Page 57 of The Wolf's Kidnapped Mate

How oddly endearing. “You’re confusing.”

“Uh huh, sure.”

“I mean it.”

His eyes narrowed to points while his smile remained playful. “Whatever you say, genius.”

“I swear on the goddess of the stars, Freddie, I will come over there and—”

He set his twig aside and closed the space between us faster than I could think. This close, his eyes appeared to be glowing with firelight. The orange played through the lime irises like flames consuming a teal forest. “And what? You’ll do what?”

“I—well, I just—I didn’t think that—”

“You didn’t think the bites would work.”

I blinked while struggling to breathe. Our proximity was as annoying as it was arousing, yet I knew we would need to snuggle for warmth tonight. Everything was so much easier in wolf mode. Because wolves snuggled all the time for comfort. It wasn’t terribly unusual.

Ugh, this was absurd. I didn’t know what to think or do. I didn’t know what to say. I just stared at Fred until he drifted back a few inches with a triumphant grin. “That’s what I thought.”

“You thought nothing,” I accused as I raised my rabbit to my lips. “Hush. I wanna eat in peace, Freddie.”

“You keep calling me that and you’re going to find out why peopledon’tcall me that.”

I chomped angrily on a piece of rabbit while glaring directly at him. For a split second, Mr. Grouchy became a ball of jokes and chuckles. He turned his attention to the fire to tend it, a calm expression relaxing the muscles of his face and enhancing his eyes. White hair fell over his eyebrow that he idly pushed away.

Naked pale flesh hosted a fiery explosion of freckles darkened by the orange firelight. Everything about him seemed natural, loving, and free. It was how I had always longed to see Fred, how I’d imagined he could be around the right people. No war. No missions.Just Fred.

After I finished eating, I set the remaining rabbit aside for later. I quietly folded my hands together, shivering against the wind coming through the entrance. The sun had gone down. It was dark now. We should probably sleep.

“It’s funny,” he whispered over the crackle of the flames. “I’m usually the one acting rotten and you’re usually the one making fun of me about it.”

He looked at me with a fervent twinkle in his eyes.

I stared right back, hypnotized by his conviction as he leaned toward me. “We just switched. Did you notice?”

I hadn’t noticed—but now I did. I swallowed hard as he drew closer and reached for my cheek. He played with my hair for a second and then snapped his hand back, turning to the flames.

I stood up. “Bed.”

“Right, bed.”

“I’ll gather some leaves or something.”

He nodded and resumed his hunched position, appearing to ponder what he had just said to me while holding his chin. Concentration creased his brow, eyes, lips. Stones could have fallen from the ceiling and yet he wouldn’t have been bothered. That was how fast and hard he fell into thought.

I grabbed some dry leaves, made a bed far enough from the fire to not catch fire, and then curled up on my left side. Fred joined me a few minutes later. He rested right behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist.

I yanked my hips away. “Fred—”

“It’s alright,” he assured with a tired tone. “You can trust me, Kylie. We both need the warmth—and the rest.”

I didn’t want to need him. I didn’t want to think about needing him. I just wanted to take what I needed and get on with the rest of this dreadful mission. As I popped my bottom against his hips, I felt how he conformed to me, how his arm came to rest over my side and his hand burrowed right under my breasts.

Perfectly. Naturally. Like it was always meant to be.

I let myself feel the comfort radiating from him. Just for the moment. A taste of the most recent past wouldn’t hurt anybody, but there wasn’t much use controlling it either. Nothing was under control here. The mission was completely off-the-rails bonkers.

Darkness ebbed just outside the cave entrance. We were far enough way and facing it with the fire between us and whoever might come upon us during our rest. We needed sleep. We needed to recover.

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