AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m going to be late for work,” Maddox said though he didn’t move.
I let out a shaky laugh and kept my hand on his shoulder. Barely twenty-four hours back in each other’s presence and we were already falling apart. His wolf had urges. I understood as much from growing up near the Lakesedge Pack. They’d all been very horny as long as I could remember.
If I let him satisfy his urges with me, I knew my feelings would get tangled up in him. He would inadvertently hurt me eventually, and I didn’t want to let him do that. So, I slid my hand down to his chest to push him away.
He covered my hand with his own and scrambled my mind once more. The gesture wasn’t lewd. If anything, it was sweet. It captured my heart and held it captive. I bit down hard on my lower lip to try to get control of myself again.
Maddox thrust his hips into mine, and a shiver raced through me. I shuddered against him. He growled and bit down on my neck. This time, I couldn’t help my loud moan. Maddox grabbed my hips and shoved me into the wall so he could press himself tighter against me.
Trapped between him and the wall, my arcana surged. It couldn’t take ahold of his life force because he drank it down immediately. My breath shuddered out of me, my relief palpable. I reached up and put my hand around the back of his neck to hold him in place. I didn’t want him to go anywhere.
His teeth pressed against my skin but didn’t break the surface. He bit down gently, though I could feel the effort it took to keep from taking all that he wanted.
A thought occurred to me. Both Ness and Vi had been bitten in the same way by their mates. Did Maddox’s beast want to claim me? Was it just the urge to procreate that drove his beast? Was that why he hesitated?
What would happen if he bit me? Vi hadn’t been changed, but she wasn’t all that human. Would my Reaper abilities keep me from being changed if Maddox bit me? Or would I become both shifter and Reaper? Could he even change people? He wasn’t like any other shifter I’d ever known.
Before I could beg Maddox to finish what he’d started, he leapt away from me. The man disappeared from the hall altogether before I could even draw a breath. That was the first time he’d displayed his shifter speed outside of a fight. I looked back down the hall, but Maddox was gone.
In my lust-addled state, my bath towel had slipped. I quickly tugged it tight around my sensitive breasts.
Well, that was dissatisfying.
I wanted more, but I wasn’t about to hunt Maddox down and drag him back to the bedroom. We each had a job to do. I needed to go back to Luca’s library and see if I couldn’t find out more about ghosts. A little bit of research would also help me get myself under control after an interaction like that.
My core throbbed uncomfortably. All I could do was wait for it to calm down.
Maddox
I’d almost crossedthe boundary that I’d put in place. There was too much to do. I couldn’t let my beast have its way whenever Addie was around. If the beast convinced her that I was ready for a relationship when I wasn’t, then she would get hurt. I didn’t want to do that to her.
While I could tell her that I wasn’t ready to love again, and that I might never be ready, then maybe I could let her decide if she wanted to move forward with a physical relationship. I could be fun, and we could both get the release we craved.
Addie clearly wanted me, if her reaction told me anything.
I could have her, if I wanted.
Did I trust myself not to love her in turn? I wasn’t sure yet. The beast in me was already committed in a way that left me unsettled. I didn’t dare give it more of what it already demanded.
My needs could wait until I found another woman, one that I wasn’t so invested in. That way there would be no strings to get tangled in when it came time to leave for good.
