Jake sighed and a troubled look came over his sharp features.
“I’m your big brother, Ani—I shouldn’t have been the one to awaken you.”
“Please stop with that ‘brother and sister’ crap,” I said, frowning. “There’s no blood relationship between us! And yes, I know that’s not how the Were world sees it, but I don’t care. All I know is that I can’t stop thinking about our time together and wishing…wishing we could do it again.”
“We can’t though, baby—you know that,” Jake murmured, shaking his head.
I took a step back from him, my heart sinking.
“What? But I thought you said you could help me with my Heat Cycle? What are you doing to do if we don’t do…that?” I demanded.
“Well, first of all, I can heal you,” he murmured. “Since I’m the Alpha who injured you, I’m also the only one who can heal you.”
“Heal me?” I asked, nibbling my lower lip. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Jake gave me a level look.
“You know exactly what I mean, Ani. I hurt you when I took you too hard—you admitted it yourself. I felt it when it happened and I smelled blood afterwards. Your blood.” He nodded to the place where I was squeezing my thighs tightly together. “So take off your jeans and let me see.”
I looked at him uncertainly. I knew it was foolish to feel shy around him, considering everything we had done together in the attic, but I couldn’t help it. I’d spent the last three weeks feeling completely ignored by him, it was hard to open up to him now.
“I…I’ll be fine,” I told him. “Really, Jake, it doesn’t hurt so much anymore.”
“It doesn’t have to hurt at all if you’ll just let me heal you,” he said. “Look, Ani…” He cupped my cheeks in his big, warm hands, and tilted my face up so he could look into my eyes. “I just want to help you, baby,” he murmured. “I just want to right the wrong I did to you. Please, can you let me do that?”
The soft, tender tone in his voice and the sincerity in his eyes won me over.
“All right,” I whispered. “I…I guess I can let you at least look.”
Jake nodded, releasing my face.
“Thank you,” he murmured. “For trusting me, even after what I did to you.”
I wanted to tell him he hadn’t hurt my body nearly as much as he’d hurt my heart, but I bit back the words. Mutely, I unfastened my jeans and shimmied out of them. Then I lay on the side of my bed, wearing only the red cashmere sweater my mom had given me for an early Christmas gift and my white lacy panties.
Jake knelt beside the bed and pulled me closer to him, so that my lower legs were hanging off the side of the bed. He ran his big, warm hands up my thighs in long, soothing strokes until he finally reached my panties.
“Can I take these off, baby?” he murmured, looking up at me.
Biting my lower lip, I nodded.
“Thank you,” Jake said softly. Gently, he tugged down the lacy little underwear, revealing the little patch of golden curls at the top of my mound. He put both hands on my knees and urged my legs apart, not stopping until my thighs were spread wide, allowing him to see my naked pussy completely.
I felt my insides clench in a combination of anxiety and desire. Even back in the attic, he had never done this to me—had never gotten so close and looked at me so intimately. What if he didn’t like what he saw? What if he thought I was ugly down there or gross or weird or—
“God, you have such a beautiful little pussy,” Jake murmured, looking up at me.
“Um, I do?” I squeaked, my voice going high and uncertain.
He nodded.
“So soft and sweet and your scent calls to me—you’re deep in need, aren’t you?”
Unable to deny it, I nodded.
“I don’t have any of those tests Ophelia used on me, but I’m pretty sure I’m in the red,” I admitted.
“I know you are,” Jake murmured. “Well, maybe I can help you with that as well as healing you.”
“You can?” I asked hopefully. It would be wonderful to finally ease the constant, painful desire and get off the emotional rollercoaster my Heat Cycle caused. It was like being on your period and having horrible sexual cravings at the same time—absolutely no fun, especially when I didn’t have anyone to help me with it.
“I think I can,” Jake told me. “I can’t promise to stop your Cycle completely because I can’t knot you—you know that. But hopefully I can back it down for a while.”
“How?” I asked, propping myself up on my elbows to look down at him.
“Like this,” Jake said. And spreading my pussy lips delicately with his thumbs, he opened me and placed a gentle kiss on my wet folds.