Page 12 of Taming of a Wolf

Anders frowns at me. “You think I am trying to deceive you?”

“I don’t think. I know.”

When Anders leans in closer, my heart jumps into my throat, but it sure isn’t from discomfort. As much as I wish I could have some self-respect, the fact of the matter is Anders is smoking hot, and I’ve been unintentionally celibate for weeks now.

“I don’t lie, pet. Nor do I waste my time on those beneath me. And most everyone is beneath me,” he growls. “I do want your necklace. However, I want to earn it. Normally, I would simply take it, consequences be damned. No one has ever come between me and something I want and lived.” A shiver runs down my spine. He’s being completely honest; I can see it in the coldness in his eyes. “But I can’t do that. Not with you.” He doesn’t soundhappy about this at all and glowers at the floor. “When I say I like the way you taste, it is not a lie. Nor is it a lie when I say you’re the most breathtaking creature I have ever laid eyes upon. It is simply the truth.”

My mouth goes unexpectedly dry. It’s overwhelming, being someone’s sole focus like this. But I really like it.

“Oh,” I say, too flustered to speak. “Well, uh… You’re pretty breathtaking yourself.”

“So I’ve been told.” He smirks.

This fucking guy…

“It appears I must… earn your necklace.” He looks physically ill at the thought. “And then I shall leave for my home. So, tell me what I must do to earn it. I can work well, and I’m skilled with a blade.”

I gawk at him. “What do you think I’m going to ask you todo?”

He shrugs those big shoulders. “Whatever it is that needs doing. I’m a skilled hunter, so I can provide you with any game you need. I can also work. Household chores are usually attended to by my thralls, but my fool brother and that pup of his freed them. Mayhap it is good that I left.” Disgust curls his lip. “I am not above doing simple chores if that is what you’d prefer.” He looks like he’d rather throw himself back in the river than subject himself to menial household chores.

I suck in my lips so I don’t laugh. Is this guy for real? He wants to cook for me? Clean for me? Hell yeah. “Let me think!” I flop back on the sofa, pondering all the things I could ask him to do. “So many tasks! How can I possibly choose?”

He scowls. “Don’t look too pleased about it. If you were anything other than my mate, I wouldn’t even consider stooping so low as to indenture myself to you.”

“You could do my laundry, color-code my bookshelf, vacuum… Oh! Maybe you could—wait,whaaat?” What did he just say? If I weren’t such an avid romance reader, I wouldn’t have evenpicked up on what he’d just said. He’s a wolf shifter, ulfhednar, whatever you want to call it. And in every paranormal romance I’ve read, wolf shifters have—

“Mate?” I croak, edging farther away from him on the couch. “As in… fated mate?” That explains why he’s so fixated on me, so attentive, why he stuck out his neck for me. Wait. Why am I acting like any of this bullshit makes any sense! It doesn’t! At all!

Anders sighs like he’s on his way to the gallows. “Aye, lad. It would seem I arrived in your timeline for a reason. The Norns themselves preordained our meeting. The ladies of fate and destiny wished for us to meet.”

Oh my god. If I hadn’t seen this guy shift into a huge wolf, I would be calling 911 right now. Maybe I should do it anyway. “Wait. Hold on a sec!” I lurch from the couch and nearly knock my drink off the coffee table.

Anders pursues me, his nostrils flaring, eyes dark and fixated. It should be fucking creepy, and yet some animal instinct deep inside is preening at the knowledge that this strong, gorgeous Viking wolf has picked me of all people.

“I’m human,” I finally say, as if that makes any sense.

Anders growls, “No, pet. You’re not. I’ve told you, you’re ulfhednar. As am I. The Norns would not be so daft as to pair me with my kind’s greatest enemy.”

Anders corners me against the TV stand and lowers his head, breathing in deep. Oh god. Do I have some special scent to him, like in the books? And wait.Healso had some weird scent when I first saw him. That moment replays in my mind, and I remember how everything in my world narrowed down to him the moment I caught his scent.

“Do you doubt our bond, pet?” Anders rumbles in my ear. “Must I prove here and now that you’re meant for me as I am for you?” Big, warm hands glide down my sides and grasp myhips, urging me closer. “The effect you have on me… it’s unlike anything I’ve ever known.”

And he isn’t lying. The proof is pressing hard against my hip. To my dismay, my own body is reacting right back. His scent is spicy with desire and longing, so potent and overwhelming that it makes my brain go all fuzzy. An odd, low whimper escapes me, and to my horror, I tip my head back and show him my neck. Like I’m… submitting to him.

Oh no. Is he right? Ever since my eighteenth birthday, I’ve had an odd sense of smell and been in tune with others’ emotions because of the change in their scents. Did something about that day change me? I think back. “Wait… my gran gave me wolf furs for my birthday. Furs that look a lot like yours.”

I wore them to make her happy that day, but I’d internally squirmed at the thought of wearing fur. So I’d put them in my closet and never wore them again.

“Oh shit…” I whisper, knees shaking. “I… oh my god. I think you’re right.” His scent and the heat of his body are like a magnet, urging me closer, but I jerk back and stumble to the couch. Collapsing, I fold over and hide my face in my hands, trying to think rationally.

“I’ve had dreams,” I say at last, “where I’m running as a wolf. Not all the time. Always on a full moon. I hear another wolf howling to me. I run to them, because I have to. Because I know that the moment I see them, smell them—the loss, the guilt, the damn grief will all go away, and everything in this fucked-up world will finally make sense. I’ll finally be whole.” My eyes sting, the longing in my dreams so visceral, even in my waking moments.

“It’s not a dream, pet.” Anders’s fingers card gently through my hair, and his touch calms the storm in my head. “It’s your wolf, crying out to be set free.”

“Can I free him?” I lift my head, gazing up at Anders with a desperation I’ve never felt before. “How?”

“I will show you. Is there a forest around here? Somewhere we will be undisturbed?”

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