He didn’t bother concealing his arrival, because speed was much more important than stealth. The scent of her fear came to him at the same moment that he caught sight of the perpetrator. Randy-pack beta and now a dead wolf walking.
Roaring in fury, Aidan charged and distracted the russet wolf that turned its head from its attempt to rip out Sophia’s throat. Without hesitation, Randy braced to meet his charge. Aidan’s momentum barreled him right into the other beast, and they tumbled into the underbrush. In a blood-frenzy-Aidan smelled Sophia’s injury-he snapped and tore at the other shifter. Caught in the grips of a mindless rage, he wanted to kill Randy, too furious to care of his status as second-in-command. A line had been crossed when he’d dared harm Sophia.
No one hurts my mate!
Sophia gingerly sat up, still alive if scratched up from the mangy wolf’s claws. And speaking of wolves, Aidan had arrived in the nick of time, the darkness of his fur and evident rage easy to recognize. She watched in terror as the two large beasts wrestled viciously a few paces from her. It never even occurred to her to make her escape while Aidan and the other wolf were locked in battle. She couldn’t leave him. What if he was hurt or if the other wolf prevailed and killed him? A racking shudder went through her at the thought. He can’t die. I won’t let him! But there was nothing she could do, only sit there feeling helpless as the violent fight with snapping teeth raged.
After what seemed like forever, the fight ended. Aidan’s beast held the other pinned by the throat. The wolf that’d attacked her whimpered in submission and Aidan released him with a slight shake. Trotting to her, Aidan turned his back to the cowed and defeated beast. Aidan’s wolf shape blurred. Her eyes widened in surprise and she blushed as he changed back into his man shape, naked as the day he was born. And damned if he wasn’t hot!
Unlike the first time she’d seen him nude in the woods, it was full daylight out and she got the full impact of his maleness. He definitely packed an erotic punch. From his broad chest, crisscrossed in more muscles than should be legal, down to a tapered waist and below that… Well, let’s just say he put most men to shame. Sophia couldn’t help the heat that suffused her body even amidst the turmoil. Screw logic, she wanted him like she’d never wanted a man before. And she had a feeling if she didn’t take what he offered, she’d never find that feeling with anyone else. He was her one chance at what romance books hinted at: the elusive one and only love of her life.
She must have stared at him too long, because right before her mesmerized eyes his dormant shaft lifted and grew in interesting ways. Her lips unconsciously parted, and she licked them.
Aidan growled and dropped to his knees, which hid his most interesting body part. “Show me your injuries.”
“It’s just scratches,” she said, looking into his face, which had creased with concern.
“It shouldn’t have happened at all,” he snapped.
Sophia dropped her head in chagrin, his rebuke stinging even if truthful. “I’m sorry. I should have listened and stayed in the cabin,” she mumbled.
A calloused finger tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “While I agree you shouldn’t have left the safety of the cabin, it is also my fault for not informing the pack, and, even worse, leaving you alone at all. Although,” he said with a glare over his shoulder, “my pack brother should have known better than to attack without asking questions first. Especially considering you’re covered in my scent.” Aidan stood up and turned around.
As she looked around his legs, Sophia saw that the russet wolf had disappeared and in its place now hunched a man, also naked. He was not even close to being as interesting as Aidan.
“She’s a witch on pack land,” said the other.
“She’s my mate,” growled Aidan.
“Who doesn’t wear a mark. And if Jason has anything to say about it, she won’t. He won’t like this.” The other man seemed to gain confidence and stood, unashamed of his nakedness. He really should cover it, thought Sophia given his diminutive size.
Sophia smothered a giggle. This was not a laughing matter, but the whole thing seemed incongruous.
“I was planning to speak to Jason today or tomorrow. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep this to yourself. Don’t make me regret letting you live. This is the only warning you’ll get. Come near Sophia again and I will kill you.”
With a snarl, the other man shifted back to his wolf shape and bounded off through the woods. The danger gone, Sophia stood and placed a hand on Aidan’s bare back.
He didn’t turn to face her, just muttered a terse “Follow me.”
Sophia would have argued with his command, but the view of his naked buttocks as he stalked back in the direction, she assumed, of the cabin robbed her of speech, although it did create vividly erotic scenarios in her mind. Her lust, barely in check since she met him, simmered to life, and she was done fighting it. Running away wouldn’t make her feelings for him disappear. Am I nuts? Probably, but face it, what I feel for him is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. How stupid would I be to throw it away?
As if her acceptance of her fate unlocked a dam, pure arousal flooded her. Her breathing came short and not because of the exertion of the walk either. A blazing heat consumed her, and she wanted to tear off her clothes and let the fresh air of the forest cool her down. Or even better have Aidan lick…
“Would you stop that?” he said in a strained voice. He turned to face her, and she realized he found himself in the same aroused state. Sophia took a step toward him, then another. Screw it, she threw herself at him and tilted her face up to seek his lips. His arms came around her tightly and lifted her, which helped her find them. She proceeded to devour him hungrily.
He, however, was stupidly trying to protest. “Your scratches need tending.”
She sucked his lower lip and muttered, “I’m fine.”
“This isn’t the place…”
“Oh, shut up and make love to me already,” she said impatiently.
But the idiot still hesitated and, untangling her arms from around his neck, he set her back. “I might not be able to control myself. I don’t want to do anything you’ll regret. I can wait.”
“Well, I can’t.” She sighed when she saw he wouldn’t budge. Funny thing, now that she’d made up her mind, she wanted him to claim her. Now. She wanted to belong to him forever. She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to make me say it out loud, aren’t you?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, and Sophia almost melted into a puddle. The man owned way too many muscles.
“Fine. I want to be with you. Are you happy? When I thought you might die back there protecting me, it made me realize I’d probably never find another man who makes me feel the way you do. I’m tired of fighting my own body and heart. Screw what the coven says. I want you. So, bite me, love me, do what you have to. But, please, Aidan, make me yours.”
Aidan couldn’t believe his ears. The words he’d thought to never hear had suddenly spilled from her lips. But still he hesitated. “Don’t say it unless you mean it. Once done, we will be bound together forever.”
“Do you intend to lock me up and prevent me from continuing my studies as a witch?”
“What? Of course not,” he replied indignantly.
With a seductive smile, she closed the space between them and peered up with eyes gone smoky with desire. “Then, in that case, claim me.”
A man-and wolf-only had so much willpower. He wouldn’t fight her, especially not since he’d wanted this from the first moment he’d met her. He only wished she’d chosen a more comfortable location, but waiting was no longer an option.