Page 40 of Shifter's Homecoming

She indicated his face. “Why did you finally shave?” Her voice turned quiet and she looked away. “I asked you to shave a few times, and you never would.” Her expression hardened and her words were soft. “Did you do it for me?”

Trent didn’t know how to answer that one. He couldn’t imagine not doing something his mate asked him to do. The silent moment stretched out too long.

Rowan laughed a little, but there was pain in it. “There’s the old Trent, the one I remember. All secretive and quiet, using the least amount of words possible.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” he said quickly. “I did it the first time because I wanted to see my own face, but now? Now I do it for you.”

She only stared at him and he could not tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing to her. She might have been about to throw him out, for all he could tell.

“But do you like it?” he growled impulsively. “You haven’t said what you think of me with no beard.” He felt strangely desperate for some sign of approval from her. He did not like the feeling, but he could not contain it.

She flushed. She looked away. She nibbled on her lower lip slightly and Trent thought he might die of wanting her in that moment.

He moved in close to his female, retrieving the vial from his pocket and holding it out for her. She let him come, her eyes on it. When he got close, she took it from his hand, her fingers brushing his palm. He could tell that, at that very moment, she was open to him; she wanted him to take her in his arms. She pressed toward him and not away from him.Yes.

He moved in fast, slipping one hand around her waist, and the other up the back of her neck. She let her eyes drift closed and she let him pull her toward him.

Trent kissed his mate for the first time, even though it was not the first time for her, though she responded like it was, part eagerly, part shy and hesitantly.

He kissed her softly, taking time to explore her lips, her tongue, her taste, the feel of her skin, the scent of her nearness. He moved her up against the closest wall. She went with him willingly, letting herself be pinned in, giving herself over to him, he felt her willingness, he felt her own desire coming at him.

Trent was hard and ready to take her and it took him a moment to realize it, because of all the kissing and touching, all the unfamiliar sensations that rushed through his body, up and down his spine. He ran his fingers in and out of her hair and down her neck.

“If I could do this forever, I would be happy forever,” he growled into her mouth.

She sighed and her breasts pressed against his chest. His thoughts turned to getting those clothes off of her, getting her into bed, getting her good and fucked and claimed, because somehow, he decided at that very moment, if he could justtake her,just get his teeth in her skin and his heat in her heat, then she could go home with him.

But then she reached down —and oh-fuck-he-could-not-handle-it— she palmed his cock through his pants like they were old lovers, which, they were, but he had never had the pleasure, he had no memories to go on… She squeezed and pumped him, making soft noises into his mouth as he kissed her. His stance tightened and his balls ached and he took his mate’s mouth like he would soon take her body, and then pure, gripping pleasure shot through him, making him moan in a way that surprised him.

After a moment, he realized she’d stopped moving, her hand still gripped around him, her eyes wide, her face pulled back from his.

“Did you just—?”

“No,” he lied, but softly and she didn’t even hear him.

She extricated herself from him. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “That’s not like you. And I can’t believe what we were just doing. I knew it would happen if I let you in here, I knew it!” She took off around the room, walking fast, picking heavy things up and slamming them down again, like she needed to make noise, maybe to break something. “I knew it!” she said again and again, mostly to herself.

Trent followed, trying to figure a way to get his mate back up against a wall, back into that willing and soft pose…

But first… he ducked into the bathroom and cleaned himself up as quickly as he could. When he ducked back out, she was still pacing and picking things up and pounding them against the counter again.

She whirled on him. “How long has it been… since you’ve slept with anyone?”

He didn’t say a word. He didn’t know.

“Not since the last time we were together—?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.

He still didn’t say a word.

“Don’t tell me you aren’t going to the ruts. I won’t believe it.”

Trent shook his head. He better not have gone to one single rut since the moment he knew his mate existed in any world.

Her voice hitched and she turned away from him. “I knew this would happen if I let you in here. I knew you would make me remember I love you.”

Trent’s chest seized up solid and tight and he could not bear it.

But just that quickly, she shook her head. “I can’t do this, Trent, this is not working and I cannot help you. Call your brother, tell him to come get you.”

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