Page 10 of Outcast
It took a few minutes, but I held each of their stares until they all glanced away, showing their submission to me. The primitive part of me wanted to claim her right now in front of them, to mark her as mine so they wouldn’t dare look at her again in such a manner.
A light tap on my chest brought me back down to earth, and I looked down at her as she attempted to pull away from me. A light rumble spread through my chest as I tightened my arms and held her even closer.
“Milo, I need to keep passing out food before Jameson notices and flays my skin.”
Her soft voice broke through to me, despite my instincts screaming to keep her near, and I begrudgingly released her.
Turning, I handed the platter back to her and grabbed my glass of whiskey—neat. Tipping the glass against my lips, I downed half of it in one go, gesturing with my other hand for her to lead the way.
Confusion flashed across her face briefly, so I explained my motion. “If you must cater to these barbarians, then I shall accompany you until the time comes for us to shift.”
Tilting her head to the side, she looked me up and down before shocking me with her question. “I wonder what your wolf form will look like. I’m sure he’ll be majestic. Do you think he’ll let me around him?”
Fuck, she had no idea how hot that sounded.
I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I placed my hand on the small of her back, propelling her towards the kitchen to refill her platter.
As we crossed the doors into the kitchen and she set her tray down, I grabbed her around the waist and lifted her onto the nearest countertop in one swift movement. Stepping between her legs, I reached my hand to the base of her neck, pulling gently at the hair there to tilt her head up toward me.
It took every ounce of restraint in me not to act upon her clear needs and wants, but I needed to make myself clear.
Her breath faltered as I spoke to her with more dominance than I’d ever dared before. “Kira. Promise me you will stay indoors tonight while we go through our shift. You are mine to protect, but I can’t promise you how long I will be gone for my merge and first run.”
“I...I promise I’ll stay indoors,” her voice trembled slightly.
Bending to touch our foreheads together like we had done countless times, I inhaled her scent, feeling like I was at home with her. Shocking me, she wrapped her legs around my waist and lifted her head, sealing our lips together.
At first I didn’t respond, shocked at her initiative after her countless proclamations that nothing could come of this attraction between us. As she pulled away, probably thinking I didn’t want this, I grabbed her face between my hands and melded our mouths together in the most heated kiss I had ever experienced. We came together in a clash of lips, teeth, and tongue, as years of sexual tension poured out of us. There was no telling where one of us began and the other ended. We were one.
She ran her hands up and down my back, her fingers digging into my skin deliciously. Moving my hand to her neck, I used a small amount of pressure to hold her still as I pulled back and gazed into her eyes, breathlessly stating, “Mark my words, Kira. You’re my mate.”
I’d thought we were on the same page, that our intentions aligned, but the effect of my words seemed to prove the opposite. She pushed me away from her and hopped down from the counter, smoothing down her dress before looking at me with so much grief in her eyes that I wanted to grovel at her feet for putting that look there.
“I kissed you because I knew it would be my last chance before you found your mate. I couldn’t deny myself a few seconds of bliss, forgetting the gulf that lay between us, and simply finding a moment of happiness in your touch.”
I reached for her, confused and wanting to comfort her, but she held a hand up to hold me off. “No, please stay back. Maybe it was selfish of me to give in this one time, but in all my years in this pack, I’ve never allowed one selfish moment for myself.”
Tears gathered in her eyes as she whispered, “I’ll always cherish this moment.”
Motioning between us, I couldn’t help but protest her words. “Kira, this electric feeling between us—it isn’t nothing. It’s special. You might not believe in us, but that’s okay, because I believe enough for both of us.”
The tears flowed freely down her face, and I ached to hold her to me and murmur sweet nothings in her ear. Her tense body showed me that she didn’t want me to push this further right now. To demonstrate I respected her boundaries, I put some distance between us before speaking again so she could relax a little bit.
As I’d expected, her limbs went a bit more slack, and she wiped the tears from her face. I had one more thing to say before I left her to collect herself.
“I swear to the Goddess that this won’t be the last time we experience happiness together, Kira.”
For a few minutes, she only offered me a solemn smile and a humorless laugh in response. She stared at the ground, fixated on wherever her thoughts had wandered.
She spoke without looking up at me, “You owe it to your future mate to go into tonight with an open mind.”
Shock blanketed her features as I grinned at her and winked. “Whatever you say, future mate.”
She rolled her eyes and moved to the fridge, pulling out more supplies to restock the appetizer platter. Walking quietly, I approached her, and she tensed briefly as I took the food from her.
“I’ll work on replenishing this if you want to go check on the meat in the smoker outside. Take a minute and breathe.”
Without waiting for her response, I set to work on slicing more meat and cheese as she stood there in surprise for a moment before walking out the back.
