The Hunt (By Kiss and Claw #2) - Melissa Haag Page 0,116
finally given in to sleep just after dark. That was way too early for a normal person, but it had been a welcome escape for me. An escape into my favorite cake-filled woods.
“Take what you want. I am yours.”
Inhaling deeply, I decided I wanted it all. Every last crumb. I gorged myself on everything the trees would offer. The number of mixed cakes decreased, replaced by a tempting variety. The old favorites were there. Spice cake, Death by Chocolate Cake, Lava Cake. But, there was a new one, too. Angel food topped with strawberries. It was the perfect end to the meal of a lifetime. I’d never felt so bloated.
The sweet, tangy burst of flavor from the berries was interrupted by a violent shaking that plucked away all the remaining cakes.
My cakes.
My food.
Gone.
Ripped from the dream, I snapped my eyes open. Fibers of the warm quilt stood out starkly even in the dim light cast from the fire. I didn’t care about those prominent details, though. Or the way the cabin shook around me or the way the wood creaked with the severity of the movement. I cared that something had stolen me from the place I wanted to be, where I could eat without care, and I wanted it back.
Arms wrapped around me.
“It’s an earthquake. We need to get out of the cabin.”
My bed partner started to lift me. Angry, I moved fluidly and flipped over the male who dared to touch me without permission. I pinned him beneath me, showing him who was in charge of the moment.
Fenris grunted, and his pupils dilated favorably as my hips settled over his.
“Eliana, you need to focus on the cabin,” he rasped. “On the shaking.”
He trembled beneath me, a delicious shiver that strengthened our physical connection.
“I feel the shaking,” I said, flattening a palm over his thundering pulse. His control was so thin, barely there. “You need to focus on me, Fenris. Feel me.”
The scent of his lust clouded the air, and I purred with satisfaction as my hips brushed his. He groaned beneath me, and his hands returned to grip my hips in an attempt to still my movement.
He, the one with so little control, thought to control me?
A sultry laugh escaped me.
“We have to leave, kitten,” Fenris pleaded. “It’s not safe for you here.”
“The world’s destruction is nothing compared to the weight of my hunger for you.” I slowly leaned and ran my tongue along his sternum. “Give yourself to me.”
“I already have. Do you feel this? Us? We belong together, Eliana. I’m yours, and you’re mine.”
The feel of his obvious devotion and proof of his earnest claim pressed against my shorts. Yet, the words penetrated the hunger riding me, and I jerked back from him.
“No!” I leapt from the bed.
Fenris was so lost to lust that he couldn’t react fast enough to catch me. But he still tried.
With a whine, he twisted, his hand outstretched to catch my tank top. His fingers barely brushed my back as I bolted for the door.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think straight. I only knew that I needed to get away before something truly terrible happened.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I burst from the cabin. Cold pierced my bare feet and exposed limbs, but I didn’t stop. I listened to the overwhelming need to put as much space as possible between me and Fenris. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop a second time if I didn’t.
“Eliana, don’t run!” Fenris bellowed behind me.
The terror at what I’d almost done prevented me from understanding his warning until an ominous tingle danced along the back of my neck.
Skidding to a halt in the snow, I slowly turned. The dim moonlight reflected off the white blanketing the ground, giving just enough light to discern trees. However, the rasp of my ragged breathing prevented me from hearing anything. I didn’t need to hear, though, to know I wasn’t alone.
My breathing calmed, and I straightened.
“I’m not running. I won’t run. Show yourself.”
The snow stung my feet, but I held my ground.
A low growl echoed from the darkness around me. The crunch of snow sounded straight ahead, calling my attention to the dark shape that moved between the trunks. The closer it stalked, the clearer it became. The low profile. The dark fur. The familiar, beautiful brown eyes.
Fenris paused a mere three meters away, and his wolf form began to shimmer until he stood naked and barely in control of himself. The scent of his lustful need rolled off of him.