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is Rion to you?” he asked again, lips caressing hers with every word. “Tell me.”
    “Rion,” she began, catching her breath as he pushed deeper, using his thighs to push her legs wider apart. “Rion is my mate.”
    “Quin?”
    “Quin is my mate.”
    Every word she spoke, giving her answers to questions that seemed so important to him, was punctuated by a stroke. His hands, so strong, still braced her body to his. They were barely moving, but Rion was bringing her closer and closer to that elusive peak. This was as soft as Rion could be, as soft as his dominance would allow, and he was giving it to her, treasuring her as best he could. She could see it in his eyes, the strain around his mouth to hold himself deep, to soothe the strength of his thrust in short pulses.
    “Who are you?”
    “I am . . . Zelina,” she answered on a stammer, her breath soughing out as he moved.
    “Who are you to me? To Quin?”
    “Your mate.”
    His eyes closed for a minute, and Zelina felt the break of connection to the soles of her feet.
    “Rion—”
    “Do we love you?”

Chapter Sixteen
     
    She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. There was no way, in three days that seemed like one long night to her, that they could have fallen in love with her. It wasn’t possible. She didn’t believe in love at first sight. She didn’t believe that love truly even existed. The orphaned child she was who had never found “parents” who weren’t in it just for the money from the state, who actually loved her, couldn’t afford to. Finding Jezzie had been a test of wills and perseverance for them both. It had taken years before they’d realized they were kindred spirits and were more like sisters than any blood could give them the right to claim. Zelina didn’t believe in love. She refused to. Closing her eyes now, she held her lips sealed.
    Rion sat back, pulling her with and over him. She sat on his cock, her body held to his. His fingers tightened on her throat until she looked at him. His eyes were dark, swirling. He pushed harder into her, struggling to maintain his softness when his dominance wanted him to take what she wasn’t giving. As need clawed for him to make her submit to him, he fought it. Fingers shaking, arms thick bands of tensed muscle and steel, he fought it—for her, to give her time. Even as the golden glow of his wolf pushed through his eyes, it flickered back and forth to his green. He was trying desperately to give her a chance.
    Zelina saw the pain, the strength, the determination it took to do it. She heard the rustle of clothing and turned her eyes toward the door. There Quin stood, still, silent. The door was closed behind him, his shirt was off and his pants undone. Moisture soaked the front of them, and she realized he had been there for some time, that he was watching over the events in the bed, but had stayed apart, giving Rion his time, giving her time. The same strain she found in Rion was with him. Claws he couldn’t contain ripped at his pants under his clenched fists. He kept his eyes on Rion, poised to move.
    He’s protecting me. Protecting Rion from himself , she thought to herself. He was trying, with all his might, to give them both the time they needed, trying to give Rion the chance to balance himself and Zelina to accept them both. With a start, she realized that this had been planned, that Rion knew he was the rougher of the two, the needier of the two in his own way.
    “Alpha,” Rion whispered through their bond. Quin’s head canted slightly, his eyes sliding shut to mask the hurt.
    “We will not force you, Zelina. You, more than anyone in the world, are safe from us,” Quin finished for him.
    Rion stopped moving, his chest heaving against her back as he lowered his forehead to her shoulder. He released her, his fists falling to rest on the bed. Something was happening that she didn’t understand. She could feel them pulling away, putting their emotions behind walls one brick at a