Page 33 of To Keep A Wolf
“Tripp’s snoring kept me up half the night,” I say. “Didn’t you hear it?”
“Guess I’m used to it.” He buries his face in my neck, and I’m suddenly very aware of how long it’s been since I showered.
“Um.” As much as my body wants this, my mind can’t get past the hygiene issue.
He pulls back and looks over at me again. “What’s up?”
I bite my lip. “Can we rain-check this until I’ve found a shower? And a change of clothes?”
He grins. “You worried you don’t smell good enough to eat? Because you do.”
His teeth nip at my earlobe, and I jump then melt against him. Okay, maybe—
The van door wrenches open, and I yank back. Levi chuckles as he backs off and we both watch as Tripp sticks his head in the van.
“You two want cream and sugar?”
I blow out a breath, and Levi barks out a laugh. “I was getting sugar all on my own.”
“Nope,” Tripp says. “Too much information. Get it your damn self.”
He shuts the door again, leaving us alone. But the mood from earlier has settled into something else. Finally, after a full day of justbeing, I see Levi’s expression shifting toward something more serious.
I tense, even though I know it’s time.
“Can I ask you something?” I blurt before he can start.
“Sure.”
I hesitate but then shove the words out. “Why didn’t you claim me? Yesterday, I mean. When we were… Did you not have, you know, the urge?”
My heart thuds like a hammer against my ribs.
His brow creases. “Is that what you think? That I didn’t want you?”
“I don’t know.” I try to shrug like this is casual. Like it doesn’t matter to me more than anything else I’ve done in my life. Like I’ll be fine if he fully rejects me in this moment. “I thought you maybe just decided we’re better off apart. At least, in that way. And I mean, that’s fine. It’s not like—”
“Whoa, it’s not fine.” He frowns. “Mac, I want you. In all the ways that matter. In all the ways that don’t. I want to eat s’mores with you every night. I want to live in this van with you. I want to keep you safe. I want to claim you.”
His words send a shiver down my spine. Okay, maybe not the living in the van part. But the rest.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I told you I wouldn’t do anything against your will ever again, and I meant it. You need to want this. Us. Mates. It’s not as simple as our wolves wanting each other. If we claim one another, there’s no taking it back. Jadick will know.”
His expression darkens as he says the name.
My fists clench. But I see his point.
“You think he’ll do something terrible if he realizes I’ve rejected him.”
“As it stands, you can never go back there,” he says quietly. “But your mom… the Jades... If you claim me, he’ll feel it. And he won’t hesitate to take his anger out on one of them. Just to punish us.”
I sigh. He’s right, of course. I hadn’t thought about it. I’d only thought of how much I wanted him.
“I hate that this is your life now,” he adds.
“What? Free?”
