against his and it took every ounce of control he had not to grind against her.
She hadn’t given him the go-ahead for such intimate skin privileges and, in spite of his need, Felix wasn’t sure either one of them was ready to push that hard and that fast. His wolf found her incredibly sexy, but it remained painfully aware that she could rip out his throat before he realized she’d moved.
When her claws pricked him, he froze in his stroking.
Her eyes opened a little. “Don’t stop.” Flexing her claws against him again, she suddenly dropped her head to meet his gaze. “Oh, sorry.”
Felix was the one who grabbed her wrist this time, doing it without thinking. “No,” he said. “I don’t mind.” He was a wolf; being a little rough in bed was all part of the fun as far as he was concerned. “I just wasn’t sure if you were telling me to stop.”
Lips curving, she did that flexing thing with her claws again. “I’m kneading at you. It’s a very bad kitty habit.”
His cock pulsed at her purring tone. “I like it,” he said in an echo of what she’d said to him earlier and, breath tight, tugged on her wrist.
She came toward him with a lazy, feline smile, her hair sliding around him as they kissed. The taste of her was dark, intense, luscious. Growling low in his throat, he moved his hands to her lower back, his fingers on the taut curve of her ass. He really wanted to pet that ass, was just about to do it when Desiree kissed her way across his jaw to nip at his throat.
His wolf took over.
• • •
Desiree knew she’d messed up the instant Felix went motionless around her. He’d been all sexy, delicious male an instant before, his mouth and his hands doing hot, beautiful things to her. “Damn,” she whispered, raising her head from his throat at once. “And right after you told me how important the throat is to a wolf.”
Felix didn’t immediately answer, his eyes the rich, dark amber of his wolf. “Fuck,” he said when he did speak, the single word harsh and low.
A second after that, his cheekbones flushed a deep red. It wasn’t shyness this time, she realized. His jaw was set with brutal hardness, his beautifully shaped lips pressed into a thin white line. Desiree frowned, about to ask him what was wrong, when he shifted slightly beneath her and she realized the answer. Her act in nipping at his throat had seriously shifted the balance of power, and in so doing, had put paid to his erection.
His very nice erection.
Not sure how to handle this—dominant or submissive, he was a guy, and guys tended to conflate masculinity with sexual prowess—she rolled off him to lie on the blanket on her back, her face turned toward his. “I’m really sorry I forgot.” She didn’t mind taking the blame for what had been her mistake. “Forgive me?”
His hand was fisted bone white against his thigh, and it sounded like his jawbones were grinding against one another. When he spoke, the words were gritted out. “That’s not the problem and you know it.”
Scowling, she rose up on her elbow to look down at him. “So we hit a hiccup.” It wasn’t the first time, probably wouldn’t be the last. “Don’t tell me you weren’t enjoying it till then.”
Felix braced one arm below his head again, that hand fisted as tightly as the one by his thigh. “When I’m in bed with a woman, I want to feel like a goddamn man, not like I’ve had my balls cut off.”
Desiree flinched at the soul-deep stab. Sitting up fully, her arms around her raised knees, she sucked in deep drafts of the cold night air, but it did nothing to stop the burning in her gut, in her eyes. The second she heard Felix move behind her, she got to her feet and, striding to the nearest tree, climbed easily up into the branches.
“I should get these lights down,” she said, though she didn’t really have to; the lights were solar powered and gave off so little illumination that they weren’t a threat to either pack’s security. She’d intended to leave them here, figuring someone else would eventually stumble across the glade. It had delighted her cat to think of that person’s surprised wonder.
Now all she felt when she saw them was pain and humiliation.
“Dezi.” Felix’s deep voice ruffled her fur the wrong way,