Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
“You saved me,” she whispers, smiling.
She’s got an adorable dimple on her left cheek. And seeing it feels like a gift. Her eyes are alight, and her smile is beautiful.
I roll us back to the middle, then move up so my head is beside hers. “Are your fingers wrinkled, too?” She lifts my hand and examines it.
We were in the shower for so long, the water turned cold. It didn’t matter; we kept at one another. She’s still a little shy, timid with me, astonished at how much she’s enjoying what I’m doing to her and though she seems uncertain, I think she’s anxious to give me pleasure, too. She wasn’t untouched but she is inexperienced.
I’ll teach her.
As much as I hate that anyone else has had their hands on her, I like that she didn’t like it before.
I can’t get enough of her. Can’t get enough of how good it feels to knot while I’m buried to the hilt in my mate. How incredible it feels to watch her come apart with my touch. She’s shy, hesitant, but showing she’s into all of it. Quite the turnaround from just last night when she dreaded it.
“Your shower is huge. And so much water pressure. And your water smells so good.” She’s still holding my hand in both of hers, examining it like it’s fascinating to her.
“Smells good?”
“Very good.”
“Water doesn’t have much of a scent,” I point out.
“It does if it’s polluted like ours. Our water smells terrible.” She wrinkles her nose. “We boil it before we use it and there’s always a lingering aroma after running the tap. And you’ve got no choice but to use it as-is to shower.”
“That doesn’t sound good. Get a water quality test?”
She shakes her head. “No way. Outsiders knowing absolutely anything? He wouldn’t allow that.”
And as soon as she says that, her face changes. It’s obvious she doesn’t want me to ask more questions. But whether she realizes it or not, she’s already begun painting a picture for me.
I’ve decided to wait to push on the subject until tomorrow. Today, she’ll learn more about what it’s like to be with me. To feel safe. Cared for.
“Your hands aren’t very rough,” she says, “Yet I can tell you must work with them often with how strong you are.”
“Buy soap with moisturizer in it,” I say. “Not ashamed to admit that. Don’t like feeling like a reptile.”
She smiles and runs the top of her foot under the sole of my foot. “Bottoms of your feet are a little rough, though.”
“Not a shocker since I’m often barefoot out in the wild. Yours are baby soft, though.”
“They might be even softer if I dig into that basket that was left on your doorstep. There are a lot of nice smelling products in there.”
“That’s from Skye Quinn. She’s good friends with Mom. Mase’s mother. He’s second in birth order. Just mated recently to Amelia. Human. Bit of a spitfire, that one.”
“Humans in your pack. Kind of...”
“Crazy? Naw. When an alpha identifies his mate it doesn’t matter if she’s human or shifter. She’s his.” I shrug. “Though Cat, Ty’s mother, she’s now in a relationship with a human that joined our pack. Not fated. She’s a council alpha’s widow. She brought it to us for a vote. He’s a good guy. Pharmacist. Cat’s a healer. They got along great. She’s widowed, for over three decades, and they started seeing one another after being friends for a time. She wanted him to know all of her. Where she comes from.”
“That’s lovely, especially if she’s a widow. Most widows wind up dying alone.”
“He was widowed too. Guess they bonded over common ground. Interest in medicine.”
“So your council votes on all matters?”
“Sometimes the council, sometimes all the alphas. Sometimes the whole pack, depending on the issue.”
Her eyes travel my face. She looks deep in thought for a moment and there’s trouble in her eyes and inside her, too.
“Something on your mind?” I ask.
She clears her expression and asks, “Do you think Mason is disappointed his mate doesn’t shift? That their offspring might not shift? Your sister doesn’t shift, I gather because her mother is human. Did that upset your father even though she’s just a girl?”
“Just a girl? Don’t let my sister hear you say this.”
Stacy’s face reddens. “I didn’t mean it like that from my perspective but it’s the way a lot of males think.”
“Not many around here think that way or they’d be out on their asses. But to answer your question, no, that Bailey doesn’t shift doesn’t bother anyone but Bailey. As for Mase? He’s crazy about his mate. Doesn’t give a shit that she’s human. Their offspring might shift. Never know. There’s a pack in Alaska we’re friendly with and they’ve got a half-human alpha. He shifts.”
“Whoa. A half-human alpha? That’s got to be rare.”