Page 17 of Rituals & Runes

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A morning glow of sunlight lit up Aila’s face but she didn’t stir. My chest ached at the curve of her shoulders that peeked out from the comforter, the soft pout of her lips, and her chestnut brown hair splayed around her face. She had to be mine, yet I couldn’t ignore the pleas coming from my pack families. Each of them begged me to end the curse.

By giving up my fated mate.

Bently wasn’t around but it didn’t worry me as he often woke up, chowed on some kibble, and then would head outside through the doggie door to do his business. My gaze returned to this delicate yet strong woman before me, her flowery scent driving me to get closer to her.

My wolf wasn’t the only part of me that needed her. She was growing on the man in me. Despite how futile her escape had been, I admired her courage, her quiet but spirited strength. I could have laughed at her holding my gaze several times, trying to challenge me. It was utterly pointless, but I couldn’t help but appreciate her bravery.

I wanted to know more about how she’d survived so long on her own at such a tender age. That took grit, determination, and a kind of power few possessed. And she’d heard about me, had to know about the rumors that I’d killed some of my pack, yet she held her own before me.

And her submissive side appealed to my baser needs, the ones that stirred in my blood as I watched my Wolfling, sleeping beauty. My jeans tightened as I hardened once more, her mating pheromones swirling in the air, clinging to me like a second skin.

As if she sensed my presence, she stirred under the comforter.

The bed bowed beneath me as I sat next to her. I cupped her cheek, sliding my hand over her skin to her throat. I drew my thumb over her wildly beating pulse. If her human side had little awareness of me, her almost in-heat wolf surfaced, starkly awake, and seeking me out.

A trace of her conflicted emotions filtered into me. She wanted me but didn’t understand how it could work out. I shook my head. We didn’t know each other enough for me to sense her feelings. We didn’t have a bond like those I had a mental link to in my pack.

Unless...my Uncle Dan was right.

A soft sigh escaped her pink lips as I molded mine to hers, her mouth opening to invite me in. Without opening her eyes, her hand found me and squeezed my upper arm as our tongues intertwined in a slow, heated kiss.

She moaned and sat up, the blanket falling, exposing pert, bare tits, her nipples rosy and peaked. Somehow, she’d taken off my shirt. My arms folded her snuggly against me. Her limbs mirrored my movement, and she pressed her breasts against my chest, rubbing her beaded nipples against me in an urgent need.

My wolf and I growled, barely able to contain us both when Aila’s body silently cried out. Damn. If I didn’t have something important to show her, something that my pack depended on, I would take her ready body here.

She fluttered her honey-hazel eyes open but she didn’t push me away. “Kaden, how long have you been here?”

My breath caught in my chest at the intense beauty of her eyes. I hadn’t seen them close up and in the daylight yet, and they had flecks of green and gold scattered through the honey-brown. My gaze roved over the golden brown strands of hair spilling over those dainty shoulders, the round of her breasts, and her delicate hands fumbling to find her glasses on the bedside table.

I picked them up and slid them on her face. “A few moments. Aila, there’s nothing more in the world that I want to do but to peel back this blanket and join with you now, but I can’t. I need to show you something. Something that means the world to me.”

It almost crossed my lips to say, you mean the world to me, but I held back. Being true mates was one thing, admitting too many intimate details too soon could scare her off. I needed her to trust me and to come to a decision on her own. About me. And about the pack.

Hearing the families’ pleas was like nails hammered into my head. It left me on edge, exhausted from all their voices yanking me in their pained direction, and from not having slept all night, while I made sure no second attacks occurred.

Yet touching Aila, smelling her sweet and salty scent, put my wolf and me at ease. Brought a supreme calm and comfort over me I never knew I needed.

Her cheeks flared with pink heat. She pulled the comforter over her breasts. “I want to see what’s important to you but we have an important question hanging over our heads.”

My hands itched with the urge to continue touching her where I’d left off. And my wolf whined and barked, protesting that I’d stopped. “What are you referring to?”

She folded her hands on her lap and stared at them. “You brought me here to die but you and I both know we have a connection beyond words. During my time alone and with Caitlin, I thought things over. I never anticipated finding my true mate, let alone him, um, you, actually wanting me. I don’t know you at all, yet I can’t deny how much I need to be around you. Your touch, your scent, and presence. When you leave, it’s like you take my breath and my heartbeat with you. And when you return, I see you, and though I know I don’t know you, it’s like I do. I don’t want to give up this chance, to have a home, a pack I never had, a mate.”

Something hard caught in my chest. Something that left me hollow and pained. Her words drove into my heart like an arrow, catching me off guard and all at once making me fall dangerously toward her. I had to tell her the truth.

My hand covered hers and I caressed the top of her silky, smooth fingers. “Aila, my dearest Wolfling, you’re my fated mate but my council is set on sacrificing you. Caitlin bought that stack of clothes on the chair and brought them to you on my orders. Please, get dressed and come with me. I need to show you something urgent."

A confused, pained look filled her honey amber eyes and her lips parted. She sank her head to the side and then peered at me through her lenses. “I will do as you ask, Kaden. I believe you that you didn’t kill those people. My wolf urges me to do so, and the woman in me needs to show you how much you’re starting to mean to me. I will dress and follow you so you can show me what it is that hurts you so. Believe me, despite the few days of our being together, our connection has already deepened. Enough for me to know you have a secret, a secret that causes you great pain. I need to see what it is.”

To my surprise, she stood, allowing the blanket to drop and revealing her lithe frame, strong, petite yet sweetly curvy. My eyes roved over her round breasts, her flat stomach, down to her smooth pussy. As I gazed at her, her breath quickened, and her skin flushed.

I hissed and collared her throat, then drew her close but didn’t allow her to touch me. “What are you doing? My Wolfling is turning into a vixen?”

Her face hovered close enough for her breath to fan across my mouth. Her honey-brown eyes widened. “Maybe you bring out the vixen in me. Maybe it’s my heat. Or maybe I want to force you to claim me now, so you don’t have to kill me. Touch me, Kaden, I need you.”

My nostrils flared and my cock twitched in my jeans. I bordered on losing sight of my mission and taking her. I sucked in air. “Your wolf wants me to claim her, to claim you. It’s not only your heat, Wolfling. You belong to me. I’m going to leave the room and wait for you outside my bedroom. I want you out there in five minutes, ready to go. Got it?”

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