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“So, do you have a name for your puppy?”
Laughter shot out of his mouth, surprising through all the grief of the past hours. “My puppy?”
“Yeah, wolf-Riaz,” she clarified, dead-serious. “What’s his name?”
Throwing her an incredulous look, he didn’t respond—and blamed himself when she began throwing out ridiculous names for his wolf double.
“Butch? Spike? Rizzo? Groucho Barks? Balto?” Tapping her chin with a manicured nail, she suddenly smirked. “Nah, let’s go Fluffy. That fits your temperament so much better.”
He stopped walking, mouth gaping with mockingly narrowed eyes. “Fluffy. Fluffy? You want to name my wolf—me—Fluffy?”
“It’s perfect. And if you keep stealing people’s ice cream, it will suit your human half too.”
She made a move to poke his completely flat abdomen, as if it was a round Santa belly. All Riaz could do was stare at her, open mouthed, as she grinned.
Fortunately, the sounds of a snake moving through the underbrush saved him from whatever foul response would’ve left his tongue.
Cortana’s screech sounded directly in his ear. When she leapt into his arms, her nails dug into his shoulders and her legs locked around his waist as she desperately tried to get away from the slithering creature that crept over the path in front of them.
Clearly, she’d been a vampire barnacle in a past life.
Stock still, he could only continue to support her as she stared, wild-eyed, at the snake while it disappeared off the path. Chuckling, Riaz waited until she had exhaled a steadying breath.
“Scared of snakes, huh?”
Only then did Cortana realize the predicament she’d put them in. Clinging to him, her eyes went wide when she turned her face toward his and they were mere inches apart.
And her shockingly sophisticated response was, “Um.”
The grin that spread his lips was a mile wide. Gently loosening his grip on her, she slowly—achingly slowly—slid down the front of his body until her feet touched the ground. Even when she stood on her own two feet, she didn’t step away.
Cortana was ensnared in his eyes, peering into them as if she’d discover gold in a rainbow. A shiver of pleasure rioted across his skin where she continued to hold his neck, no longer in fear or surprise, but desire. His body betrayed him.
Unable to resist her tantalizing fragrance, he dropped his nose to the column of her throat, inhaling the sensual raspberry aroma that tickled his senses.
Her response was to brush closer into his core. Need boiled deeply within him, and for a moment, he was lost to the beating drum that was the mating bond.
They were intertwined, as if they had grown around each other like tree vines, each of her curves complimenting his muscular body. Acknowledging their ties became as necessary as breathing. Riaz knew without a doubt that if given free reign, his animal would bind them together without waiting for her consent—something the man would never do.
He took a step back.
Her arms fell by her sides, the briefest traces of confusion and regret touching her features before being wiped clean. He plastered his customary smile over his face once again, though it felt hollower this time. Fake.
“Do you typically snake-plant to drive women into your arms?”
“Snake-planting?” Riaz chuckled, offering her his hand once more. “And how would I have known you were deathly afraid of snakes?”
“Some type of werewolf hocus pocus, I’m sure.”
He was pleased when her fingers curled around his with complete trust. “Is that like Dracula divination for vampires?”
“Precisely. We’re always scrying for new blood.”
A devilish snigger barked from his throat, enjoying her company like his wolf loved the feel of spring grass beneath his paws. The prickly vampire had the audacity to hiss at him, but as she turned away, he caught the hint of a smile she’d concealed with a well-placed hand.
Moonlight leafed through the canopy of sparse trees, night sounds harmonizing in a lullaby. Neither predator had reason to fear the dark, both were nocturnal by nature. One, however, longed to shift beneath the moon.
“I loathe snakes,” Cortana finally admitted. “Always have, always will.”
