Page 52 of Wolf's Prize

“I will be gentle, Kathryn, I promise,” he whispered, taking her mouth in his again, plunging his tongue deep, giving her no room to think of anything else but the thrust of his tongue and his lips on hers. He rubbed his thigh against her, and she moaned into his mouth. Her body was tinder and he the spark. She all but burst into flames.

His mouth left hers, shifting lower, sucking and teasing at her greedy skin. His lips closed over her nipple.

Oh. Have I died and gone to heaven?

She arched her back against him, craving more, seeking something indefinable. His teeth scraped against her sensitized skin, and her body quivered.

A prickle of heat was all the warning she got. With a roar, her wolf burst forth in her mind, making its presence felt.

“Mon Dieu, Aimon, I am shifting.”

Not now!

He released her nipple with a soft plop to stare into her eyes, a gentle hand cupping her face.

“Take a deep breath,” he said, his voice calm. “Will it away.”

Coarse hair crept up her forearm, and a bone cracked in her wrist.

No.

Her thoughts scattered, unable to find a focal point. Her jaw clicked, her canines extended, and her wolf claimed more ground. She whimpered.

“Close your eyes.” He stared at her, with his blue eyes boring into her soul. “Trust me, Kathryn.”

Kathryn let her eyelids flutter closed.

“Now take a deep breath and focus within.”

She did as he asked, attempting to center herself as he had taught her, but her senses were full of Aimon—his scent, the feel of his strong, naked body, his lips mere inches from hers. Her ankle popped. Fingernails became claws.

“It is notworking!”

“Listen to me. You can do this.” His warm breath whispered against her face, and she moaned, quivering beneath him. She searched for things to fill her mind with. Things other than Aimon. Things that helped to calm her in times of stress. She followed the scent of the forest, the pine, the damp earth and the wildflowers at the edge of the clearing.

The roaring began to subside. An owl returned to its hollow, a polecat followed the scent of rabbits looking for their burrow and a pine marten scurried into hiding. With each breath, her wolf retreated, her fur receded and her canines retracted. With a final crack of her wrist, her body relaxed back into her human form. She lay still, holding her wolf firmly in place. Would Aimon retreat now? Deem her not ready because she could not control her wolf? She opened her eyes to Aimon smiling down at her.

“You did it.”

He planted a kiss on her nose, her cheek, her mouth—soft and gentle. Chaste. She swallowed her disappointment. He would push away from her now, her chance lost.

Aimon caressed her face with his fingers, his gaze locked on hers. “I am not leaving you,ma belle renarde. I am too far gone to back away now.”

He claimed her mouth again and his tongue slipped past her lips. A poker to the burning coals of her need, he stoked her desire. Her wolf rumbled in the back of her mind but remained dormant. No sprouting fur or cracking bones. It wanted Aimon, too.

Emboldened, she let her hands wander, caressing the soft skin over the hard packed muscle of his shoulders and his back. Lower still over the rounded globes of his cheeks. He nipped at her lip and her fingers clenched, clasping his muscular buttocks. He ground his hips against her core, and an unfamiliar ache settled deep in her womb. She held on tight, urging him to do it again. When he did, she tilted her hips, thrusting herself against his thick erection.

He groaned. “Oh, Kathryn. You are testing my control. Have tested it since the day I first kissed you.”

He nuzzled at her neck, the hollow of her throat, then across her chest to first one nipple then the other, nipping and licking a fiery trail across her skin. Further still, his velvety mouth continued down, her stomach quivering with each touch. His hands clasping her hips, his mouth dipped lower until his tongue licked a path along the seam of her core.

Kathryn’s eyes flew open.No one in the women’s circle had ever mentioned this.

“Aimon,” she rasped, her breathing heavy. Wetness dampened between her legs, and not from his tongue. Mortified, she attempted to push him away, but he grasped her hands, stilling her protests.

“Let me look at you.”

Kathryn squirmed beneath his intense stare.

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