Page 48 of The Barren Luna

“In that case, I accept it and I thank you,” she said primly, taking the éclair out of its paper bag.

I tried not to stare at her powdered-sugar-covered mouth as she ate, especially not as her little pink tongue kept darting out to lick off bits of custard from her lips -

“David?”

I shook my head a bit, “Sorry, I kind of spaced out.”

“I can see that,” she said as she held the éclair out to me with one hand, holding the other one under it to catch any crumbs that might fall off, even though we were outside. “I asked whether you wanted a bite?”

Of course, I wanted a bite. I wanted a million bites.

“Thanks,” I made sure to look her in the eye as I turned her hand to bite from the exact spot where her mouth had been.

It took all my considerable strength not to groan, but I did close my eyes as she inhaled audibly. All of a sudden, there was a strange electrical charge between us, one that kept sending tiny pleasurable jolts to my groin. Is this what the mate bond felt like for everyone? How did they get anything done? How did mated wolves manage to leave their beds?

I opened my eyes just in time to see her licking a bit of custard from the spot I had bitten into. Fuck. It was the single most erotic sight of my 26 years on Earth. I saw her pupils dilate, and all my blood rushed south.Down, boy. Don’t scare her.

“You like it?” I said, but my voice was all low and husky.

“Excuse me?” she stuttered and looked at me like a scared doe as I took a step closer to her.

“The éclair,” I clarified as I licked my thumb and used it to wipe off some powdered sugar from her chin. She gulped.

“It was really good,” she mumbled.

“I’m glad.”

After Gina did some more window-shopping, we aimlessly strolled around for a while before sitting down in one of the cozy cafes. I brought her a cappuccino as she stared out the window, lost in thought.

“You know, we never had anything like this in Spruce Mountain.”

“Anything like what, a café?”

“Yeah. There was a bar some of the pack members went to. There was a hardware store, a supermarket, a farmer’s market, a tailor, but it was all so... utilitarian. Including the architecture. There was very little room allotted for beauty for beauty’s sake,” she said somehow sadly.

“That must have been a drab environment for a bright flower such as yourself,” I tried coaxing her into opening up a bit more but only managed to sound like a perv from what my mom referred to asher Harlequins. I might have read one or two growing up. I was bored a lot since there weren’t many other pups at Court.

Luckily, Gina was too lost in thought to mind or mock me for it.

“Itwasdrab, and itwassuffocating. I didn’t enjoy living my life for others. Strategically thinking about how you touch your mate in photographs isn’t natural.”

“I used to be jealous of my men sometimes. We’d come back from a campaign, and their mates would run into their sweaty, dirty bodies and hug them as hard as they could and I remember thinkingI’d give up my kingdom for that, to be loved like that.”

“I’d never peg you for such a romantic soul,” she said, but it wasn’t teasing, it was curious.

“What can I say? My parents had an amazing mating, as did my grandparents. They imparted the importance of mates and treating each other right to both John and I as soon as we wereold enough to comprehend it. And they showed us by example way before that.”

“And what if the mating isn’t all that idyllic?”

“What do you mean?” I feigned ignorance.

“Don’t make me say it, David.”

“But I want you to verbalize it, Regina, I want you to tell me what’s on your mind.”

She paused and then blew out a breath.

“What if you can never have pups?”

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