Page 19 of The Wolf Guard's Mate

“He wouldn’t. But I don’t sleep around people.”

I frowned. “Why not?”

He ignored the question, and turned over again.

I was going to have to intervene if I wanted to get any rest, so I rolled toward him and wrestled my eyes half open. “How do you usually sleep?”

“What?”

“How do you usually sleep?” I repeated. “On your stomach? Sprawled out like a starfish on your back? Curled up in a ball?”

He didn’t answer.

I waited.

My eyes started to close.

“On my side, holding a pillow,” he finally grumbled.

I didn’t know why sharing that small, random fact about himself was so difficult for him. I was too tired to care, though.

There was an extra king-sized pillow behind the one I was laying on, so I grabbed it and plopped it down between us. “Here. Now you have a cuddle pillow, and a wall between us.”

“I already tried that.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

He growled in frustration. “The pillows smell wrong.”

Oh.

I guess if I was having an intense reaction to his scent, it made sense for him to have one to mine. And his sense of smell was a hell of a lot more sensitive than mine.

I shoved the heavy pillow back over me and scooted closer to him.

“What are you doing?” His voice was lower.

“Solving the problem, Hun.”

He started to complain about the nickname—but the sound cut off quickly when I turned so my back was to his chest.

His body was incredibly stiff. He grunted when I moved around a little, trying to find the most comfortable place to lay against him. His chin was against the top of my head and his erection was against my ass when I settled.

I didn’t bring up the erection.

Considering we were mated, and I was still half-naked and in his arms, I didn’t think it was going anywhere.

I pulled the pillow closer and tossed a leg over it, resting as much of my body against it as I could.

Hunter still hadn’t budged. I wasn’t even sure he was breathing.

“When we wake up, the pillow will smell like me so we don’t have to cuddle next time,” I mumbled. “We’ll figure out how to deal with the mate bond. Eventually, we’ll be able to live apart again.”

The growl that tore through him was all animal.

“In separate rooms,” I revised.

The wolf snarled.

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