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And then a pair of eyes flash, blinding me like full-beam headlights.
I swear I almost fall back and go right under.
Not some teenage runaway, but an adult woman.
With the clearest lake-green eyes I’ve ever seen. Fresh apples, sun-dappled forests. Sweet garden of paradise. But cut-glass sharp. Capable of slaying a man. They’re fringed with thick lashes, and they peer out from beneath long, dark bangs. As I watch, awestruck, a snub nose appears, scattered with freckles, and a pair of cherry-shaped, pink lips.
She’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. And she smells like something sweet and soft. Something that hasn’t come into its own yet.
Then her eyes blaze double-strength and her lips draw back, showing sharp white teeth.
Feral.
Wolf.
The realization rocks me on my feet. Her scent is weak; that’s why I didn’t pick up on it right away. But it’s unmistakable. Her animal is there, somewhere inside of her.
My wolf inhales hard and her scent fills my lungs like a drug. Sweet euphoria blows in.
Intoxicating.
Then it utters the word I hoped I’d never hear again in my life:
Mine.
My body jerks, and just like that, I want to run. Get the hell away from this feral goddess.
My wolf howls and the sickness threatens.
All these years…
All these years I’ve spent avoiding females. Happy in my own company. Never mating. Not even one-nighters. Keeping my wolf calm. Denying its impulses. Trying to make it forget.
And now it comes and finds me, on this peaceful riverbank. A stab of fate. Bringing the whole sky down with it. Dragging me under.
I need to get away from her. She’s fine. Health glows from her pores. She looks like she’s capable of taking care of herself. I don’t need to make her my problem.
Time jolts forward. And I remember I’m not an asshole. I’ve scared this girl, and that was worse than not waking her at all. I can’t leave her like this.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I say. A dumb comment for sure, but my brain is too paralyzed for anything more nuanced.
Those bottle-green eyes fix on mine with hostility.
I swallow hard, clear my throat. “I was just going for my morning swim, like I do every day. And I saw you sleeping there. Thought you might be in trouble.”
She blinks, emotions clouding behind her eyes. But still she says nothing.
I work my jaw back and forth. Maybe she’s non-verbal. “You speak?”
“Yes.” She nods fiercely.
“You’re safe with me, little wolf.”
“Wolf? How did you know?” Her voice is surprisingly strong. There’s something in it, a kind of catch. Like a foreign accent, but not.
I gesture at my body, and her gaze follows the movement of my hands, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.
“You’re a wolf, too?” She wrinkles her nose and it’s kind of adorable.
