The Hybrid's Hope

Chapter 4: Fighting Rejection

Levi

Oh goddess she tastes even better than I thought she would. When I feel Hope give in to our kiss, I deepen it, needing to taste more of her, needing to possess her, needing to claim her. I want her to know that I want her, love her, and need her in my life.

I have no idea how long the kiss lasts, I just know that it’s not long enough. It will never be long enough.

“Finally,” I sigh against her lips. “I finally get to kiss you the way I’ve wanted to for years.”

“Levi …” she begins and I hear the argument building in her voice.

“Don’t,” I say, putting my fingers against her lips. “If what you’re about to say is anything other than 'Levi, I want your mark on my neck right now, tonight,’ I don’t want to hear it. I know how you feel about finding your mate. You’ve been very honest with me about that. And hopefully, I’ve been very honest with you, letting you know that I have never wanted any other woman than you. You’re all there is for me. You’re all I want. Just you, Hope. Only you.”

“Levi …” she begins again.

“What did I just say, my beautiful mate?”

“You know I’m not beautiful,” she says, looking away from me.

I pull her chin back up so she’s looking at me. “I know that YOU don’t think you’re beautiful, but I also know you’re wrong. Although your external beauty isn’t what stole my heart long before tonight. It’s your inner beauty that I fell in love with, Hope. It’s the beautiful, amazing woman that you are. If you said that you wanted me to mark you, right now, right here, you would make me the happiest man in the world. I know you’re not ready for that yet, but I want you and I need you to believe that.”

“I don’t want to lose you as a friend, Levi.”

“Friends, lovers, mates, we can have everything, Hope. Everything. Everything you’ve ever wanted, everything you’ve ever dreamed of, we can have it, together.”

I lean forward and kiss her again. “Goddess, you taste so good. I want to taste your entire body. I want to know every part of you; see, touch, and taste every inch of you. I want to know you in every way possible, make you feel things you’ve never felt before, make you desperate for me to touch you again. I could spend my whole life kissing you, drowning in your sweet taste and even sweeter scent, and I’d never get bored.”

She surprises me by leaning against me. She slides her hands up my chest, sending shock waves of pleasure through my body.

“Maybe we could … you know, be together. Tonight,” she says.

Once again, she’s not looking me in the eye. I know my mate, possibly better than she knows herself.

I duck my head so she’s forced to look at me. “I have no intention of making love to you, of taking your virginity, and giving you mine, only to have you turn around and reject me because you don’t feel like you’re good enough for me or anyone. It’s not happening, Hope. And if you think by me saying no to having s*x with you that this is some sort of rejection, then feel this,” I say, grabbing her hand and placing it on my throbbing erection.

Her eyes go wide and her mouth drops open. It would be comical if I didn’t know that I was right about what she was planning. Hope isn’t seductive, her little play just now was all about trying to distract me.

“And I will never accept your rejection, Hope. Never. The Moon Goddess made you for me and me for you …”

“The Moon Goddess didn’t make me, Levi! A scientist did!” she screams, slapping my chest hard enough that it stings.

“And yet, you are still my fated mate. I don’t know what that means, Hope. I don’t know how those things work. I’m not my sister. I'm not a Guardian. I don’t have a direct line to the Moon Goddess. Maybe … maybe I’m the one who was made wrong, so I needed a mate who was different than others. I don’t know. I just know that I’m not giving up what fate, or the Moon Goddess, or whatever you want to call it has decided is a good thing for both of us.”

“There is nothing wrong with you, Levi. You’re perfect. You know that,” she says.

“What I know is that conceiving me killed Grace’s mother. That doesn’t sound perfect, does it? I know that if my father was a better man, I never would have been born. His genetics are in my blood. So no, I’m not perfect, not by a long shot.”

I take her face in my hands. “We don’t get to choose how we come into this life, Hope. All we can do is choose how we live the life we’ve been given. I’m choosing to live my life with you, the woman I love more than anything in this world. I don’t care how long it takes, how many times I have to tell you that I want you, I will wait for you, Hope. I want you and only you.”

She stares at me and I see tears shimmering in her eyes.

“You’re such an asshole,” she says, making me smile. Hope annoyed and argumentative is preferable to her being sad and willing to throw away what we have because she can’t see how wonderful she is.

“Do you want to fight about it?” I ask.

She narrows her eyes. “You know I can beat you.”

“I don’t know. Fighting on this sand will be hard to do. AND, I have a stipulation.”

“What stipulation?” she asks.

“Every time I pin you, I get a kiss. A good one.”

“What do I get if I pin you?” she asks.

“What do you want?” I ask her, hoping that she won’t say that I’ll accept her rejection.

I watch as the look on her face changes into something I’ve never seen before, something that looks an awful lot like desire. Her eyes track down my body and her fingers twitch.

“I want to touch you.”

Fuck yes!

“Done.”

She looks up at me. “Anywhere I choose.”

I smile again. “Done. Do I get to revise my stipulation and make it the same?”

She looks thoughtful for a moment, then nods.

“I’ll add one more stipulation,” I say.

“What’s that?”

“The touch doesn’t have to be with just your hands. It can your hands, your mouth, or both. Deal?”

I see the flash of excitement in her eyes.

“Deal.”

Hot damn!

I pull my shirt off and drop it on the sand.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Making it easier for you to touch me or distracting you, you decide,” I say, grinning.

I’ve long believed that the bear in Hope is from an Alpha line. She's not only ridiculously strong, but she also LOVES a challenge. She has never been able to back down when I’ve given her one. It’s how I got my first kiss from her. So, I shouldn’t be surprised when she pulls her shirt off and drops it beside mine, leaving herself in only a bra.

“There, now we’re even,” she says, grinning as she gets into a defensive stance.

“Oh, my beautiful mate. I hope you’re ready to spend a very tantalizing night with me.”

“I guess that depends on who wins each of the sparring matches,” she grins.

She has no idea that even if I lose, I win.