Page 43 of Winter Unleashed

I followed him to his office. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because she didn’t say she couldn’t.”

He opened the office door to find Philip sitting in an armchair. Liam approached his friend. “Has something happened?”

Philip looked up. His eyes were distant, as though he couldn’t really see Liam. I rushed forward thinking he was hurt or under a spell, but then I heard it. Stella’s soft moans came floating in from the hallway.

“Bruno?” Liam asked. Philip nodded. “I’ll kill him.”

I grabbed Liam by the arm. “You will not kill anyone. Phil, why did you tell her you’re okay with this if you’re not?”

“She needs this.” His voice was soft and unfamiliar from his usual sarcastic tone.

I furrowed my brow. “She needs what?”

He shifted in his seat. “When she first woke up a tribreed, she broke down. She kept referring to herself as a freak. Saying nothing about her was normal and now she was even more different.”

My heart broke for her. “I had no idea.”

“You weren’t speaking to her.” Philip’s words held a touch of blame. “I understood how she felt. I understood her self-hatred, her depression. It’s what I felt in the beginning.” He glanced at Liam. “I had someone there who withheld judgement, who helped me through the hardest parts of the change by giving me whatever I wanted without question. Stella needed that. She still needs that.”

I looked at Liam. “Do you understand what he’s saying?” I knew Liam was the ‘someone’ who was there for Philip, but I didn’t understand what it was he was saying Stella needed.

Liam had a warm look in his eyes when he looked at his friend. “Philip, are you saying she is ashamed of her sexual appetites?”

“Yes.”

“So, tribreeds are not less monogamous?” I asked.

“We don’t really know,” Philip replied. “As far as I know, Stella and I are the only ones. I only told her that, so she wouldn’t feel bad about her attraction to other people.”

“We’re all attracted to other people,” I said and rolled my eyes at Liam’s low growl. “Finding someone attractive while mated isn’t a bad thing. Acting on it would be a problem.”

“When she woke up, she lusted for more than blood. Her need for sex is almost as strong as her need for blood. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but she felt so awful about herself, I told her the same thing happened to me.”

Liam grunted. “Ah, so you think the way to make her feel good about herself is to let her have free rein to sleep with whomever she wants. Does she think you’re sleeping with other people as well?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head. “These are lies. If she’s going to accept who she is, she needs the truth, Phil.” I crouched in front of him when he wouldn’t look at me. “She’s different from the Stella I grew up with. She’s hornier, feistier, but she’s also happier, stronger, and more certain of herself. I’m going to say you have a lot to do with all that. I see the way she looks at you, the love she has for you. That’s the Stella I remember, and that girl’s heart would break if she knew she was hurting you.”

His eyes lifted to meet mine. “I don’t want her to feel badly about herself. She gets… If I tell her…”

“She won’t leave you if you tell her you don’t want her sleeping with other people.” He pursed his lips. I sighed. “Be assertive, Phil. Tell her what you want and show her you’re all she needs. Even the most independent of females likes it when her man takes control… occasionally,” I added with a grin for Liam.

Philip’s lips pulled into that creepy smile of his. “And by occasionally, you mean when you two are fu—”

“I mean, occasionally. Phil, the bottom line is, you’ve got yourself a delightfully horny tribreed, and I think she’ll respond well to it.”

“Her parents abused her so horribly. I didn’t want to scare her.”

“Being assertive isn’t abuse, Philip,” Liam said. “You don’t have to hurt her. Simply tell her what you want.”

I wrapped my arms around Philip. “Listen, I assure you, if she finds out you’re in pain because of something she’s doing, it will hurt her more than her parents or Cybil ever did.”

“What’s going on?”

The three of us turned toward the doorway to see Stella standing there.