Page 31 of Tolerated By the Sigma (Mate Hunt 7)

My eyes were closed, though.

He sighed. “Alright.” He finally dragged his teeth away from my skin.

“You didn’t answer my question, before.” I opened my eyes, and stared up into those gorgeous blues of his. “What are we going to do about housing?”

“Dax is selling his townhouse in the next few weeks, so that’s not an option. I can sleep outside your place if you want to live separately, but my wolf will probably be uniquely possessive at night.” He sat up, and my eyes tracked the movements of his muscles.

Damn.

Just… damn.

“You’re not sleeping outside; you can take one of my spare rooms until we’re ready to share.”

I sat up too, and brushed my fingers through my hair. It was a tangled mess, largely because of the buff giant who was always fiddling with it. I loved that, though, so I wasn’t going to complain.

“Are you not ready?” He lifted an eyebrow at me.

“No. We still haven’t talked about a lot of stuff, and I know there are things you still haven’t told me about yourself, and Lisa, and… everything that happened. You were hunting her for a whole year; I’d say there’s a lot of shit we need to unpack about that, or at least discuss lightly.”

He scowled at me. “Lisa is less than nothing to me.”

“Well, your connection with her isn’t less than nothing tome.”

He grabbed a hair tie out of his duffel bag and handed it to me. I tugged my hair up into a quick ponytail, then stood up and grabbed my pants. I’d look like a wreck and was definitely doing a walk of shame, but I’d survive.

“Oscar will run us back. It’ll be faster that way,” he told me, stepping out of his shorts.

I forced myself not to look at his erection, and mostly succeeded.

“Should we bring the bag, or leave it?” I gestured toward his duffel.

His gaze lingered on it at first, and he finally said, “Leave it for now.”

I guess that meant he was keeping the tent as a backup, in case things didn’t work out. It was smart, even if the idea killed me a little.

“Alright, let’s go.” I grabbed my shoes off the ground, and he stepped out and shifted as I tugged them on.

And then he was running, and I was clinging to his back like he was my lifeline.

If he really was my lifeline… well, then I was starting to think I might be in a shitload of trouble.

Because he had a backup plan, and I most certainly did not.

TWELVE

It wasa long time before we finally made it out of the woods and back to my porch. I was exhausted for more than one reason, and just wanted some time away from the furry bastard—and the muscular one too.

Luckily, Ryder decided to go get his stuff from Dax’s old house while I showered, which gave me the peace and quiet I wanted.

My mind continued to run over our relationship—the things I knew, and the things I didn’t.

Mostly, there were just things I didn’t know.

And that sure as hell didn’t make me feel secure.

But I continued scrubbing myself anyway, hoping that insecurity would fade sooner rather than later.

I was dressed in some comfortable leggings and another one of my sassy t-shirts when Ryder got back. He carried a gigantic box in, and I forced myself not to drool over the way his muscles bulged against the sleeves of his black t-shirt.

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