Page 95 of Rocky Top

He nodded. “It’ll get stronger. I’ll be able to find you anywhere. Know when you’re hurt. Feel it when you’re scared.”

“And me?”

“You’ll know when I need you. When I’m shiftin’. When I’m…” He hesitated, voice droppin’. “When I’m losin’ control.”

“I will shift too?” I asked, more than anything.

He cupped my cheek, eyes soft. “Eventually. The bite changes your body slow, gives you time. Sometimes a year. But your instincts? They’re already wakin’ up. You’re amazing, Birdie.”

That made sense. The other night, I’d smelled things that weren’t there. Heard whispers from across the compound. Tasted emotions like flavors.

I thought I was losing my damn mind.

But maybe it was just the wolf waking up in me.

I sighed, leaning into him. “So much fornormal.”

Rocky kissed my forehead. “Sunshine, normal’s overrated.”

We ate together on the couch, knees bumping, him stealing bites from my plate. The bond between us settled like a warm blanket, soft and comfortable.

After we ate, I helped him change the dressing on his wound. He insisted I stay naked, but I only felt a bit out of place. His wounds had mostly healed already. Shifters had that gift, fast recovery, heightened senses, animal instincts.

Still, when I dabbed the gauze over the ugly red slash, he flinched.

“Sorry,” I said.

“S’nothin’. You can touch me wherever you want, even if it hurts. Take those skilled fingers lower, Sunshine.”

I looked up at him through my lashes. “You’re real bossy for someone who almost bled out in the dirt yesterday.”

“And you’re real sassy for someone who said she loved me last night.”

My cheeks burned. “I did say that didn’t I?”

“Damn right you did.”

He tugged me into his lap again, and I let him. My arms wrapped around his shoulders. His head dipped, breath warming my collarbone.

“Say it again,” he murmured.

I kissed the corner of his mouth. “I love you...Wolfman.” I’d added the last bit to lessen the weight of it, but it hadn’t helped.

He shuddered.

And something shifted between us again, something I didn’t have words for. Just heat and truth and the way his hands held me like I was precious and breakable, even though I’d proven I could stand beside him in a war.

“You’re my mate now,” he said quietly. “Whether you want that word or not.”

“I want it,” I whispered back.

Rocky was hard beneath me. I unzipped his jeans and touched his impressive erection like I was approaching a wild animal. Maybe I was. He bared his teeth. With all the times we didn’t act on our lust, it seemed suddenly, we had a lot to catch up on. The barriers were broken, and the options were endless.

Rocky attacked, sucked on my titties like he could draw something out of them. Damn, it felt so good when he used his teeth.

“You like that, don't you?” he growled. “How rough I get? You want more of the beast in me Sunshine.” I could feel his cock throbbing beneath me, straining against my pussy. The friction from rocking over him was driving us both insane even without getting him inside just yet. Each slow drag of the shaft along my sensitive clit was pure torture.

His eyes were wild with lust and hunger, but more than that they started to glow amber. He licked those glorious lips before speaking again.

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