Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
For shifters like me? It was heaven.
I loved being in tune with the world around me, in ways I couldn’t be when I was slumming it in my human form. Some nights, I’d just run through the forest, soaking it all in, following a particular scent I found interesting. Maybe that of a rutting deer or of a secret field of wildflowers or someone’s missing purse.
Tonight, though, there had been a single trail I became determined to follow. It was a new scent in the air. I couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was calling to something deep inside me. So I ran. Followed my nose. Leaves and twigs crunched under my paws. I kept to the woods, weaving through the trees with a speed that rivaled that of when I was on the ice. I hadn’t even realized the scent was drawing me closer and closer to the Bobcats Ice Arena until I spotted the bright lights of the parking lot.
The scent—vanilla and cherries and spices and… something else—grew stronger and stronger. My mouth began to water. It wasn’t that it smelled like food, though. This was nothing like the smell of a fat deer or a vulnerable rabbit. It also wasn’t like anything else I’d smelled before, either.
I slowed down once I neared the arena. The tree coverage became much more sparse around here. I wanted to be careful. People in Burlington were generally used to a wolf sighting here or there, but the less we were noticed, the better. I crouched in the bushes and peered out. The scent grew stronger as a breeze rustled the leaves around me.
That’s when I saw him walking toward his car. I recognized him instantly. Elijah Sager, the new trade on our team. Loose, dark brown curls poked out of a black and baby blue Bobcats baseball cap, turned backward so I had full view of those bright hazel eyes. I’d briefly checked out his social media pages and was happy to see he had talent on the ice, so I was prepared for just how exactly my type Elijah was.
Smiley, bright-eyed, wavy hair, athletic, and (from one picture of him at the beach in a tiny yellow Speedo) packing.
But my online stalking could never have prepared me for the way this man smelled.
This otherworldly scent that made the world pause, as if the most fragrant bouquet of sweet red roses had been placed in front of me. Like I’d been dropped in the center of a bright purple lavender field. Like I was swimming in the sea with the salt in the pure air filling my lungs. A mix of it all and more.
So, so much more.
It had to be him. The scent was growing more intense with every step he took toward me. It was intoxicating.
And—shit—it was going to get me in trouble. I ran before he could spot me in the bushes. I tried to put the scent behind me but found myself turning, following him again, all the way to downtown. There, I had shifted back into my human form, and even though the scent was gone, the urge to “bump” into him was still powerful.
So I did. He didn’t suspect a damn thing.
But something else happened when I met him in my human form. It was undeniable now. I was deeply and intensely attracted to the guy.
He had flashed a crooked smile with that pretty little mouth that appeared capable of doing the dirtiest fucking things.
From that moment, I was hooked. A bass on the line being reeled up onto shore.
I felt the tug down in my core, tightening it, spreading flickers of heat outward.
It was as visceral a reaction as if we’d pulled our pants down and shaken each other’s dicks instead of hands.
And fuck, just shaking his hand made me rock fucking hard.
I knew I couldn’t stick around. Whatever was happening to me had to be sorted out before I trailed Eli into a bathroom and pushed him into a stall. It was an insatiable hunger that gnawed inside me with every lungful of air I took in, breathing in Eli’s sweet, otherworldly scent.
Jesus fuck, what cologne did this guy use? Whoever made it should be a billionaire with how good they got their formula.
I ditched him and practically bolted to my car. A couple of people recognized me and waved. I returned their polite greeting with a pleasant smile. It was funny, the way humans—or shifters—wore expressions like masks. No one could know just how insanely horny meeting Eli had made me if they were simply judging by the toothy grin and friendly wave.
And yet, on the inside, I wanted to whip my dick out and start stroking, picturing how it would feel if it were Eli’s fingers wrapped around me.
I made it to a quiet street with plenty of trees and bushes to run through. It took me another moment to shift, and then I was off, running through the night. My instincts shouted at me to turn around and chase the scent that had me enthralled, but I somehow fought it, pushing forward like a salmon against the current, determined to put as much distance as I could between me and the newbie. I began to follow another scent, one that was much more familiar to me.