Page 47 of Taming of a Wolf

He swirls his hips, rubbing against all the right spots, then tugs on my nipple rings, sparking pleasure all throughout my body. Shoving me back to my hands and knees, he lies atop me, pinning my body between his and the bed. I tear at the sheets, crying out as he fastens his teeth into my shoulder, biting down on his marks. “Mine, all mine. Say it.”

“Yours, Alpha. Yours! Want your cum. Fill me up. Please.”

Anders’s hoarse shout fills the room as his release paints my insides, leaving me a hot, sticky mess. His knot keeps it all inside, and I feel so full, wrecked, owned by his cock and his cum. His, completely. I clench around Anders once again as he wrings another explosive orgasm out of me. It feels like it never ends.

We catch our breath. Bliss spreads throughout my body. “Hey, let’s start teaching you to read today.”

Anders stiffens behind me, and not in the good way. “I… I’m not sure I can learn how.”

I twist my body around to look at him and find him frowning as he traces a pattern into my shoulder with a blunt fingernail. “I’m a very good teacher. We’ll start small and simple, then work our way up.”

Anders drops a kiss to my bare shoulder. “Fine. But I warned you.”

I chuckle and squeeze his fingers. “You’ve got this.”

I can’t wait to help Anders learn more about my world. I want to see him open up and bloom like a flower under the sunlight.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll decide my time isn’t as bad as he thought.

Maybe… he’ll stay. I sure hope so.

Because it’s getting harder to imagine being alone again.

Chapter 12

Anders

Something about Jamie Sullivanmust have me enthralled. Why else would I agree to learn how to read instead of obtaining his necklace? I must be truly mad, and yet I can’t bring myself to care. Instead, I only want to spend more and more time with him, in and out of bed. I’ve never yearned to know anyone inside and out. If teaching me to read makes my mate happy, then I will devote myself to my studies.

When I’m with Jamie, I don’t feel like the man who wasn’t good enough to be Alpha. I’m notanAlpha, but I’mJamie’sAlpha. Somehow, that feels like enough. Although I’m realizing I don’t quite know who I am or what my place is in Jamie’s world, I want to find out. I want to see the person I can become and if I can be worthy of Jamie’s affections and boundless patience.

Before the shop opens for the day, Jamie drives me to the bookshop after dropping Jace off for school. He flicks on the lights. The tables are empty, and the only sounds to penetrate the silence are the occasional rumble of a car that passes by.

Jamie sighs beside me. “I love coming here before everyone else.”

“I can see the appeal,” I say, following him inside.

“It’s like my own little corner of the world. Just me and my books, no responsibilities or obligations.” Jamie roams the shelves, caressing the spines of the books with a fondness that makes me chuckle.

“Was owning a bookshop something you always wanted?” I hunger to know everything about him until I know him even better than I know myself.

Jamie stops by a section that’s more colorful than the rest of the store. There are pictures of animals, toys on the rug, chairs small enough for young children to sit in. “Not always, but after my parents passed, we lived with my grandma for a few years. Life was… hard, for a while.” His smile falls from his face, and for a moment, I glimpse the man behind the smiles and sunny disposition.

Jamie is still hurting, still missing his family. He won’t say it aloud, but I feel it all the same. How he can still smile and carry on with his life when his hurt goes so deep, I am unsure. After I lost my parents, I lost myself as well. Grief turned to rage that shaped who I am today.

“It still hurts you.”

Jamie clears his throat. “I mean, yeah. Of course it does. Reading helped me forget or helped me put words to everything I was feeling through characters going through the same shit as I was. Books are amazing like that; they’re portals to other people and other worlds, other experiences. They remind us we’re not alone.”

When Jamie sits on the rug, I join him. “You are stronger than you think you are, Jamie, son of Sullivan.”

Jamie laughs softly, ducking his head. “Not really. Most days, I’m barely holding myself together.”

Sliding a finger beneath his chin, I lift his face toward mine. “After I lost my father, it… changed me.” There’s an ache inmy throat that hasn’t been there in years. I clear it harshly, then make myself break eye contact, uncomfortable by how weak I feel. “This darkness, this anger, woke up inside me and consumed me.”

“That’s normal.” Jamie leans his cheek on my shoulder, his hair tickling my neck.

“I let it warp me, the way flame warps a blade. My anger turned me into a weapon against my brother, my own family.” It’s the first time I’ve truly realized this.

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