sinclaire.

He slid a hand to the back of my left leg, lifting it so he could bring me closer still. My core—already at volcanic temperatures—grew hotter still at having his arousal pressed up against me. When he ground his hips against mine, I wrapped my arms around his waist, my hands palming an ass that had to have been carved of granite.

Archer let out a few low growls, breaking the kiss to nip at my shoulder, my neck, my ear. He flipped me around so my front faced the shower wall then corralled all my hair to my left shoulder. In the next moment, he sunk his teeth into the back of my neck, performing a ritual mating bond bite without causing me an ounce of pain. Vince had done the same, but he’d taken too deep a bite, and I’d yelped.

This bite though—Archer’s bite—oh, this was perfection, stroking my insides in just the right way so as to heighten my senses even more. To make me crave his touch. To make me want no one but him.

Archer’s warm tongue ran over the bite, then his full lips pressed kiss after kiss to the spot. “Your turn,” he whispered in my ear.

Slowly, I turned to face him. “Are you sure? You might not be able to heal with everything you went through today.” My every instinct was to bite him, to finish the pair bond, to make him my mate, but I didn’t want to add to his injuries which were already pretty serious.

“I have this gut feeling that you biting me might be the secret to erasing the damage done to me today.” Archer dropped a quick kiss on my lips. “Do it.”

I switched places with him, taking a moment to look at his back now that much of the blood had been washed away. It still looked bad, but at least I could see individual wounds now. There were many of them, crisscrossing the wide expanse of his tattooed back. They had jagged edges of ruined skin lining deep gouges, destroying the inked artwork, and my teeth clenched thinking about how this carnage was fucking Vince’s doing.

“Let it go.” Archer rested head against the tiled wall. “For now.”

Careful not to touch his back, I stepped a bit to the side of his huge body, silently wishing for a step stool or something. At five-feet-four-inches tall, I was nearly a foot shorter than Archer. Reaching the back of his neck to give him a proper mate bite was going to be challenging.

As if sensing my predicament, Archer lowered to his knees in front of me.

I nearly giggled aloud at the sight of an Alpha in this position. In front of me. An Omega. Unheard of.

Not wanting Archer to spend too much time with his knees on hard tile, I ran my fingers over his short hair, letting my nails scratch along his scalp. He groaned, his fingers curling where he rested them against the shower wall. Starting at his temple, I kissed a line along the side of his face to his jaw, pausing at his neck to lick beads of water off his flesh. I delighted in the goosebumps that rose on his skin then let my canines extend a bit.

With my nose full of his woodsy, masculine, Alpha scent, I buried my teeth into the back of his neck as he’d done to me. He tasted like strength and wisdom and responsibility.

He tasted like protection.

I retracted my teeth, licked away the blood, and kissed the bite until it completely disappeared under my lips. A moment later, some of the more superficial cuts on Archer’s back disappeared, and the others didn’t look as deep.