Page 46 of A Wolf's Treasure
“You didn’t know, did you?” she asked softly, as her smile turned tentative. “You didn’t know what I am?”
He sniffed and scrubbed away more tears with the back of his free hand in an effort to see her better. It did no good, as more only fell. But, truly, did it matter? He was not ashamed of his tears. “No, I dinna.” He thought about that as his fingertips caressed her soft skin. “Or, maybe I did and just would no’ admit it tae myself. I dinna ken.”
She inched closer to him, and his fingers slid along her cheek to trace one wee ear. The tip was slightly pointed.
“I won’t hurt you, Duncan. Although I do have to admit, I wish I’d never met you.”
Her words brought about a sharp stab of pain and he dropped his hand to his side. Looking at the closed door so as not to see the disgust on her face, he winced. And then he pulled himself up. She may regret meeting him, but he couldn’t say the same. “Why do ye say that, lass? For if what ye say is true, I’mverraglad tae have metye.”
“Because you distract me from what I’m here to do,” she told him quietly. “Because I can’t stop thinking about you ever since the day I saw you in the forest. Because I want to be near you so badly I would risk being discovered by coming inside your home. Because even now, I want to be with you, instead of planning how to stop my father. I want to help you heal. I want to reverse what my people did to you. I want to prove to you that I am not like them. And that you don’t have to be scared of me, Duncan. I want…” She stumbled to a halt.
He was at a loss for words. He wanted to believe her, wanted to so fookin’ badly. But she was right. He was scared of her. Well, not exactly of her. More that her being here wasn’t real. What she was telling him wasn’t real. That she wasn’t real. That his cock was still as useless as before, and all of this was just some sort of new torture the gods had thrown upon him. And he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve it.
Or worse, that shewasreal. And he was falling, arms and legs flailing as he desperately tried to catch himself, toward a future of pain and sorrow when her own magic took her from him.
Ryanne waited, her bonnie face showing none of her thoughts. And when Duncan didn’t respond, she twisted her hands in front of her and dropped her eyes. “Okay. It’s definitely time for me to go.” She stilled, her brow furrowed for a moment before she lifted her chin and met his gaze. “I’m sorry for what happened to you. And I won’t bother you again. But please, if you take anything from this conversation, please believe that every word I’ve said is true.”
Her hand was on the doorknob before Duncan broke out of his stupor. Wrapping his hand around her wrist, he pulled her away from the door. “No,” he said. And then he frowned. He’d acted on instinct. But he did not want her to leave.
She turned to him with a question in her brown eyes. Before either one of them knew what he was doing, Duncan had her pinned to the door, a hand pressed to the metal on either side of her head, trapping her there. “No,” he repeated. “Do no’ go, Ryanne.”
He lowered his head, capturing her mouth with his. Her lips were pliant beneath the onslaught, accepting his kiss as her body arched into him. Duncan kissed her as he’d dreamed of doing for days. Not soft. Not gentle. But with all of the hunger that had been building up inside of him this week without her.
His hands clenched into fists as he felt the blood rush to his cock, felt it swell until it was thick and hard. With a moan, he bent his knees and ground his hips against hers, trying desperately to ease the ache there. Ryanne’s fingers dug into his sides, pulling him closer.
He longed to touch her. To rip the clothes from her body and take her against the door.
Instead, he broke off the kiss and took a step back.
Ryanne whimpered, her fingers catching on his flannel shirt as she tried to pull him back to her.
But he couldn’t.
Not yet.
Duncan’s lungs burned with the need for oxygen and he hauled in a deep breath, his eyes roaming over her face before they locked gazes.
Rainbow eyes glowed back at him. Wide and confused. “Duncan?” Her voice shook slightly.
Her lips were swollen from his kiss. Her cheeks and neck flushed. She didn’t come after him, but kept her back against the door as though she knew he needed space to come to terms with the knowledge that this was the female he wanted more than life.
This was the female who called to his wolf.
This was the female who had performed a miracle.
This was the female who could, so easily, unman him once again.
“Dinna move,” he told her. Then he reached out and unzipped her hoodie, exposing more skin to his ravenous gaze. Her skin was flushed, and he traced the evidence of her reaction to him until it disappeared beneath the unbuttoned neckline of a blue, thermal shirt.
This was something he had missed in the darkness of his parked Jeep. The tiny nuances, like her blood suffusing her skin with color when she was aroused. The glisten of her brow. The way her body practically vibrated with need, something he’d felt but couldn’t see.
And her eyes. Those haunting eyes. They watched him closely, waiting to see what he would do. Colors rotating through them like one of those child’s toys.
Duncan fought the demons in his mind. Pushed away the echoes of his own screams. It was better with the lights on. He could see her clearly, and as the memories jostled for his attention, he had only to focus on her to realize where he was and what was happening.
Ryanne. His Ryanne. Not the ones who’d hurt him.
The one who’d saved him.
