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“Let’s see. Folklore. Stars. What’s the difference between astronomy and horoscopes?”
He’d meant for her to laugh, and she did. The soft sound carried up through the branches of the tree above them. “I think we’re doomed.”
“Hang on now. I think they’re pretty closely related. I remember you once told me that astrologers are the ones who read the stars and predict events and give meaning to signs.”
“I suppose they do,” she responded without thinking, then paused. “That’s another thing I just know. It’s so weird.” She moved her hair to one shoulder and ran her fingers over the ends. “Do you think it’s ever going to come back?”
“I don’t know, Tay.”
“Do you hope it does or it doesn’t?”
“I hope for whatever makes you happy.”
Her smile was a noble thing, half forced, but for his benefit. “I want to be able to make myself happy, no matter what.”
“I know. I don’t think most people know how to do that, full memory or not. It’s a hard thing. You’re doing great.”
“Am I?” She turned, her frustration showing clearly in her stiff posture. “I feel like I’m just failing over and over. Bringing trouble to us all. We’re out here instead of with our girls again because my bear just about tore out earlier, and now she’s refusing. I have very little wisdom to give. How can I be a good mom when I’m a faulty shifter, I have this huge empty space where my past should be, and I’m like a child, having to relearn everything?”
“I think that’s sometimes exactly what children need. I’m so sorry to say it, but at the very least, you’ll understand their struggles. For me, it’s been more than thirty years since I had my first shift. For you, it’s going to be tonight, or whenever it comes. Misty will be going through that soon and you’ll know exactly what it’s like, it’ll be fresh in your memory. There aren’t many women in Greenacre, and all of them are human. She’s going to need your clan to teach her, but she’s going to need you most of all. Onyx too. You don’t know how incredible a thing it is, and how shocking, to us that not only did we find Misty and she’s a girl, but that Onyx was also a daughter.” He let that settle for a moment. “Sorry. We’re supposed to just be sitting, not stressing you out more.”
She snorted. “Telling me the things I already know doesn’t stress me out.”
“It’s probably just more pressure than help right now.”
“I appreciate the sentiment either way.”
He wanted to be calm for her. He wanted to be her steadying presence. What he shouldn’t do was lean in and kiss her. He knew her body so intimately and she no longer knew his. He was like a stranger to her that way. She’d have to relearn everything, and the thought of her hands doing that memorizing as he pleasured her had him so hard in his jeans that he could barely stop himself from reaching out and pulling her even closer.
He wanted to let her come to him.
She turned to him, a question on her face. She could smell how aroused he was, no doubt. His scent always changed. No human would notice, butshe’dnotice. Doubly so because she was his mate. Even if she didn’t remember or understand, she was sensitive to those things. He noticed the second she noticed, which only made his body spiral all over again. It took all his strength to keep his ass rooted to the mossy, needle strewn floor. The slight dampness was seeping through his jeans. His boxers. Into his skin. He concentrated on that instead, where he’d barely noticed it before. It still felt like he was vibrating and painfully on edge. He was fighting a losing battle, but that was no reason to keep resisting.
Whether this force of will drew her close or whether she just leaned in, Tay was there suddenly. Her shoulder brushed up against his. Her mouth was just a few inches from his. Just a few inches and he’d be able to put his lips on her. Kiss her. Bite her. She’d bite him back. She was tiny, but she liked it that he wasn’t. Sometimes she liked to be treated like a lady, and other times, she wanted him to be anything but gentle.
She moved first. Like in the truck, she was fast.
This time, he felt the air shift. He felt the world move. There was no hesitation. Nothing in the air that told him she might not want this. There was no sadness. No uncertainty. She wasn’t leaning into him for comfort. He could smell her desire and it overwhelmed him. That’s what had been missing in the truck a few days ago. It was why he couldn’t give her what she wanted. He’d had to stop and clarify for both of them. He’d die before he hurt her in any way, or before he was a regret to her.
Her hands swept over his shoulders and closed around his neck as she straddled his outstretched legs.
“Taylee,” he groaned, banding his hands around her waist.
“Kier.” The way she said his name was so sweet. A whole world of need packed into one syllable. There were no questions this time when she leaned into him. He knew she was sure.
He brought one hand up and swept it over the incredible curtain of her hair. He was going to maintain control above all. He was still going to let her lead. He knew what she’d liked before, but he wasn’t going to make assumptions now. She could tell him and show him, and he’d do whatever she asked.
“Can I kiss you?” he groaned, probably loud enough for the whole forest to hear. His cock drilled at the fly of his jeans when she leaned down, her heat so close above his that he wanted to grind into her.
“Jesus, yes!”
He kissed her hard, too eagerly. He tried to pull back, but she wouldn’t let him. Her hands raked through his hair and she held him there, taking it and taking it and then kissing him back like she was starved for it. Her nails dug into his wool sweater, through the fibers, into his t-shirt. She was so tiny and soft, but she kissed like a wild animal. It brought out the animal in him. They hadn’t shifted, but they were kissing like their bears were out and going to war with each other, but in that playful, needy, desperate to be with each other way that pulled each other close instead of pushed back. It was a fight of desperate want and need.
She was the one who bit his lip first. She sunk her teeth in, and he was so shocked that he pulled back slightly, which only made the sting worse because she went with him, but then she licked at the pain, and he groaned. She was doing everything she could possibly do to unleash the beast at the core of him. Not shift. There were other beasts inside of him besides his bear.
Tay might be nails and teeth, but she was incredible sweetness too. It shot through him like a bullet, but a bullet made of sunshine and warmth, healing instead of tearing at flesh.
Taylee tore her mouth away and kissed along the line of his neck. She whimpered against his skin, her breath a hot fog, and then she bit him there too. It actually hurt because she did it hard enough to mean it, but it made the blood roar inside him. The pain was the most delicious thing he’d ever felt in his life, and he wanted more.
