Page 33 of Rejected Forced Mate
I watched as she shifted, the process happening almost faster than my eyes could follow. One moment, she was a wolf. Next, a woman stood in front of me. She was breathing heavily, and her dark red hair fell in wild waves over her shoulders and breasts.
"I told you I need some space." Her words and posture were both stiff.
The words came out in a gasp. She'd given everything to the chase, and now she was paying the price for it. We stood likethat for a long moment, staring at one another and not speaking. Our feral sides were close to the surface, but before one of us gave in again, I had to speak to her. Mate to mate, husband to wife.
"Sage," I started, taking a step towards her. That only made her step back, so I froze, afraid she would flee again. "Sage. I can't let you leave until you understand me. The miscommunications have to stop. I'm...honored, I guess is the right word, that you would use your magic to help the land and the farms. It makes me think you're really starting to feel at home again here. There was no sarcasm in my words, I swear. I was simply worried about your safety."
"Because you're a control freak." She bit out. "You didn't even stop to think that I might have known exactly where the traps were."
I couldn't deny that, but the truth of her words was a little too close to the bone. "Neither of us is perfect. You're stubborn, and you never let me finish a sentence before you jump to conclusions. We have the same problem."
She crossed her arms over her chest, and my heart sank. I had a feeling she would run again, and I couldn't let her. "Sage. Please." I stepped forward again, and my confidence grew when she didn't move back. "We keep on having the same argument with different words. Aren't you sick of it? Don't you just want things to be simple between us?"
She wavered, her one foot moving forward before she stopped again and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. Alarm bells went off in my head at the movement—stiff body language, pained expression, holding herself tightly...
"Of course I do, but what if we never get there? Never really understand each other."
Swallowing hard, I continued to approach her, slowly, like she was a doe that could be easily spooked. "You want to know how well I understand you, mate? How well I know you?"
Another step forward, and her breath came faster, "I know just from looking at you that your heat is causing you pain again, and for some reason, you don't want to admit it to me."
A blush rose in her cheeks, but she didn't deny it.
"I know that you're a fighter," I said, taking her face in my hands, "And no matter how hard we clash, no matter how much you try to put distance between us, it's never going to work."
"Noah," she said, and her voice was low and thick, "I..." "Are you in pain, Sage? Do you need me to help you?"
Her eyelids lowered, her lips parting, and then, between one breath and the next, she crashed her mouth into mine.
My surprise didn't last long, and I met her kiss with an intensity that matched her own. She moaned, opening her mouth for me, and our tongues tangled. My cock swelled as I kissed her, and it took everything I had not to push her down on the forest floor and bury myself in her. But I wasn't about to knot my mate for the first time on the dirty ground.
I knew she would need more than just my fingers this time, and I was going to give her everything I had. I just had to get her home.
Sage's arms slid around my neck, and she pushed her body against mine. She was burning up beneath her clothes, every sound she made as I kissed her an echo of her need. I broke the kiss and kissed my way down her neck, biting gently.
"Home," I murmured, nuzzling her, "We have to get home."
"Right here." Her eyes were unfocused, and her body swayed slightly. "Please."
The fact that she was asking was proof of just how far gone she was. It was a miracle she wasn't already pushing me to the ground.
"We're just a few minutes away," I promised her, "Hold on a little longer."
She whined, but allowed me to scoop her up in my arms. "Almost there, mate. Hang on for me."
I carried her back, and she buried her face in my chest. Sage had gone quiet, but the smell of her slick was enough to drive me nearly insane. I was walking a razor's edge of control, and if she kept pressing herself against me, I wouldn't make it all the way home.
When the house came into view, relief washed over me, and my pace picked up. Sage was practically limp in my arms by the time we got there, and the second the door was shut behind us, she was pushing at my clothes.
"You have to fuck me," she demanded, her hands working at the buttons on my shirt. "It's the only thing that will ease my heat." "I know, mate," I murmured, kissing her softly. "I'll fix it, I swear I will."
I managed to get her shirt over her head and her jeans down, leaving her in just her bra and underwear. When I cupped her beautiful face in my hands again, willing her to keep calm, there was cold flashing in her dark eyes, a clear sign that her wolf was oh so close to the surface. I knew If I kissed her and ran my tongue along her teeth, there was a chance they'd cut me.
Her edge of violence was turning me on. She was the one in heat, but I was nearly as out of control as she was. If I weren'tan Alpha and didn't possess more self-control because of it, I'd be equally as lost.
"Bedroom," I ordered.
We didn't have time to make it to my room, but the guest room was close. And as long as it had a bed, it was good enough.
