I sniff again. Nothing.
Not one scent calls to me.What am I supposed to be looking for anyway?
A force knocks me forward. I stumble, arms flailing. I catch myself on my hands and knees before my nose meets stone.Graceful. Real mating material, Ember.
“Oh gods, I’m sorry,” a deep voice states, closer than I expected. Then large, warm hands touch my bare back. “I didn’t see you there.” They feel like fire against the cool night.
“Funny.” I take his hands from my back and place my palms in them for assistance climbing up, which is embarrassingly difficult without eyesight.
“I’m truly sorry, they don’t think these trials through very well.”
“Oh? Come here often?” I like his voice, it’s smooth and deep. I want to hear more.
“Only about every year.”
“Interesting, and yet you’re still available, which means you’re either impossible to deal with for more than a season, or you’re not a top contender.”
His voice is impossibly closer as he states, “I assure you, I’m the only contender. I’m just… selective.”
With his proximity comes his scent, a mix of pine andwinterberry. It smells like solstice. Like sitting around the fire with Roman and my parents, wrapped in wool, safe from the frost. It smells like a memory I thought I’d lost.
I lean in, involuntarily when I feel his nose in the nape of my neck. His warm body sinking closer to mine in the cool air causes me to shiver.
“It’s you.” A statement, not a question, said with awe as well as surprise.
He breathes me in, a slow, reverent inhale along the curve of my throat to my ear. A shiver runs through me from my head to my core. This is the most erotic thing to ever happen to me.
My knees go weak.
“Oh gods,” I whimper, gripping the back of his arms to prevent my knees from collapsing beneath me.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs, voice low and gravelly.
In a flash, I’m pressed to a column, his body anchoring mine. He inhales me again, and this time my hands uncontrollably reach for his neck, and then his warm hands are around me, bringing me close.
No one’s ever been this close to me before. Afraid he can scent my virginity and I’m about to start a frenzy, I ask, “What…what do I smell like to you?”
He smiles against my throat, the tips of his fangs gliding against me, “Cedarwood and jasmine. Reminds me of my childhood, me and my father running through cedar trees together, while my mom pressed jasmine. It’s a scent I never thought I’d smell again.”
I burrow my nose in the nape of his neck now that he’s lower and breathe him in. It sends a warm sensation through me, igniting urges I’ve never felt before, and instinct seems to take over. He groans, a hand fisting my hair. His body is warm as it presses against me. I feel him,allof him, against my stomach. My body unconsciously reacts, rubbing againstit, desperate for more friction. He growls, pulling me closer to him, His calloused hand is rough as it glides up the skin of my outer thigh. I raise it, allowing his scent to envelop me, mark me. My hands grip his biceps, desperate for this feeling to never end. He rocks against me. The glorious friction makes me toss my head back. My partner takes full advantage, nuzzling into my neck and thrusting his hardness against my stomach again. Pleasure ripples through me. A soft moan escapes my lips. He repeats that glorious rhythm again.
“I never thought it would be like this,” he growls behind my ear.
“Me either,” I gasp, heat pooling lower and lower. My whole body feels warm and tingly, like a wolf on a full moon.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he whispers. His fingers are threading through my hair and then down my jaw as if he were trying to memorize my features without sight. His nose glides out from my neck and across my cheek until we are nose to nose, forehead to forehead. We’re breathless, panting in tune. Gods, I want to rip this blindfold right off and see my midnight stranger, but I’m too afraid to move, to break this spell we’re under.
My hands remain around his neck, afraid he’s tethering me to the here and now, and if I let go, I’ll fall into the darkness.
We’re so engrossed in nuzzling each other that I barely register the footsteps until a voice calls, “This completes the second trial. Meet back here with the blindfold tomorrow for the third trial: Touch.”
My partner steps back, reluctantly. The loss of his warmth is felt immediately. My arousal is not so easily deterred.
His voice is raspy as he states, “I’ll seeyou tomorrow.”
Several sounds of footsteps resound past me. I hurry to lift my blindfold to catch sight of him, but I can’t tell who camefrom where, and my sense of smell is lost when there’s so many people.
I lean back against the column to catch my breath. I had no idea I could feel hot and cold all over. Scared but wanting more at the same time. My body has never had this kind of reaction before.
