Page 12 of Ravenous

She scrambled off the bed, landing in the tiny space between it and the wall. “Oh, my God! What happened?”

Rain came in along with the wind, which whipped her curtains around.

Fate. Had she been…on the bedwhen the ceiling caved in on her?

I jumped off it and yanked it toward me and onto its side, so I could get to her. I forgot not to show her my superhuman strength. Forgot everything but getting to my fragile neighbor before she was badly hurt. Maybe she already was, and I didn’t know it yet.

She could be cut. Bleeding. Worse.

“Joy, come here.” I snatched her up, carrying her out of the bedroom and away from the collapsing roof.

Her arms came around my shoulders, and my wolf calmed down. I got a clean hit of her honey scent, and lightning struck again–this time inside my body. It was like all my cells woke up at the same time. I became electrified. A switch turned on.

Fuck, she smelled good.

She smelled…right.

I never thought anyone–human or wolf–smelled wrong, but this wasright.

I suddenly found it impossible to swallow.

Equally impossible was putting Joy down. She wasn’t safe here, in this broken house. We were both soaking wet and covered in plaster and debris. Worse, she might be concussed or cut and bleeding.

I needed to get her to my place to look her over. No way were we staying here.

Without saying a word–not unusual for me–I stomped out her back door in my bare feet and carried Joy in through mine. I picked up the lit candle from the kitchen table on the way to my bathroom. I only paused to peek in on Remy, who was still sleeping and was missing all of this. Then, I lowered Joy gently to her feet and set the candle on the vanity to start picking chunks of wood and plaster from her hair. I kept one hand on her elbow because her legs seemed unsteady.

“A… a tree fell on my roof.” Joy was clearly in shock, still trying to assimilate what had just happened.

I wasn’t one for extraneous words, but I forced one out because the situation called for a response. She deserved my response. “Yeah.”

“My roof is… My house…” She appeared dazed.

“Are you hurt?” I raked a gaze over her. Her blonde hair was soaked and sticking to her face, covered in the white powder of plaster from the ceiling. Her arms and legs were covered in more debris that hadn’t washed off in the rain. Her pajamas were tiny sleep shorts and a snug camisole. Neither hid her lush shape. The fact that they were both wet through meant I could see her nipples. Every bump. I knew their size. Their color.

My mouth watered for a taste. Lower, the material clung to her folds.

Holy hell was she perfection. My wolf wanted to fuck her right here and now, but I had enough brain function left–since all my blood had dropped to my dick–to know this wasn’t the time.

She examined her body along with me. Her hand came up to rub a spot on her forehead where a lump was forming and winced.

“Looks like a bruise there.” Gently, I pushed her wet hair out of her face to examine it. “Where else does it hurt?” I softened my voice like I would if I were talking to Remy after she took a spill. I turned her chin from side to side to examine for other bruises and ran my fingertips around the back of her head. “Do you know your name? Your birthday?” I tried to remember the things the rodeo doctors would ask us after we had a fall.

She let out a semi-hysterical laugh. “Yes. Joy Wallace. March thirteenth.”

“Okay.” I continued to scan her. She didn’t appear to have any broken bones or open cuts that I could see although it was really hard to notice when my eyes kept returning to her nipples.

“I’m Wes,” I remembered to offer, since I hadn’t introduced myself to her the day before. “Weston Sparks.”

“I know. I’m friends with Marina at Wolf Ranch. I was actually over there last night and saw you guys. Oh, is Remy okay?”

“Yes. Sleeping right through it all.”

She turned her head in the direction of her house as if still trying to assimilate what happened. “You came in through my window?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I heard the crash. Were you in bed when it happened?”

“I was trying to sleep, but the thunder woke me up. And then suddenly, the ceiling fell on my face.”

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