Page 107 of Found by the Pack
“I’ll get her water,” Shepard says, straightening.
“I’ll go,” I growl, more out of the need to move than anything. My body’s a knot of restless heat, shame pressing against my ribs.
“I’ll do it,” Shepard insists, already heading for the door. “And I’ll try Boone again.”
That leaves me. Alone with her.
Her hand twitches against the sheet. “Can you… help me lie down?”
My throat works, tight. “Yeah.”
I slip an arm behind her shoulders, easing her back against the pillows. She shifts, fingers brushing my forearm. Electricity zips through me at the contact, raw and unwelcome, sparking every nerve.
“Sadie,” I whisper, torn between pulling away and leaning closer.
Her eyes open, her pupils wide and unfocused, but her voice is clear enough. “Why do you smell so fucking good?”
Heat licks down my spine. I shouldn’t let her pull me closer, shouldn’t even breathe the same air, but I can’t help the way my hand lifts, fingertips grazing the curve of her cheek.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, voice rough. “I was staying away. That was me, not you.”
Her hand rises, small and trembling, and drags mine over her lips. The soft press of her mouth against my skin makes my chest seize.
A droplet of water slides from her hair, down the curve of her neck. My eyes track it before I can stop myself. The shame hits hot—I’m a protector, Boone’s brother. And still, the raw urge to lean down and lick that drop is so strong it stuns me.
“Gabe,” she whispers, eyes fluttering half-shut.
“Yes,” I answer, voice breaking against the single syllable.
She moves my hand lower, down the column of her throat. Her breathing stutters, uneven, like every touch sparks something unbearable inside her.
“What are you doing?” My voice is hoarse, caught between warning and want.
“I don’t know,” she admits, raw and desperate. “But your hand is rough, and it feels so good on my skin.”
I can barely swallow, the lump in my throat heavy as stone. She drags my hand farther, until my thumb presses against the flutter of her pulse.
“I’m so horny,” she confesses, voice slurred with heat, eyes glazed over.
“I know,” I whisper back, heart hammering. “Boone will be here soon.”
It’s a promise, a plea, a lifeline I’m clinging to even as my own cock twitches in my pants, betraying me.
The sound of someone clearing their throat snaps me back.
Shepard stands in the doorway again, a glass of water in one hand, phone in the other. His eyes lock on me, sharp, and I seethe restraint there, the same battle I’m fighting. He knows. He understands.
I slump back, defeated, sliding down until I’m sitting on the floor beside the bed, my head leaning back against the frame.
“I got through to Boone,” Shepard says, voice tight but even. He extends the phone toward her, glass in his other hand. “Will you talk to him?”
Sadie nods weakly, her hands shaking as she takes the water and then the phone. Her voice is barely a whisper as she says his name.
I close my eyes for half a second, dragging air into my lungs. This is the line. We can’t cross it. She’s Boone’s, she’s our responsibility, she’s more than the pull of scent and fever.
But God help me—every second I’m in this room, I understand why it’s so easy to lose control.
CHAPTER 26
