Taze (Rise of the Pride #11) - Theresa Hissong Page 0,66

I had a natural ability to track. So, I should be thanking you.”

“I know how you can thank me,” he teased.

“What’s that?” she smirked. The female was in a great mood, and he hadn’t seen her smile that much in years. Her happiness at helping her pride was contagious.

“Go back to my place?” he pressed. He wanted to touch her and make love to her. Of course, he was going to stick to his word and let her make the first move, but with each passing day, the need to mate her was getting harder to bear.

“I’d like that, Taze,” she replied.

They ignored the pride as they walked side by side to his cabin. Malaki was sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the back porch, and her brother just watched as they left. Calla had never told him what Malaki had said to her that day, but he assumed it wasn’t anything to upset her.

The panic attacks and anxiety she’d been going through were starting to lessen, and he hoped it was from her time with the human therapist. She told him what she wanted to divulge from the sessions, but some of it she kept to herself. He let her keep the private things she wanted to keep private, because he had a feeling she would tell him more of her story when she was ready.

She walked up the steps to his porch and froze at the door, turning around to stare up at him. Her lips were full and her eyes were heated. His cock responded, thickening in his pants.

“You can’t look at me like that, sweetheart,” he reminded her.

“I wanted to look at you,” she pouted and pushed the door open. The moment he closed them inside, both of their mating scents blended together, and the animals inside them purred. “We need to talk.”

“About?” he drawled.

“Me…us,” she blushed. “Our mating.”

“What about it?”

“I mean…” She paused to clear her throat. “I want to touch you, Taze. It’s becoming harder to fight this, and I keep telling myself that my life with you will be different. My therapist told me not to punish you for the things done to me by someone else.”

“Your therapist is right,” he replied. “You have to remember that those men are dead. The alpha and the Guardians took care of them. They can’t hurt you anymore, and they don’t deserve the space you’re giving them in your mind.”

“That’s what the doctor said, too,” she sighed. “I’m ready to move on with my life, Taze.”

“Move on, how?” he inquired.

“I want to be your mate,” she admitted, but held up her hand to stop him from saying anything else. “I don’t know how this will work. No one knows what will happen when we touch for the first time.”

He watched as scenarios played through her mind. The need to reassure her had him stepping closer. She didn’t shy away from him, and he took that as a good sign.

“Calla Marshall,” he began, looking into her sparking amber eyes. Gods, she was so beautiful. “When we mate, it will be as our ancestors mated. I assure you, it will be intense, but whatever happens, you will be in control. Your beast will guide you. Even in my worst feral state, I would never, and I mean never, do anything to scare you. My panther knows his place in this.”

“He does?”

“Yes,” he smirked. “I’ve been repeating it over and over in his mind. He knows.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” she admitted. Taze felt his beast surge, releasing his scent to calm her. Her eyes darkened as she leaned her head back to look into his sparking amber eyes.

As much as he wanted to touch her, he had a feeling she wasn’t ready. Hell, he didn’t know if she’d ever be ready. She’d never experienced intimacy, and she associated sex with her trauma.

“We start when you are ready,” he told her. “I can wait for you, Calla.”

“I don’t want you to have to wait for me,” she whispered and took a step toward him. He didn’t move…didn’t even breathe as she approached. “I wish I could kiss you.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he groaned. “There is nothing more I want than to have your lips on mine.”

“I crave you,” she added. Her desire and mating scent blended with his own, and his cock hardened painfully.

“I want to kiss you, make love to you.” He paused as his canines thickened in his mouth. His desire for her had finally