climbed higher as his lips brushed my neck, inciting heatwaves that rocked me to my very core.
“Inside,” I ordered in a hoarse voice.
Gazes locked, Sascha blinked a few times, body shuddering. “Mate—”
“Not mate.” I brushed my hands across the broad expanse of his chest. We’d fit perfectly—him inside me. The ultimate pleasure awaited, and my legs trembled where I sat on his lap, ankles hooked at his lower back. Even pressed against him like this, the sensation was otherworldly.
My head tipped back, a desperate noise leaving my lips. “I need you, Sascha.”
“You—”
His voice choked again, and I frowned, anger sweeping through me. I gripped his face, straightening to scowl at him. “Now.”
He tried to turn his head away and I dragged him back, grinding down on him.
Black flooded his eyes and he shoved me away.
Sprawled on the forest floor, I snarled up at him, attempting to stand on wobbling legs so I could pounce on the naked male.
Naked male.
Hold on.
I—
I lifted a hand to my forehead, steadying myself on the rise behind me. The inferno firing my body was almost painful.
Only one person could help it go away.
Shaking, I looked at Sascha. Black eyes. He was shaking too.
“No,” I whispered. I didn’t want this. This was the mating call. The heat!
Legs folding—or more collapsing—into the kneeling position, I forced my weakened arms to assume the cleopatra position.
The words.
What were the fucking words?
My voice failed me, but I shoved the words out of my raw, aching throat. “Doore koh e baka.”
Shuddering, I crumpled on the shingled ground, unable to help myself as my head slammed into a thick root.
Frantic footsteps.
The most intoxicating smell I’d ever experienced. I inhaled deeply, unable to stop myself.
Hands swept my body, turning me.
“Andie. How—?” Horrified honey eyes stared down at me, and I was too tired to look away.
His hands trembled as he gathered me in his arms.
“Beautiful wolf, what happened?” He sounded close to tears, and a fat tear of my own slipped unbidden over my temple.
I shivered as he cradled me closer. “You weren’t meant to find out.”
Black closed in on his vision and I watched him battle it back, more than aware, now, of the war raging within him. Sascha didn’t completely win. Gravel rode his voice hard. “The wolf in Water did this? This is why you hid from me and changed your mind about the meets.”
A furious growl ramped in his chest, and a wrinkle formed between my brows at the way the sound made me feel.
Safe.
In a word, with my new ears, Sascha’s voice was wondrous.
His smell. His touch. The way he sounded.
They made me realise I’d never marvelled before.
I squeezed my eyes shut, repeating, “You weren’t meant to find out.”
“You went through your first shift alone.” He sounded broken beyond words. “You could have died. You should be dead.”
That opened my weary eyes again. “Really?”
“A wolf can’t shift without their alpha in attendance. The entire pack usually calls to the new wolf to help them. But I have no link to your Luther form.” His expression blanked. “Your wolf is a sigma.”
Clever cookie. Knew he’d put two and two together. “She is.”
He squeezed me to him gently. “Do you know how lucky you are? Any other status and you’d be dead.”
Which meant he’d also be dead.
My eyes drifted closed. “I need to get back. What’s the time?”
“Just past midnight. Your howl woke me. And the pack. Fuck,” he whispered into my hair. “I thought it was a dream. Your howl is the most beautiful sound—I couldn’t believe my ears. You’re a wolf.”
The glee in his voice was unmistakeable.
“This doesn’t change a thing, Sascha. Aside from us moving through the meets now I’ve scented you or whatever.”
He started walking us back through the forest, and I couldn’t summon the energy to care that he was holding me.
“You’re wolf form is exquisite,” Sascha said after a while. “I’ve never seen a red wolf before. You stole my breath away.”
The pleased feeling rising through my chest was foreign. Your crush will never see the light of day, I told her.
Displeasure replaced the pleased feeling, and my arm jerked, fingers squeezing Sascha’s bicep.
My eyes widened. Stop that.
You’re the one that wanted to share both forms, she taunted.
“I didn’t know she was red,” I said in a strangled voice.
“Do you feel anything else around me now you’re a wolf?” He ducked us beneath a low-hanging branch.
We were back at the lake, and he was thankfully not going to mention the small bicep-groping incident.
I stopped