Keeping one hand clamped around her throat, I slowly peeled back the bandage. Everything inside me combusted. The sight of my name inscribed on her belly, eradicating Zach’s claim on her incinerated me. But it went deeper than the layers of her skin. She’d found a way to brand me on her soul. The delicate letters flourished over her stomach, accompanied by butterflies with perfect wings.

She’d found freedom in that ink. Swallowing hard, I met her gaze and cursed the sharp sting of vulnerability in mine.

“I just got the last touch up today,” she whispered. “I couldn’t let you go, no matter how hard I tried.”

Strength failed me. I collapsed onto her belly, my lips brushing over my name on her pale skin, and squeezed my eyes shut. Somewhere inside me, the beast had clawed its way out and now it was snarling, impatient to claim and own. That’s why I’d left the note and drugged her. Never mind her phobia of water—at the base of my being I’d wanted to mess with her head, show her that she belonged to me, even if she was a willing captive.

Especially because she was a willing captive. A headstrong, sexy captive with a self-destructive streak I was determined to break. I intended to be a hard ass, a consistent enforcer. She’d have zero fucking wiggle room with me from here on out.

But fuck, I hadn’t expected this.

“Thank you,” I said, dotting kisses over her stomach, following the path of my name.

“For what?”

“For being mine.”

And she was. Fuck she was, even if I didn’t deserve her.

4. Fragile - Alex

4. FRAGILE - ALEX

Being his was the culmination of my life. Even when I became old and gray, assuming I made it that far, I knew his name would be the last vow on my lips, his face the last image in my mind.

I was born to be his.

Until he threw me away again.

I wanted to believe this time would be different. I had no desire to escape him. My prison was beyond Rafe Mason. The world and independence and freedom held nothing but shackles for me. He made me fly. He made me feel alive. Rafe had the power to quiet the hissing between my ears that begged for pain because I knew he could issue it better than I ever could. But could I trust him not to annihilate my world all over again?

For the first time in my life, I was truly fragile. Zach had hurt me for years, but I’d constructed a wall of numbed acceptance to cope. Lucas and his men had tried to destroy me with the strike of a whip and the threat of Rafe’s death, but we’d survived. At least, I thought we had until he’d disappeared.