Page 19 of Nick
Nick stood slowly, the dust of Sunburst Mesa coating his jeans.
The pack still watched him—some with admiration for his capitulation, others with suspicion for his sudden return.
Vincent shifted back into his human form, not bothering to dress again.“Your loyalty is accepted.”
Nick and Sarah both bowed their heads toward Vincent, and then Nick moved back to stand next to her.
“Seal it with a kiss!”a voice erupted from the crowd.Nick recognized it as belonging to Hannah, someone else he wouldn’t have minded never seeing again.
Laughter followed Hannah’s comment, and Nick felt heat rise in his cheeks—not from embarrassment but from a surge of something primal he hadn’t felt in years.
Sarah’s gaze flickered to him, her eyes widening in a silent question.
Nick knew this was part of the spectacle, another act in the play Vincent had staged to prove his dominance over the returning rogue.He should resist, refuse to let his emotions be toyed with—but there was something else at play, an undercurrent that pulled at him more strongly than the alpha’s command.
Nick closed the distance between himself and Sarah, aware of every breath he took, every whisper of wind that brushed against his skin.
“Go on, then, Nicky boy,” someone else jeered, but the words were distant, drowned out by the thundering beat of his pulse.
He stood before Sarah, towering over her yet feeling strangely vulnerable.Her dark hair danced lightly in the breeze, and her gaze searched his face.For a moment, they were alone in the vast desert, the pack’s presence fading into insignificance.
“Sarah,” Nick murmured, the name a soft growl that rolled off his tongue.It felt both foreign and achingly familiar.Without another thought, he leaned down, bridging the gap between duty and desire.
His lips met hers tentatively at first, a cautious brush that spoke of old wounds and the fear of reopening them.But as Sarah responded, something within Nick snapped—the dam holding back years of suppressed longing crumbled beneath the gentle pressure of her mouth.
The kiss deepened, and the world around them fell away.There was only the warmth of her lips, the sweet taste that flooded his senses, and the undeniable truth that his body remembered what his mind had tried so hard to forget.
The physical attraction that had once bound them together flared to life, reigniting with an intensity that left him breathless.
Sarah’s hands reached up, fingers tangling in the long strands of his hair, drawing him closer.Nick wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body against his own, each point of contact sparking memories of moonlit nights and whispers between the sheets.
Nick’s lips moved with a ferocity he hadn’t intended, the kiss deepening as if he was trying to reclaim years lost in a single moment.The softness of Sarah’s mouth beneath his was a siren call to every raw emotion he’d kept leashed.Powerless against the tide of desire, his caution ebbed away, replaced by a hot urgency that thrummed through his veins like fire.
Sarah’s breath hitched against his mouth in a rhythm that set his instincts ablaze too.Nick’s hands roamed the curve of her back, pulling her closer still, until no space remained between them.The desert heat was nothing compared to the burning need coursing through him.
The murmurs of the pack faded, their presence forgotten as Nick surrendered to the passion he’d denied for so long.This wasn’t just physical—each touch rekindled the protective fervor that had defined him as both man and wolf.
And though anger still simmered beneath the surface, it was momentarily eclipsed by the intensity of their connection.
“Sarah,” he whispered against her lips, a word laden with unspoken promises and smoldering resentment.But here, now, it was spoken as an incantation, invoking the bond they shared, one that neither time nor betrayal could fully sever.
Her answering moan was almost his undoing.It was a plea and a surrender all at once.Nick knew he should pull away, knew each second they remained locked in this passionate embrace only tangled their lives further—but damn it, he couldn’t stop.
His world narrowed to the taste of her, the sound of her quickened breath, the feel of her body yielding yet demanding against his own.
The kiss was no longer just a request from the pack.
It was a primal claim, an insistence that, despite everything, they were irrevocably bound.
Chapter 8
WHEN NICK’S LIPS METSarah’s, her world contracted until there was nothing but the searing touch of his mouth against hers.
The heat from his kiss eclipsed the warmth of the fading sun, igniting a fire within her that she’d thought long extinguished.
Nick’s touch was familiar yet startlingly new, stirring memories of stolen moments and whispered promises.And Sarah’s response was instinctual, a physical pull that tied her to Nick with a force stronger than any pack law.
Her hands moved of their own accord, sliding into the sandy brown locks of his hair, still tied back in a bun that did little to tame its wildness.She returned his passionate kiss, pouring into it the tumultuous emotions she’d kept dammed up for far too long.
