Page 46 of Ice Wolf
The comprehension hit me like a ton of bricks. Sure, I’d acknowledged the possibility before, but this was completely different.
Well, fuck. I looked away, placing my flexed hand across my heart. The woman was in heat. A human woman. How was that even possible? Yes, every female whether shifter or human had a distinctive fragrance when enticed by the lure of passion, but this was entirely different.
The scent much stronger.
“What does that mean? You’re highly respected in your field.” She scratched her arm furiously, pulling my attention to the red streaks she’d created from her sharp nails. Yep, she was in heat and likely had no clue what was happening.
The way she barely tipped her head in my direction caught me off guard. “I’m a librarian, Saint. I’m not a public relations expert.”
“What?” I jerked my attention back to her face.
“Yep. I know. Don’t you dare say it. Just a lousy librarian. What good is that, but I love my job. Correction. I loved my job as in past tense. I lost it due to budget constraints and as you might imagine, even in Chicago, finding another job in my field is pretty much impossible. On top of that, my boyfriend who I thought might ask me to marry him had been canoodling with a woman of much better stature. Meaning she’s marriage material and I’m not because not only am I just a librarian, but I’ve been working on a book for about a bazillion years and he thinks that’s stupid. My dad decided to take advantage of the jobless situation by making it difficult to say no to him when he asked for the umpteenth time if I’d work for him. For one special gig. You. My guess is that he thought creating the fake girlfriend thing would work since I’m a nobody with no boyfriend, no job, and no life.” Now she decided to toss me another look, the force of it throwing her long hair provocatively over her shoulder.
Under normal circumstances, I’d come back with some sharp quip, a joke about librarians being good in bed since they’re so conservative on the outside, but I found myself with little to say.
A first.
She was panting, red in the face with beads of perspiration dancing across her upper lip.
I wanted to drag my tongue through the salty string.
To mark her as mine.
The desire was overwhelming.
I wasn’t used to the feeling. Dear old Dad had taught his sons how to survive in the wild, but his training exercises had been years before. In truth, I’d ignored half of what he’d told me. What had I needed to know about scent marking or choosing the right mate? To me, the concepts had been bullshit.
Until now.
“Go on. Make fun of me,” she continued, completely oblivious to what her body was going through. “I’ve been doing just that because I obviously can’t get you under control. I’m an idiot. To think you’d take any advice from me was just stupid of everyone. You only care about yourself and that’s the way it is.” She laughed and slapped her hand against her face. “My God. This is a disaster.”
I leaned against the doorjamb, studying her in a way I hadn’t done before. She had delicate features, but the spark in her eyes more than made up for her diminutive size. The girl was more formidable than any I’d come in contact with before. Anger surged through me like a hot wave. But not from what she said about me. I could take the jab.
Who was I kidding? I deserved every nasty thing she’d said about me. I was enraged enough my beast was rubbing against the surface. Soon, he’d be clawing until I set him free. Only if I did, I couldn’t be responsible for his actions.
That definitely wouldn’t be good for my career.
“It’s not a disaster, Lily. I’m the problem. Not you. While I doubt any father could think someone as beautiful, accomplished, and intelligent as you are is a nobody, if he thinks that he’s a dumbass. Being a librarian is cool. I used to spend half my summer inside the local library, the other half on the ice.” I laughed and raked my hand through my hair. I’d never been good at soothing anyone and was doing a piss poor job now. “I’d give anything to be able to write a book, but as has been pointed out dozens of times, I have the attention span of a gnat.”
Finally, she chuckled but still couldn’t seem to look me in the eyes. “Why the library? Do you love reading?”
“Well, confession. I sucked at school when I was a kid and my parents wouldn’t allow me to play if I didn’t get my grades up, so I thought I’d learn something by spending time in the most educational place I knew.” My laugh was hollow although the summer I’d spent being punished had ended up being one of the best.
“Did you learn anything?” Her body language became less tense.
Yes. We were getting somewhere.
“Let me think. Did you know a luna moth has a distinctive lime green color, long tails that disrupt bat radar, and that the adult moths live only to mate?”
The urge to fuck her was getting stronger, less controllable.
The swing of her long hair as it swept across her back caught my attention. Somehow, the dress had ridden up on her long legs, highlighting her perfect thighs.
My mind went to every sinful place possible as I envisioned her squeezing my thighs with hers. Well, fuck me. Now all I could see was her naked body writhing under mine.
Get a grip, Savage.
“Impressive. Why luna moths?”
