Page 10 of The Alpha's Temptation
“Maybe not tonight.”Her voice shakes, but her chin tips up bravely.“Penny loves you.She’ll remember that faster than she remembers the hurt.Especially when she realizes I didn’t plan this either and would never use her to get to you.”
I take a step toward her.Then another.The air tightens like a bowstring.My wolf presses, rubbing his muzzle against invisible restraints, wanting everything at once—her throat, her mouth, her, all of her.I stop a breath away because any closer and my hands will be on her without the safety of thought.
“Full moon’s in three nights,” I say, a warning to both of us.“This feeling, this yearning, will get worse.”
Her exhale stutters.It ghosts across my mouth like a test I’m failing.
“I know.”
“Penny first,” I say, scraping the words out of my throat.“I have to make this right with her before I…before we…”Before I show you the inside of my head.Before I let you see the place in me that has been empty for years and now isn’t.“Until then, I shouldn’t?—”
“Touch me,” she finishes, so soft it’s almost a plea and a dare.
My wolf’s howl could shatter granite.I curl my fingers into fists at my sides until my knuckles pop.
“If I touch you, I won’t be able to stop.”
A flush climbs her throat and spreads across her cheeks.Her pupils dilate.She sways a fraction closer, like I’m a cliff and she’s hovering on the edge.
“Is that a promise or a threat?”she asks breathlessly.
It’s a question that would have wrecked me even without the approaching full moon.
“Yes,” I say, because both can be true.
We stand like that for three long heartbeats.The house settles.The refrigerator hums.Old pipes creak.Penny blows her nose behind a door.The world is ordinary.We are not.
“Tell me what you need,” she says finally.“From me.”
“Patience.”The word tastes like ash when all I want is to pull her close.
A myriad of emotions darkens her eyes like a storm breaking.
“I almost decided to leave before you walked in,” she confesses in a rush, making me flinch.“I thought if it wasn’t me, if you looked at me and didn’t feel it, I’d go.I couldn’t stay and watch you find someone else.”
My jaw locks so hard it aches.“You’re not leaving.”
“Not now.”Her small smile is brighter than a sunrise.“Not if Penny comes around.If she doesn’t…”
“No,” I snap, my wolf growling loudly inside me.
“Foster.”She whispers my name like a vow.
I drag in a breath.Stepping away from her is like leaving the comfort of a fire in winter.It feels wrong, but the right kind of wrong.A sacrifice you make for family.
“I’m going to give Penny tonight,” I say.“I’ll talk to her in the morning.We’ll talk, all of us.Then I’ll take you for coffee and tell you everything I should’ve told you years ago.I’ll make it right.”
She nods, throat working.“Okay.I’ll see you then.”
I watch her as she turns to leave.This feels wrong.All of it.But I have to let her go.For now.
“Happy birthday, Selena.”The words feel like a pledge.
“Thanks,” she whispers, opening the door and disappearing into the night.
My gaze follows her for a moment before I head back to my sister.
At the bathroom door, I pause.“I love you, Pen,” I say quietly.“I always will.This doesn’t change that.It just…adds to it.”
