Page 143 of The Ashpaw: Part One

He was leaning forward in his seat, elbows on his knees and hands clasped together as he inspected her work.

Then he looked up and smiled. “You’ve done a fine job.”

She and her wolf both beamed as he stood and walked towards her. “If I lay in your nest, will I ruin it?”

Her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. “No, not at all! I mean… that’s the…”

Point? Goal?

Her only wish?

He slipped off his boots, then carefully climbed in, taking pillows one by one and rubbing them along his neck and face. Fern’s heart filled when she watched him try to put them back in the correct place—he was terribly wrong—but the effort alone was enough to keep her vibrating with joy.

The blankets were next, and he slipped into them like dipping into water, letting his arms and legs spread and slowly move, rolling over to saturate it all.

Fern began bouncing on her toes in excitement, knowing how well she would sleep tonight, and a thought crossed her mind.

Was she pushing it? She hoped not.

“Can… can you leave your tunic?”

He paused, sitting up slightly to look at her. “My tunic?”

“It’s just… your scent is much more concentrated there. And then I can breathe it in all night and…”

When he tilted his head silently, she shook hers. “Never mind, forget it. You’ve done enough already.”

He chuckled and then tugged it off, tossing it to her without a word.

She caught it and brought it to her nose at once, inhaling him deeply as though his scent was an addiction and he’d just handed over her next dose. It excited her, calmed her, intrigued her… Fern didn’t think she’d ever get enough.

Then her mouth dropped open as she looked back at him, realizing she’d never seen him this close to naked before. Broad, muscular, with hair on his chest that narrowed into a line leading somewhere she’d only seen in the dark.

Her own scent must have strengthened, because when her eyes finally rose to meet his, his pupils were fully blown.

“Come here,” he ordered.

She only had one knee on the bed before he grabbed her and dragged her closer, flipping them over so she was beneath him, his arousal hard and pushing against her.

“You’re making it very difficult to keep my promise,” he growled.

Because it was a stupid promise, her wolf said.

Perhaps, she conceded. But he’d made it all the same, and she didn’t want to give Kyntha any more cause to hate her than she already did.

Even thought she was so close to getting what she wanted.

“I would not make an oathbreaker of you,” she said, holding him close.

He rolled them to their sides, looking at her more thoughtfully now. His palm on her cheek, thumb brushing her skin.

They stayed like that for a few moments, and then he said, his voice uncharacteristically kind, “Sometimes I think I had you all wrong from the start, omega.”

Fern’s brows pinched as she frowned, and before she could ask what he meant, he continued. “I had thought you… impudent. Presumptuous. That you refused to accept your place.”

When she let out a small whine, he shushed her gently. “But now I think you are just too pure hearted to recognize there even were different places to begin with.”

His eyes dipped towards her lips, and he leaned in closer.