“Freddie told me that everyone knew we were mates before I did,” Izzy said. “Including the kids, apparently.”
“Isabelle—”
“I’m not mad; I feel a little stupid. But I appreciate that you didn’t pressure me. You could have let the magic, or hormones, or whatever it is take the lead. But you didn’t. Thank you.”
Gold flared in his eyes. “The mating dance is a blessing. A gift from the goddess. Normally, there’d be no question. We’d both have known exactly what was up and we’d have embraced it, trusted in it. But you were afraid of me and didn’t understand what was happening. Allowing the dance to drive us would have been forcing myself on you. I’d never break your trust that way, Isabelle.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” she said, reaching for his hand. Within, her wolf’s buzz rose until it warbled, almost like a call.
Luke swallowed, like he had a lump in his throat. “So I made Freddie a promise. I’d give you time and let you decide. Even—even if you decided to leave.”
God, he floored her. Absolutely fucking wrecked her. How could this strong, honorable man want her, an ignorant, bitchy disaster? A dull ache throbbed in her hand and she realized she was squeezing Luke’s like she was hanging over the edge of a great abyss.
“You’d really let me go?”
A salty smell like the ocean surrounded them, totally wrong for the freshwater lake at their feet. All at once, she realized it was the scent of his grief. A sea of tears waiting to be shed. Luke’s eyes turned completely gold and the wolf hovered in his jagged voice. “If that’s what you really want. Isabelle—”
“I don’t want to leave,” she whispered, reaching for the lifeline he offered.
“Wha-what?”
The naked hope burning in his eyes strengthened her voice. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave you.” Please, let me stay.
Luke froze. As the seconds ticked by and she trembled, he didn’t even seem to breathe. Maybe despite his physical attraction for her, he’d realized that she was too much of a hassle.
But then, he hauled her into a tight embrace. The breakneck pounding of his heart danced beneath her ear. Kisses rained down on her head, then drifted all over her face. She laughed. It tickled and he was making these happy little humming noises with each press of his lips. Burying his face in her neck, he inhaled deep and long, and his stubble rasped against her skin.
“You smell so good. Rich and sweet. And...” Luke lifted his head to look in her eyes, all the playfulness gone. A slow grin, wild and provocative, spread across his face. The flush it ignited within scalded her down to her toes. “And mine. You smell like mine, sugar.”
Without warning, he threw his head back and howled. The sound was eerie and strangely beautiful coming from his human throat. A hush fell over the woods and yard. Then an answering call sang from inside the house. And another. They were joined by others from the porch and the yard, until the mountains themselves seemed to ring with wolf song.
She had the strongest urge to raise her voice, too, but she didn’t. “Hank and Abby—”
He silenced her with a quick kiss. “Both their children are pack. They’re ours now, too.”
As she tried to process that, Luke pinned her against the trunk of the giant tree. Large hands grabbed onto her butt and lifted her up. “Wrap your legs around me, Isabelle.” He nipped her bottom lip. “Now.”
Clearly she’d left her old self in a snow bank somewhere, because she actually did what he demanded. His growl of approval vibrated through her entire body as he leaned down and nuzzled behind her ear, sending shivers dancing up and down her spine. When he scraped his teeth along the column of her throat, she moaned, throwing her head back and knocking it against the tree.
She couldn’t breathe. Now that the sun had set, it was below freezing. Yet she was burning up, suffocating in her clothes. She yanked at her sweater collar. Yanked at Luke’s, too. “Please,” she said. He’d scrambled her brains so thoroughly, she had no idea what she was begging for. She just...wanted.
A growl rumbled over her skin, and he pulled out his cell phone and dialed. When Rissa answered, he spoke, his voice sounding like he’d swallowed a Harley engine. “Taking Isabelle home. Don’t call. Unless emergency.”
Good to know she wasn’t the only one muddled.
He shoved the phone into his pocket and swung her legs around to carry her in front of him.
“Luke, we can’t just leave.”
A huge sigh blew across her skin as he buried his face in her neck again, making her shiver. When he lifted his head, it was the wolf looking out at her. “Can,” he said in a guttural voice barely recognizable as English.
Blood pounded in her veins as he carried her deeper into the trees. The buzzing presence of her wolf grew until fur rubbed her skin on the inside, the sensation comforting rather than scary. Her vision changed and everything became clearer despite the dark.
To her complete shock, a soft growl trickled from her lips. Tears sprang to her eyes as a strange voice she had never heard before, yet knew instantly, spoke in her head. As Izzy looked into the beautiful and fierce eyes of the Alpha, the voice said, “Mine.”
* * *
Trees blew past like wraiths as Luke ran through them, carrying her in his arms.
