Page 28 of Kidnapped Rejected Mate
I’m grasping, reaching, hands sticky and tight against his back as he rocks inside me, his body strong and soft at once, unrelenting compared to every soft edge of me.
His knot starts to form, and I realize, not for the first time, that there are parts of myself I’ve never really known. Avenues to pleasure that weren’t named in my head, as though they didn’t exist except as a taunting, teasing absence.
And then, when he tips my head to the side, grazing his teeth gently over the pulse point there, I know what he’s asking. I know what he wants. And maybe I should show some restraint, think about the fact that I’m in heat and he’s an alpha, and this could all just be hormones and biology, pushing us together.
But I’ve been in love with him from the first time I saw him at Foods Club, and I’ve wanted this exact moment since then.
So instead of pulling back, I offer my neck up to him, pressing my skin against his teeth.
And when I come, his teeth and length buried inside me at the same time, it’s the best orgasm of my entire life.
***
Soren and I are stuck in the cabin for five more days.
There’s no need for us to hunt again—we’re still living on the elk we caught before—but Soren breaks into the pantry, which contains enough canned fruits and vegetables to last someone through a nuclear winter.
Every other time I’ve had my heat, I’ve been in the comfort of my own bedroom, locked inside with my attached bathroom. The staff catered to me, leaving meals outside the door, being more generous with them when they knew my mother wasn’t home.
“A girl should eat more during her heat,” the cook would whisper to me, passing through herbal tea and ice packs. “That’s just common sense.”
But even with all the amenities at home, I’ve never had a heat like this one—Soren swapping out cool washcloths on my forehead, taking care of the deep, aching want in me.
He doesn’t mark me again, and I don’t mark him back. But his scent lingers on me, the mark of his teeth right there in the side of my neck, pulsing between us. An elephant in the tiny cabin room.
Two days into our delay at the cabin, when my heat is starting to wane for the first time, we go out together to check the mudslide. My heart sinks when I see the state of it—mostly dried up, probably crossable. Especially if we shifted to jump through most of it.
But Soren turns to me, a conspiratorial look in his eye. “Looks too dangerous to me, what do you think?”
And I agree. It’s better to be safe than sorry, even if that means staying in the cabin with him, away from everything back home.
Slowly, my muscles begin to relax. I stop thinking about food so much—Soren is always there to give me something if I’m hungry. I don’t have to squirrel snacks away or wonder if he’s thinking about how much I’m eating.
On the fourth day, we broach the topic of Tara again.
“She drew me out to the forest,” I admit, chewing on my bottom lip. We’re sitting on the cabin’s front porch, in a pair of wooden rocking chairs Soren tells me his grandfather carved by hand. “I’ve realized that now. I had a dream that first night. When you found me. I think…I don’t realize it when I’m dreaming, but my body moves.”
“Sleepwalking,” Soren murmurs, staring into his mug of tea. “She’s too powerful. When I hit her with the fire extinguisher last time, it seemed to work. I wonder if we had more of it, we might be able to take her down.”
Taking her downis a gentle way for him to communicate the truth—they’re going to kill her. Even though my chest twinges at the thought, all those teenage memories still weighing heavy on my emotions, I know Tara has caused far too much damage to roam free.
I barely hear her anymore. Hardly feel the tug of her, calling to me.
Except the fifth night in the cabin, when I cuddle into bed with Soren, one of his long arms wrapped around me, I hearthe faintest, lightest whisper of laughter, so quiet I manage to convince myself I’m only imagining it.
I can’t wait to take from the little one, too.
Chapter 15 - Soren
Obviously, I should have insisted we go back to town sooner. There are a lot of reasons we should have left the cabin before now—starting with how pissed off Xeran is, including the fact that Aurela has been missing for days, and ending with Gramps never being home alone for this long—but it’s like I couldn’t help myself.
Every time I looked out at the mudslide, thinking we could get through it, I found a way to convince myself otherwise. It might be too dangerous—the mud could be deeper than we expected.
Another day. Just one more day.
The truth is that we could have made it through the mud—I just didn’t want to. Being up at the cabin with Aurela has been a break from my real life. As much as I love Gramps, there is a certain weight to taking care of him, and it’s been lifted from my shoulders the past couple of days. He’s still sick, and I know I’ll have to return and deal with that, let it back into my mind, soon.
But I like being here with Aurela. I like touching her, breathing her in, pretending she and I could live here forever, just the two of us secluded in the woods, away from the pack politics. Away from her family.
