Kane’s POV
Her words hit me like a punch to the chest.
“I am yours alone, no one else.”
For a second, I just stared at her. My mate, my Ava. She had no idea what those words did to me.
Rafe roared inside me, claws scraping, demanding I take her now. Mark her, to make her ours forever.
My control was hanging by a thin thread.
Her lips were parted, her chest was rising and falling fast. She looked both terrified and defiant, like she had given up a secret she swore she’d never speak out loud and now it was mine.
I cupped her face with both hands, forcing myself to hold still when every instinct screamed to pull her close and sink my teeth into her neck.
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” I said, my voice rough.
Her eyes didn’t flinch. “I do.”
That broke something in me.
Then I l
