It was no wonder she had chosen him. A weeklong mating session had likely been enough for her to realize there was nothing else for me to give besides pleasure.

I was good for nothing else.

Regardless, I couldn’t let her go. I refused to. A terror unlike any I’d felt in decades seized me at the mere thought of returning from my duties to find that she’d disappeared yet again.

So I’d continued to work. To keep from rousing questions I was never in the mood to answer and to keep from guarding her like a beast with a fresh kill.

I couldn’t lose her, but I didn’t know how I would keep her, and the resulting anxiety made it hard to fucking breathe.

My beautiful thief rose and quickly, as though she thought I was unaware that she was awake. “Don’t go.” That caramel hair was tangled around her shoulders in a tempting mess, just calling for my fingers to toy—to tug.

My lips twitched, but I said nothing.

Her dove-gray eyes narrowed, her heaving chest and racing heart slowing. I had to wonder if this whole mate thing had caused her to feel more anxious over my own whereabouts. For she’d certainly not cared so much before now.

“You’re back.” Eyeing where I sat at the dining table, the fresh food I’d placed upon it, she said, “With more food.” Her sleep swollen cheeks flushed with irritation. “Is there something wrong with my appearance?”

“No,” I snapped, taken aback.

“Then why all of this grand food?”

I looked down at my clasped hands. “You haven’t been taking care of yourself. I can tell by your cheekbones and the hue of your skin.” I probably shouldn’t have, but I added quietly when I lifted my gaze, “Your stomach and thighs are not as fleshy and soft.”

Her shoulders drooped, her eyes ashine with emotion I couldn’t decipher. “So you’re doing this.” When I didn’t give a response, she said gently, “I don’t want all of this food, Scythe. I just want you to stay.”

I eyed her breasts, which were sadly lost to one of my tunics, and inhaled deep. “You need to be fucked.” Indeed, her need ripened the air the moment the words left my mouth.

“No, wolf,” Aster said, and I scowled, confused. She needed my cock to fill her. I could practically taste her growing arousal. “What I need is for you to talk to me.”

I tensed before I could control it and rose from the chair. “That would be unwise.”

“Why?” she said, crawling from the bed and walking to me.

I stood firm, though I knew it would hurt so beautifully if she dared to touch me. “Because I have nothing good to say to you, wildflower.”

“Say it anyway.” At my silence, she urged, “Please.”