Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
We hadn’t shared anything aloud about our feelings, how we felt about each other. I had kept her being my mate a secret, but I’d also kept quiet about how I felt about her. That she was mine. Forever.
She didn’t know.
She didn’t know.
And–fuck. I’d left her alone at the cabin.
I lifted my head and howled again, this time a mournful sound. What the fuck was wrong with me?
I gave my head a sharp shake and charged back down the mountainside. I didn’t belong on the side of a fucking mountain. I belonged with Brooke.
My mate.
Mate. Mate. Mate, my wolf chanted.
I needed to be with her. Was dying to mark her. The full moon had me so itchy to claim her. But I had to make sure I was calm before I came near her. I couldn’t take the chance of being too rough or marking without her consent.
Did I need to run around some more?
I couldn’t stop myself from going to her now, though. As fast as I’d run up the mountain, I ran back down, desperate to be near my mate. I needed to protect her from any kind of harm. To touch her. To hear her say my name. I needed to make her come tonight like she never knew was possible.
Even though it wasn’t scientifically possible, I swore I caught her scent and followed it straight back to the cabin, like she was the beacon calling me home.
She was because my home was with her.
I bounded up the wooden stairs in wolf form, forgetting to shift until I’d already lifted onto my hind legs and thrown my wolf body against the door. I bounced back, shook my head and shifted, only to find Brooke had opened the door.
There she was in the doorway.
Mine.
Her soft lips parted on a gasp, her cheeks flushed as her gaze raked over me.
I wanted to close the distance between us, toss her over my shoulder. But no. Not yet. I leashed my wolf. Shoved him down deep.
“Brooke.” My voice was rusty. I cleared my throat and tried again, but the only thing that came out was, “Ah…”
Fuck. I was standing there naked as a jaybird with a hard-on for my beautiful mate, and I was pretty sure she’d seen my wolf.
My alpha would kill me, letting an unmarked human in on our secret, but I didn’t care. I needed to be honest and explain who I really was. It was time.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she admitted.
“Please don’t be afraid of me. Of what I am.” She was still here, so that was something.
I was the worst mate ever. We’d driven up here, and I’d just left her on her own. I’d been desperate to run, but now my wolf and I felt like shit for abandoning our mate, even for a short time.
Shit. How long had I left her?
“I’m sorry I ran off like that.” I tipped my head down as if my alpha had scolded me.
“I, um, don’t understand. It doesn’t make sense, but I saw. It. You. I think… you’re a wolf?” She looked tentative about asking. Hell, I didn’t blame her because with anyone else, it was an insane question.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered.
“I did. You just didn’t believe me. I’d never lie to you, sugar. Never.” I didn’t step forward because I wasn’t sure how scared she was. Whether she’d run from me now that she knew the truth. If she ran, fuck, my wolf would want to chase.
“You told me you were a wolf?” She cocked her head to the side. Her long hair slid like a silky curtain over her shoulder. “I think I would have remembered that.”
“In my van after I– after your house,” I clarified, but skipped reminding her that I’d killed two men with my bare hands.
She laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. “This is crazy, you know that, right? People are going to think I’m insane.”
“You can’t tell anyone. What I am is a secret, has to be a secret, to keep everyone safe.”
Her eyes widened, then furrowed. “Everyone?”
“Others like me.”
“Others… oh, um, God. Okay. I have so many questions.” She tucked her hair back again, clearly a nervous gesture. “So many, but I want to save them for later.”
Now or later, it didn’t matter. The answers would be difficult to believe and harder to swallow. “Whenever you want, I’ll–”
To my utter happiness and total surprise, Brooke launched herself at me, wrapping those slender legs around my waist as she kissed the fuck out of my mouth.
Brooke. Was. Kissing. Me.
She knew I had a wolf in me.
She knew I shifted.
She knew everything.
And she was kissing me.
Fuck, yes.
My tongue swept between her lips, and I palmed her ass with my hands, walking forward in search of a bedroom.