She told him she was hanging on by a thread and he got that. The shit she was learning, seeing, and experiencing—he was shocked as hell (and pleased as fuck) she was handling it as well as she was. And he was even more pleased that the destiny he knew was his, which included her in it, she clearly felt as well.

But he needed to make her feel safer, to guide her to trust him, trust his family, allow her time to get to know all of them, primarily him; not attack her, force himself on her, possibly hurt her, and, in doing any of that, destroy any chance of ever gaining her trust.

So he had to get his shit together before he saw her again.

He just didn’t know how.

“She’s cool with it,” Wei stated, taking Abel out of his thoughts.

“What?”

“You goin’ gonzo about me touching her. Chen explained you were intense. She told us she’d already noticed that, then made a joke. She’s cool with it.”

At least that was something.

“She’s just cool,” Wei said, getting closer. “She’s up in the private room with Ma, Chen, and Xun, crackin’ jokes about all that went down last night and tellin’ us about her dad comin’ tomorrow. A dad who sounds like a fuckin’ lunatic.” He stopped close to Abel, smiling his approval of Delilah’s “fucking lunatic” father, but his smile died as he finished quietly. “She’s settling in, man, a lot easier than any of us would have expected. You don’t have to worry.”

Even if all that was excellent news, Abel stared into his brother’s eyes and laid it out.

“I need to fuck her.”

Wei grinned. “I see that. Don’t rip my head off, literally, when I say it’s good to see your fated woman is seriously hot.”

“No, Wei,” Abel said slowly, “I need to fuck her.”

Wei stared at him, the humor shifting out of his face.

“Consumed with it, brother,” Abel whispered.

“Shit,” Wei muttered.

“You touched her, honest to Christ, nearly did you harm. You. Almost couldn’t control the urge,” Abel admitted.

“Wolf,” Wei stated, and Abel nodded.

“I’m thinkin’…yeah. Pack traits, alpha male on female. That connects.”

“We’ll all be careful,” Wei promised.

“Know you will. But I gotta calm my shit before I’m with her again.”

Wei tipped his head to the side. “That bad?”