Page 63 of Noah

Soon, he would have to tell her there was no psychological or physiological reason she had to stay and that he wouldn’t become insane without her. He wasn’t in pain when he was away from her, and the Numbers weren’t currently looking into it because no such thing existed.

Looking into her sweet face, he brushed his fingers over her cheek, her soft supple flesh giving and warm. He shook his head. No, he had to find the right way to tell her.

“I did enjoy myself more than I thought I would,” he confided.

“You’re getting used to crowds and the need to touch others,” she said happily like he had achieved something momentous.

He rubbed his jaw, helping her skirt the drinks on the grass. He used his enhanced sight to guide her in the dark back to the Jeep, then frowned. “How will we get back? I don’t want to call Finley to drive us. He only arrived twenty minutes ago.”

Adrienne grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. Her eyes lit up with crazy light. “I know, you can take me through the trees.” She sounded so excited he tilted his head, hoping she might be joking, but…no.

“Ren,” he sighed heavily, hating to disappoint her. “I can’t move through the trees with you. I don’t know the surroundings that well. I know my senses are sharp, but you’ve been drinking. I need you to hold tight and if you don’t…” He paused and swallowed hard at the visual of him reaching out for the branch in front of him and dropping her. Her body flattened at the base of a gnarled oak.

“I can run with you,” he said as he scooped her up.

She squeaked and grasped his neck, her tiny claws barely making dents in his skin. She needed something sharp and deadly to arm herself with. When he nuzzled her hair, rubbing his scent all over her, he smiled in satisfaction.

“Let’s run.” He flashed a feral smile.

He took off before she could protest and she made a sound, clutching him tight. Her breath caught and held.

Noah worried he had upset her. When he saw her eyes flare wide in excitement and her cheeks flush in amusement, he stopped worrying and put on a burst of speed.

She loved the adrenaline rush.

Adrienne let out a full-bellied laugh with her head thrown back over his arm and hair flying like a torch.

Exhilaration in his heart, he ducked through the trees and felt his body fill with something foreign and unusual.

It was a warm comforting feeling. It filled him with a rush of white-hot prickles inside his chest like it was hollow but full at the same time. It was a heady thing that could make him light-headed if he wasn’t careful.

Taking a deep breath that brought her scent into his nostrils, he ran harder.

When they got home, he knew in his bones he had to keep her. He would not tell the truth until he knew what that feeling was. Why he felt it and why he knew it was powerful and permanent?

If Wren was right, he was sure she was, that Adrienne was his mate, then he needed to come clean.

His mate!

It made the feral side of him push to the forefront, making him want to lick her up and rub his scent all over her. Naked, wet, and warm. Skin to skin. And now he was stiff, his cock hard and pushing against his waistband.

Clenching his teeth against the urges, he caught their scents thickening as he got closer to their home. It was dense, and heavy, mixing and blending with everything around them.

“Home,” he said into her smiling face.

“That was so much fun,” she replied breathlessly.

He strode to the porch and put her down. She wobbled and he steadied her with his hand on her lower back.

“Tell me something?”

“Hmm?” she mumbled and opened the door.

He followed her inside; the slam of the door made her jump, then laugh nervously as she shifted from foot to foot. He grabbed her hand to still her nervous movements.

He didn’t know how to ask for what he wanted. His inner struggle must have been visible because her face changed as if she understood, and she moved closer.

“Yes,” she whispered.

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