Page 9 of Forsaken

“This is bullshit.”

“Might have said that to Ms. Ebon, but I don’t think it matters.”

Veins pop out on his forearms. “When I see Sean, I’m going to kill him.”

The baring of his teeth tells me I’m not sure I could count Nathan out if he were to fight Sean. I can’t say I’ve never wanted to get a few hits in on his stupid fated mate. “You might get a chance to do that,” I tell him. “Ms. Ebon says she’s going to petition for Daybreak shifters to go back to their pack so I can see Sean again. She acts like the Winter Solstice party will be my savior or something.”

Nathan’s chest heaves. “You have to find a way.”

My jaw locks. I push forward, hitting his shoulder as I pass. “Just how am I going to do that? I’ve tried for the last year and haven’t gotten anywhere.”

“Does it matter?” His voice is far away at first, but he follows me to the hill’s edge as I sit. I lean against a rock with my legs outstretched, and when he speaks again, I can hear the barely restrained anger as plain as day. “You have to try everything. It’s that or go Feral.”

I shrug, trying to keep my own fury in check. “You act like that’s something new. The stakes have always been the same.”

“Not with a time limit,” he growls. “Fuck, Mia. You can’t go Feral.”

Parts of me harden at his words, resonating with them. I want to fight, too. I want to show up at Daybreak and tell Sean what a huge fucking prick he is for doing this to me. But I don’t think it will make a difference. If he hasn’t decided by now, what else could I possibly do to get him to leave Gayle alone and realize that all he should want has been waiting for him this whole time?

Even as I think it, my stomach roils. “There’s nothing I can do,” I say evenly.

He sits next to me, reaches out his hand and makes me look at him with a grip on my chin. “The fuck there isn’t. You’re going to the Winter Solstice festivities. You’re….” His gaze changes as he looks at me, and I swallow hard at the intensity. A pull starts between us, like I’m tied to a line he’s tethered to and fate is making it shorter and shorter, bringing us closer together with every moment.

“Nathan.”

His lips meet mine. My wolf yips inside, and I accidentally bite his lip, but it doesn’t deter him. In fact, it spurs him on. He delves his tongue into my mouth, groaning, igniting need and hunger deep inside me.

I’ve kissed guys before. Never when I had a mate, of course. Nathan’s been the only one, so I’m not sure if the feelings coursing through me are because of Nathan or the fact that I’m mated, but I can say, with one hundred percent certainty, that kissing another shifter never felt like this before.

“Mia, fuck,” he says, uttering those words just over my lips. “I can’t lose you.”

Air saws in and out of my lungs. With nothing but the natural world as our witness, I want Nathan to kiss me again. I feel it deep in my bones. “What is happening?” I ask.

He runs his hand down my thigh, tangling it in the hem of my shirt. “I don’t know. Shit.”

He goes to pull away, but I slam my lips to his again. In a world that’s so messed up, Nathan and I have always felt right. I’m probably getting this all wrong, we’re probably supposed to just be friends, but I’m sick of being denied a mate—someone who is supposed to be there for me no matter what. Nathan has been that person, and I don’t want to let him go. “I’m going to get sent away,” I say, voice breaking.

“No.” That single sound is uttered with finality and darkness that I press my thighs together. His fingertips dig into my hip. “God, this is so wrong.” Despite his words, he kisses me again with so much force that I drop my shoulders to the ground, and he hovers above me. “I don’t care, though.”

His words squeeze my heart. He’s come a long way from a guy who didn’t want to discuss our first kiss earlier.

“If someone sees us,” I warn.

“What? They’ll make you go Feral?”

“You’ve got a point,” I tell him, my arms moving around his back and tugging him on top of me. Don’t think, I tell myself. If two weeks is all I have left, I want to enjoy that time with the one shifter who has been here for me through all of this. Don’t think about what it means. Don’t try to analyze it.

He dips his hips to mine, and his cock brushes against my lower stomach.

His hard cock.

The intimate touch short-circuits my brain, and animalistic need takes over. I lift my hips into him, and we slide together, grinding against one another to relieve the ache. Our hurried breaths deepen. It’s as if we can’t get enough. Nathan kisses a trail down the curve of my neck to my collarbone, and he doesn’t stop there. He hovers his mouth over my breast, then bites down on my hard nipple.

“Holy shit.”

“Don’t tell me to stop,” he grinds out.

My mind blitzes as he does it again, his tongue laving against my covered breast. My shirt is a barrier that needs to stay. Once that comes off, everything will be laid bare. “Maybe we should shift so we don’t—”

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