“Eight days,” she answers with a big inhale. Tension creeping back into her posture. “I’m just so worried… What if he is? He’ll be able to track me.”
“I won’t let him take you. I promise.”
“I … I’m scared. I want to forget the past, but it’s still hanging over me. Maybe talking to someone would help, but what if I need to run again? I still feel like I’m in limbo until I know for sure.”
“You’re safe here. But I need to be honest with you.” Fear creeps up my spine as the familiar weight of guilt settles in my stomach. I don’t want to admit this to her, but I don’t want her to hear it from someone else. I want there to be no secrets between us. Nothing that could lead to her being upset or getting the wrong idea about how much I care about her.
“The reason I offered to give you self-defense classes initially was so I could scope you out and see if you were a threat to the pack. Ryan is open to you joining us officially, but I wasn’t sure at first. I am now obviously, now that I know you.”
Emily looks away and stays silent for a moment before looking back at me. “I understand, and I’m glad you told me. I was pretty confused by you at first. You sent a lot of mixed messages,” she says tentatively, and my heart clenches at the fear so ingrained in her at any hint of challenge.
I love the moments when her sassy side peaks out. Like it’s giving me a hint at who she would have been if Aidan hadn’t broken her down so much. “Yeah, honestly, I thought you were too fucking gorgeous to be genuine. I’m aware that makes me an idiot, but you seemed too good to be true.”
“But now you see how messed up I am, you see how far from reality the idea of ‘too good’ is?” She speaks in a joking tone, but I see the flash of pain in her eyes, so fleeting I could easily have missed it.
“No, now I see how perfect you are, and it has nothing to do with how you look. It’s how being with you makes life seem right in a way I doubted I could ever experience again. The way your body feels, the way you respond to me, the way we fit together. I don’t understand how or why I fought this for so long. You are my salvation. My lighthouse in the storm, leading me home. You’re everything to me.”
Her eyes shine with unshed tears and it is clear to me in this moment that I will do anything to make her happy.
I lean forward and kiss her deep and slow, savoring her. She reaches down and tentatively touches my cock. “Take what you need, baby,” I encourage, as my cock hardens again. She raises onto her knees, straddling me, and guides my cock to her wet entrance before sinking down onto me.
“I don’t really know what I’m doing. Can you…” she whispers as her pussy flutters around my hard length.
She’s not ready to take charge. And that’s okay. She'll get there. I want her confident and able to ask and take what she wants from me. When she’s ready. She places her arms around my neck, and I flip her onto her back. I pull her legs around my hips and she wraps them around me.
I watch in awe. My eyes darting between her bouncing tits and the way her pussy swallows my cock again and again as I pound into her. Her eyes scrunch up and she bites her bottom lip as she clenches around me. I increase my pace to a punishing level and find my release inside her perfect pussy.
She’s languid and boneless underneath me. I lay her down beside me as I pull out of her, grabbing some napkins to clean her up before pulling the picnic blanket over her. She grins at me sleepily.
“Thank you for our first date,” she whispers. “I loved it.”
I think in my head,and I love you,but I don’t say it. It can wait. She drifts off to sleep and I keep watch. This spot is secluded, but I’m not taking any chances with prying eyes where Emily is concerned.
Because she’s mine.
And I don’t share.
Chapter 22
Emily
After our picnic date, Jackson walked me back to the pack house before asking me if I wanted to move in with him. As soon as I’m ready. No pressure, just a quiet offer. It’s common for shifters to move in together as soon as they meet if they are mates, but we don’t know that yet, and I need to move a little slower.
Which he accepted without hesitation.
Now, with Jackson off teaching unranked wolf self-defense classes and patrolling tonight, I float into the pack house like I’m walking on a cloud. Relaxed from our afternoon together. And grounded by his quiet confidence that we could be mates.
As soon as I round the corner of the hallway to my room, I find Sofia waiting for me.
“Finally!” she screeches, bouncing on the balls of her feet. I have to laugh at her impatience and, as I do, I notice how much lighter I feel. Like the weight I’ve carried for so long isn’t gone, but I’m no longer carrying it on my own.
“Come on in,” I say as I pull her into a side hug. She bounces into my room the moment I open the door and then gives me a serious expression.
“Okay, so you need to tell meeverything,” she proclaims before pulling me over to the bed, where we both flop down. “Because I seriously need to understand how you transitioned from—and no offense here, but—practically catatonic to having a new boyfriend and rocking a serious post-sex glow in the space of 48 hours!”
I groan, covering my face with my hands as my cheeks heat. Her words make me want to hide away rather than share my embarrassment, but then I take a deep breath and remember that I have nothing to be ashamed about.
“I think he might be my mate.”
