AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I envisioned Levi—his tall, lean body, shaggy hair, soulful, penetrating eyes. Come to me.
I felt a tug, like I’d snagged a fish on a line. A thread or elastic pulled taut. It was something different from what happened in my dreams. A flush of longing washed over the thread—a hint of connection to his thoughts, his desires, his needs.
It was never a two-way line when I was dreaming. Right now, though, I was enveloped in Levi.
It scared me. He was too close. His essence slid down the thread that was connecting us. I wanted to pull away, to break the link, but a spark of recognition pinged along my nerve endings.
I remembered this feeling. It had been the same with my uncle’s ferals, just not as powerful at first. The link had been slow to form, but I knew their moods, their innermost desires. I knew them, and they knew me. At the time I’d thought it was the normal bonding that happened when you trained with people, but I’d realized it had grown into something different when they rose up with me to stand against my uncle.
I can’t do this again—not with an entire pack, forcing them to come to me, join with me, linking minds and probably souls. I didn’t want to feel their misplaced loyalty. I didn’t know enough about this ability to control how I even drew people to me…or what to do with them once I’d reeled them in. It was too much.
Longing slid down the thread, walloping me with desire. Hope was there, too, like a filament, a ghost, but pulsing steadily, reminding me that Levi wanted something from me, something more than my body. He wanted my commitment.
My everlasting commitment.
Fear hammered at my chest, and my breathing went shallow, strained. My heart hurt. I couldn’t do this again, not like last time. I didn’t want to feel a pack of wolves die because of me.
I opened my eyes, swayed forward so I braced my hands on the table in front of me, breaking the spell.
“It’s not right,” I blurted. “I don’t want to force anyone into my mind or coax them with my wiles—or whatever is going on. I don’t like that there’s no consent.” I started to turn as I took a step away, but Levi moved with me and instead of putting distance between us, I was practically nose-to-nose with him.
I inhaled the layers of his scent and my mind flashed to our first encounter in the forest. I was itching to run with him again, to chase and hunt and tease. And those feelings confused me, because I knew getting closer meant lowering my defenses, and I couldn’t let myself do that with any of these guys. If I let them in—truly let them in—then I’d be lost to them and I’d accept things I didn’t want to accept, just to stay close. I couldn’t let myself have feelings, not when the price was so high.
Sal may have had plans to send me to the Duke brothers as some kind of trojan horse, knowing my werebeast would react to their presence, hoping that I’d annihilate his greatest threat. But he’d underestimated me. It wasn’t the Duke brothers he needed to be afraid of. It was me. I didn’t need the bite of a wolf to make me a force to be reckoned with.
Despite that conviction, my body was weak. I couldn’t stay here, not with the way I felt Levi’s eyes on me, his body so close, his smell so tempting.
“You’ve always invited me into your dreams.” He looked from my eyes to my lips then laid his other hand gently on my hip, like he was scared I’d bolt. “It’s never been an intrusion, and I don’t think that’s what this document is saying—or what just happened between us.” He bit his bottom lip, his hair falling over one eye. My panties were officially on fire. “I think what’s described here is about tapping into your inner self, stretching it out and inviting others to join you.”
I gulped.
“I don’t want to have sexy times with the whole pack.” I tried for a joke that landed at our feet, doing nothing to dispel the pull between us.
“No, you’ve already selected your preferred mates.”
I frowned, but he didn’t give me a chance to think too hard on it because his hand was in my hair.
“You’re in control the whole time.” His grip got stronger, but he didn’t pull me closer. “You’re guiding what comes next.”
I looked at his lips.
“You said…” My voice was throaty. “You said that you could stop anything you weren’t comfortable with…in my dreams…when I called you to me.”
I knew I was searching for absolution—to feel less like a siren, calling these men to me, like a predator coaxing them in against their will. Levi had said he’d given consent in his own way. Maybe that could be true if I called the pack in.
His eyes were hooded, and that made my whole body tingle. “I wanted you from the moment I first stepped into your world. I would never have said no.”
My breath caught. My heart thundered. I was trembling. I couldn’t hold myself back.
“We’re meant to be together, Charlie.” He brushed his lips over mine, and an electric shock rolled down my spine. “Stop fighting it. You know it’s true.”
I tilted my head, meeting his eyes. I did want this. I slipped my hands around his waist.
He leaned down. I shifted up. We locked together, our lips so close that I could feel a static charge rolling off him.
I was going to kiss him. I had to. He was too enticing. It was my move. I started to push up, to take action, to follow my lust—
Johnny let out a window-rattling snore.
I startled back, laughing awkwardly, but Levi held me tight, yanking me toward him, then kissed me. He swallowed my gasp, his plush, firm lips coaxing me to kiss him back, and I did. I entangled my tongue with his and got lost in our first real kiss that felt as familiar as if it were our hundredth.
