This Dark Wolf (Soul Bitten Shifter #1) - Everly Frost Page 0,81
me, Tessa, that will be difficult for me.”
He waits while I grit my teeth. I’m not going to survive this pain much longer. I’m already reduced to whines and whimpers. It’s only going to get worse.
“Fine,” I say, squeezing my eyes closed.
This time, he approaches me slowly, sliding his left hand around my upper right ribs, anchoring me. “From this moment, we have to stay in contact at all times,” he whispers. “Breaking apart will break our trust.”
Slipping his right hand beneath my shirt, he wraps his fingers around my shoulder before pushing the material off it, sliding my left sleeve as far as possible down my arm before drawing me up against his chest so he can remove my shirt completely.
He works one-handed, keeping firm control of me with his left hand around my ribcage.
I don’t fight the contact this time, turning my head into the crook of his neck and allowing my chest to rest against his as I extend my arms to allow him to slip my shirt over my wrists, finding moments of relief in the connection.
He told me I needed skin-on-skin contact and—damn him to hell and back—he was right.
He draws me to my feet and undoes the top button of my jeans—still without removing his left hand from my ribs. The soothing warmth from his stationary hand spreads across my stomach, filtering lower to my pelvis, and higher across my breasts. I press forward, needing the brief brushes of his chest against mine, swaying when he pushes my jeans across my backside and tugs them down to my ankles, one leg at a time, kneeling so he can reach my calves and feet.
All of this, he does without removing his left hand. If I could curl my entire body into that part of my ribs where his palm and fingers press, I would.
He leaves my underwear in place before he rises slowly from kneeling, his right hand trailing a tantalizing line up my bare calf and thighs.
He stops rising when his head is in line with my pelvis.
His hand curls around my thigh, his thumb nudging the top of the gap between my legs, making me gasp when he lightly brushes my center. A single stroke before he draws his thumb back, gripping my thigh in the crease at the top of my leg.
Pursing his lips, an inch from my body, he blows softly across the space between my legs, a light caress.
I nearly scream.
Pleasure and power rampage all the way through me from my center to my heart at that light touch of air.
“That’s what you’re missing out on,” he says with a smile, the relentless glint returning to his eyes as he rises to his feet, undoes his jeans, and removes them one-handed.
Before I can register that he’s completely naked, he steps up to me, shifts his left hand to flatten against my back, and bends at the knee, drawing my legs around him as he rises again.
I tense and nearly jump out of his arms, which clench around me.
“Trust,” he reminds me.
It’s so much harder to trust him than I ever thought possible.
He carries me toward his bedroom, but my arms fly out on either side when we reach the door, gripping the doorframe. “No,” I say. “You’re not taking me in there.”
He exhales, but he doesn’t push. If he did, he could break my arms. “Why not?”
“Your bedroom smells like you,” I snarl.
He studies my face. Since I’m gripping him around his waist with my legs and balancing against the doorframe, pressing hard against it and keeping myself in position, he is able to let go of my backside—but only with his right hand. His left remains against my back, a constant anchor.
He brushes the hair away from my eyes.
I’m not sure what he sees that makes him suddenly smile, but it mingles with a snarl. He said his wolf was burning up. I haven’t seen much evidence of that up to this point other than the glint in his eyes, but now I perceive the rapid rise and fall of his chest, the tension around his mouth despite the rising corners, as if he’s welcoming the pain, finally letting it in.
He dips his lips to my neck, nudging the curve across my shoulder. “You know my scent as well as I know yours. You’re more wolf than you think, Tessa.”
His lips trail back up across the soft skin beneath my ear, along my jawline, his hand cupping the back