Page 73 of Ice King

Even my fingertips were scalded. I guess the saying was true about wolves running hot. Or maybe was just a slice of my nocturnal fantasy. It was as if his beast visited me nightly.

Maybe I wouldn’t tell anyone how thrilling that was.

Before I even witnessed movement, I was rolled over and plopped onto all fours with him behind me holding the scarf as a leash. “But of course only if you’re a very good girl. Funny how I doubt that will happen.”

CHAPTER 16

Ford

Every time Georgia had searched for me on the ice, it had felt as if my entire soul was shifting. The bond we already shared didn’t just pull, it roared, my wolf enraged I’d yet to mate with her.

The thought had lingered in my mind from the second my father had mentioned the reason for my condition. After that, I’d been unable to concentrate. Could I blame the fight with Jack for losing the game? Sure, I could, but I’d be lying to myself all over again. The reason was clear. When she was in the same room or even in same area, she shattered all the carefully placed barriers keeping my wolf hidden and locked away.

Even in the massive arena, when I’d skated near the player’s area, the surrounding air had made it difficult to breathe. I wanted to cover her with my scent, removing the stench of the bastards who’d touched her. And their stench lingered without her being able to catch even a hint of them.

I twisted the scarf around her neck, still in the throes of tasting her sweet cream. She was even more delicious than before, and I hadn’t believed that possible.

There was something profound about being offered the opportunity to claim her, not only marking her with my scent but making our connection permanent by mating. However, if I chose to ignore the rules of both common sense and even basic human romance, there could be a heavy price to pay.

This wasn’t the stone age and she wasn’t a shifter, born and bred to accept an alpha mate without question. The fact that she was one hundred percent human remained a heavy burden, more so because we knew nothing about each other. Not a damn thing.

Plus, we were both keeping secrets, haunting memories too difficult to divulge to the other. Contrary to what humans believed, I could not read her mind.

I rubbed the fingertips of my other hand down her spine, marveling in how her muscles surrounding them rippled from my touch. She shuddered from the light contact and tiny prickles of heat warmed her skin.

Searing my fingertips.

The strange reality that our meeting had created was an interference than I hadn’t wanted but feared I couldn’t live without. And I continued to ask myself the same damn question.

What the hell was I supposed to do now? One taste had nearly driven me mad with need for more. Two nights spent away and I’d completely lost my ability to concentrate. Three times being together and I had a sense soon losing control with her wouldn’t be a question of if but when.

And I knew instinctively after that, I’d lose her forever.

With my eyes closed, I tried to pull myself away even now, fighting urges I’d only experienced as a teenager. I even attempted to block the hunger by going over the night’s game and horrific loss.

But the vivid images faded, replaced by ones of her.

My body began to shake as the desire swept into an even more irrational state of being. The placement of the ruler caught my eye, a devious moment replacing my carnal needs. She’d started this game of power. Well, I guess I had no one to blame but myself given what I’d said on the plane.

Every ragged sound she made continually pulled me back and forth from some primal fantasy to reality. In hearing she’d had a dream about us, I was beginning to believe she felt the pull as much as I did.

Such intense yearning.

Unbridled need.

Every muscle tense.

Every breath caught in a vacuum.

That’s what being with her did to me.

Before I even knew what I was doing, the sound of my wrist snapping was following by a similar one when the plastic implement was smacked against her right butt cheek.

“Hey,” she moaned. “That’s not fair.”

As I rubbed her buttocks, marveling in the light strip of color already forming, I leaned in. “I’m surprised a smart woman likeyourself hasn’t figured out nothing about or around me will be considered fair.” To prove my point, I cracked the ruler against her left cheek.

Enjoying the sound a little too much, I repeated my actions four more times, moving from one side to the other. The action was a little like playing drums, her resulting moans the perfect accompaniment.