Free Primitive Fix by Alicia Sparks

imprint on her body. Even more so, she hated the fact that the tattoo she’d had for so long, the one she had shared with her soul mate, was gone.
    After Melanie dressed her wound, Sage asked for a pain pill, more to dull the ache in her chest than to help with the pain from her wounds. She wanted to scream and cry and let herself be a girl for once, going on about how life was so un-fucking-fair. But she didn’t. She swallowed her pill, thanked Melanie for helping her, and closed her eyes, hoping to find some semblance of normalcy when she reopened them.
    There was nothing normal about waking up at two A.M. and finding a very haggard man standing next to her bed. She gasped because she hadn’t expected to see Kenyon standing there. He looked terrible, his face still filled with lines of exhaustion, and it hit her square in the chest. He may claim they were over, that he was setting her free, that he’d removed his mark from her, but the way he kept showing up, hovering over her, looking as if he needed salvation only she could provide, told her he wasn’t through with her yet. 
    She shifted in her bed, noting how his thick gaze masked whatever was going on inside his head, but his yellow eyes were telling her a story. Longing, desperation, need.
    She reached out to touch him, her hand coming into contact with his arm. His skin was ice cold, and she knew he’d shifted tonight. Her skin chilled after she changed back from wolf to human and she knew the tigers had a similar situation with their temperature and blood pressure. She didn’t know why, but she wrapped her hand around his arm and pulled him to her, unable to stand the distance between them anymore.
    So much had happened in the last few days, she couldn’t even begin to explain to herself or to justify what she was feeling. All she knew was she needed to touch him, needed to get rid of whatever it was inside him that was driving him to desperation. Even if only for a few minutes, she wanted to take away the pain of everything that had happened. And she wanted one last moment with the man she would always love. That thought was palpable, right on the edge of her mind, as if it were standing in the room with her.
    Whatever pain she’d felt earlier was gone, and she was thankful for it when she pulled him toward her and raised herself up enough so she could wrap her arms around him. He let out a low growl, his eyes flickering in the darkness before he steadied himself, his hands on her shoulders.
    She wanted him with everything she had inside her, and she knew she shouldn’t. The need for him coursed through her like a drug, and she knew that after this moment things would never be the same. She was giving in to the fact that she couldn’t live without him.
    His lips touched hers, dangerously hungry, his breath hot on her skin. She was ready for him, wet for him. She was desperate to wrap her body around him and take away all of his pain.
    “I shouldn’t be doing this. You shouldn’t be doing this.” He was careful not to touch her left side even as he climbed onto the bed with her, his weight causing her to sink against the mattress. He nuzzled against her neck, his hand tracing along her ribcage. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
    “You aren’t.” She sank her hands into his hair, twining her fingers into the dark mass, opening her mouth for his kiss, pressing her hips into his. She shivered beneath his touch, her body aching for him.
    “I don’t mean physically. I don’t ever want to hurt you.” He spoke the words against her neck, her cheeks, her ears, tracing his lips and tongue along her skin.
    The tattoo on her wrist began to burn, sending a wild sensation all through her body. It may be damaged, but like them, it was still alive and well, drawing them to each other. Somewhere in the midst of everything, Kenyon’s shirt disappeared, so she took her time outlining the black stripes on his body, running her fingers along them, memorizing the