back with each movement. “And I might’ve overreacted to his comment, but I’m over it.”
A good night’s sleep had helped her shrug off her hurt. He truly hadn’t meant for his words to wound her—he’d been talking from his dick. And guys and their dicks were a whole other ball of wax. Scowling, she punched some more. If she could get over it, why couldn’t he? This wasn’t a dominant/submissive thing. This was the two of them reacting too quickly without stopping to think ab—
She swiveled on her heel at the scent on the breeze, rich earth and autumn warmth.
Felix.
Stripping off the boxing gloves, she left them in the little hollow in the tree trunk where she’d found them and headed toward the scent. She found him under her aerie, a stunning wolf whose fur rippled with gradations of color and whose eyes were an intense amber. Standing proud and strong, his ears pricked, it was clear he’d heard her coming.
Desiree wanted desperately to stroke him, to tumble with him to the earth, to just nuzzle her face to his throat. Folding her arms, and tensing her abdomen in an effort to still the butterflies, she tapped her foot. “You took your time.”
Light fractured. The wolf dissolved as she watched, turning into a gorgeous, sexy man who was bare to his smooth, pettable skin. Nakedness after a shift was nothing unusual among changelings, but this wasn’t Desiree’s usual packmate. This was Felix, who scrambled her brain cells and made her thighs clench as her inner muscles spasmed on emptiness, her body instantly wet and ready.
Breath catching in her throat, she closed her eyes. “Put on some damn clothes!”
“Um, where do you expect me to get clothes?”
“Grr.” Making her way to her aerie tree by memory, she opened her eyes only when she was past him. Then she climbed up and, once inside her home, found a pair of sweatpants Jamie had left behind one day when her fellow soldier decided to run home in leopard form. She’d thrown it in the wash with her own stuff, so it was clean. Chucking it down to the gorgeous naked wolf below her aerie, she jumped back to the ground.
Felix froze in the act of pulling on the sweatpants. “Wow,” he whispered, his eyes wide. “That was incredible.”
Her cat wanted to purr. Ordering it to behave, she rose up from her landing crouch. “Not that I don’t want to bite your butt, but maybe you should finish dressing.”
Hot red color on his cheeks, he finished pulling on the sweatpants over that very bitable butt. Then, to her surprise, he turned to face her, his arms folded across his chest. And though his eyes didn’t meet hers, his posture held a stubbornness that told her he wasn’t going to back down. “You didn’t come to the planting area today.”
“You said you didn’t want to see me anymore.”
“No, I didn’t. You decided it would be better for the both of us.”
Desiree opened her mouth to argue . . . and realized he was right. They hadn’t really discussed the future, just the fact that perhaps they were bad for one another. “Damn it.” She went to shove her hands through her hair, remembered it was tied back, and curled her fingers into tight fists. “Did I pull rank?” She was infuriated and frustrated both.
“No,” Felix said. “I think thinking you know best is just a natural character flaw.”
“Grr.” Claws slicing out, she glared at him. “Did you come here to pick a fight?”
He paused for a second before nodding slowly. “Yes.”
Chapter 7
“Yes?” Desiree stared at him. “Submissives do not pick fights with dominants.”
“Is that what we are? Dominant and submissive?” Shoulders tightening, his skin smooth and healthy over rippling muscle. “I thought we could be more.”
Courage, she thought again, he had so much courage. It shattered her defenses. “I’d like that, too,” she said, her voice husky. “But I’m afraid of hurting you.”
His skin grew taut over his jawline. “A relationship will never work if you’re constantly pulling back. Either I can handle you full throttle or I can’t. End of story.”
She went to open her mouth to argue, closed it. He was right. A true relationship needed to be in balance. Blowing out a breath, she flexed her fingers. “We’ve been rushing things.” Her claws slid back into her skin. “I know part of that is my fault, but part of the fault is with you—for being so damn irresistible.”
A hint of a smile