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He smirked at her, and it took her brain a long moment to catch the double entendre in her words. She scoffed.
“Full moon got your brain in the gutter?” she teased him, then shrieked in surprise when she was pulled suddenly from the seat and dropped a few inches before he caught her in his arms. An owl hooted close by, and he chuckled.
“Not the moon,” he corrected.
He set her down on the forest floor, the remark sending a tendril of heat snaking low in her gut. Mikel jumped up into the bed of the truck with inhuman ease and dropped back down holding a huge saw.
HOURS LATER, SITTINGon a stump watching him fell yet another tree, Violet had concluded he was right, and thiswascold, but it had gotten a lot less boring when he’d shed his shirt.
“Why are we cutting wood in the middle of the night?” she asked when he stopped to shake out his hand and test the give of the tree he was cutting with his boot.
It was easier to focus on that than the way the moon spilled silver over his skin, the hard lines of his body, the way he rocked with the saw like he’d rocked over her. Mikel licked his lips, and she dragged her mind out of the gutter, even though it was too late.
“Moon-felled furniture is big business. Usually just add a piece to each item that was cut under a full moon. It keeps a certain charge; some folks think they can feel it.”
“Can you?” The idea was intriguing.
“I think so.” He ran his fingers over the saw blade and little shavings of bark fell to the forest floor. “Almost everything of ours is built entirely from moon-felled lumber I cut at the zenith. Actual full moon is tomorrow, but a day on either side works as well.”
Ourswasn’t lost on her as he went back to rocking to and fro, running the blade through the trunk. Her mind turned the concept over but struggled to hold on to it when she was starting to feel warm in her coat, eyes tracking the curl of his abs, the swell of his biceps. The tree fell with a mighty crack, and there was something primal in the way he looked at her after. Saliva flooded her mouth, and heat sunk into her belly like a stone.
“Came out tonight because I figured we might be busy tomorrow, the zenith of this cycle.” His voice was lower, rougher, full of dark promise.
“Busy doing what?”
He pushed up from his position on the forest floor and tossed the saw aside. Violet’s stomach flipped when he crouched in front of her.
“Traditionally, there’s two options.”
She swallowed at his tone, at the look in his green eyes, bathed in silver by the moon.
“There’s a bonfire in the square, buffet; food’s decent.”
He was playing with her.
“What’s the other?”
A predator shone in his eyes. “This.” He tugged her off the stump and tumbled her down easy onto her knees then pushed her forward onto her hands. In a flash, he was over her, covering her, hips grinding into her ass. “Breeding,” he breathed into her ear, and she shivered.
“Not interested in babies,” she gritted out, although in that moment her body begged to differ, screaming that it was interested in anything—everything—he could give her like this.
“Won’t get bred before you’re mated. Practically unheard of till you’ve finished the change.”
Relief surged through her. At least she didn’t have to feel totally irresponsible for her choices thus far. In her defense, she’d never had to worry about condoms in her life. Then, a thought struck.
“In the woods, you said to Jason I’d probably be…pregnant quick.” She couldn’t bring herself to saybredwith the casual ease he and Red did, yet.
He moved back and let her up. Violet turned to face him, still on her knees, as the weight of the moment settled around them.
“Knew he wouldn’t keep you if I did. He’s not a good kid. Only brought you back here with the idea of being cruel.”
“So, you figured an arrow to the chest was a better alternative?” she asked, and he wouldn’t look at her. “Or did you plan to claim me all along?”
He swallowed in stony silence.
“Why would you wait until I almost got shot if that was what you wanted?” she demanded.
“Of course, it crossed my mind.” The words came out a low rumble. “But there’s not been an unclaimed in years; it’s barbaric. I hoped they’d…do something else. Then, I wondered if I was being selfish—” His voice was rising. “If I put Jason off because he’s a piece of shit or because I’m the piece of shit, and I wanted you for myself.”