She’d stopped telling him to let her walk after only a few yards, recognizing blind determination when she saw it. Besides, he smelled so damn good and she couldn’t get enough. The rich, spicy scent filled her senses and she rubbed her face back and forth across the bare skin of his throat, bringing as much of it into herself as she could.
She wondered if he tasted as good as he smelled. The hollow at the base of his throat was especially intriguing, so she pressed her mouth there and licked. Intense, dark flavors like chocolate and cardamom burst on her tongue, and she hummed her delight.
A growl ripped from Luke’s throat and he broke into an all-out sprint.
They crossed the threshold of his cabin two minutes later. Without pausing to turn on a light or take off his boots, he carried her through the dark house. Suddenly, Izzy flew through the air and landed with a breath-stealing bounce on a bed. Luke’s warm, heavy weight dropped onto her before she could even gasp.
He rubbed his stubbled jaw beneath her ear, and shivers danced over her skin. It tickled and she laughed. Then she squealed, because he did it again, adding a little bite to her lobe.
“I like when you laugh, sugar. Do it again.”
And she did. As if she had any choice. Not with him nipping and kissing and rasping his scruffy jaw over her neck, she didn’t.
“Stop! Uncle!” she cried, pounding on his ribs. “I give up.”
“No you don’t.” The room spun as Luke rolled to his back, taking her with him, draping her across his wide chest. “You never give up. It’s one of the things I like most about you.”
Izzy stared at him, easily able to see his face in the bright moonlight streaming through the room’s many windows. Rays of gold sparkled in his eyes. They were watching her—Luke and his wolf—waiting for her to do what? Freak out, maybe. Tension hummed through Luke, creating a tangible frisson along her skin.
But she wasn’t afraid or worried. Delight and a heaping dose of wonder filled her knowing that this strong, responsible, and caring man admired anything about her. She laid her head on his chest. Every breath he took raised her up, then brought her back down like drifting on a wave.
Luke sighed and wrapped his arms around her, slowly caressing up and down her spine. “You know, I never just play anymore.”
Something in his tone brought her head up.
“Sure, I run with the pack during the full moon,” he continued, “but it’s been a long time since I’ve had a good wrestling match, or run around with the kids, or really laughed, for that matter. I guess I haven’t wanted to for a long time.” He tugged on a strand of her hair. “Not until you. You make me want to play again.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, Izzy’s heart beating hard.
“Good,” she said finally, her voice choked with emotion. She had no freaking clue how to tell him about everything she was feeling. Everything he made her feel. So she kissed him. On the jaw. On the cheek. On the tip of his nose.
Luke laughed and she pressed another kiss on his neck. Damn, he smelled good.
“Mmm,” she murmured, nuzzling his throat. She rubbed her cheek against his, before dropping slow, soft kisses all over his face. The different textures, his scent and taste, demanded she take her time. Explore. Savor him.
He let out a low laugh that was half groan.
“What?” she asked, moving back to his throat and breathing deep when she reached the little hollow. The skin there was silky and smooth.
God, why did he smell so good?
“I was thinking I should call you ‘kitten’ from now on.”
Pushing his shirt aside, she rubbed her face over the top of his chest. “Huh?”
He laughed again. “You’re scent-marking me like a cat.”
“What?” she asked again, trying to pull together a coherent thought. But she was derailed by how handsome he was. A flush covered the apples of his cheeks and his eyes glittered. “Excuse me?”
Grinning, he smoothed her hair, petted her. “I like it. You’re claiming me.” He stroked the curve of her ear with his thumb. “Little kitten.”
“Oh? Well, this kitten has sharp teeth.” She nipped his jaw and Luke moaned beneath her. Nice. She repeated the motion, but this time on the spot just below his ear. His low groan sounded like a purr and she smiled against his throat. His scent had changed. As devastatingly attractive as it had been before, now it was richer, muskier, and she had to restrain herself from rolling all over him like her old neighbor’s cat with a bag of catnip. She giggled like an idiot and breathed him in again, shuddering.
“Do you know what that is?”
“Hmm? What?” Was that her? She sounded dreamy and kind of drunk.
A slow smile blossomed on his face, and he touched the tip of her nose. “Remember what I said about paying attention to your sense of smell?” He pulled her head down into the crook of his neck. “This is the scent of lust.”
The breath froze in her lungs and then burst from her in a rapid pant, dragging Luke’s enthralling scent in with it. She reared up, pulling him with her by his collar. Jesus, they still had their coats on. Nope. Not going to work. Those had to go.
In a flurry of motion, Izzy yanked at his clothes, desperate to get rid of the barriers between them. When her shaking hands proved too clumsy to deal with the buttons on his shirt, she ripped it down the front, exposing his muscled chest and abdomen.
A growl of desire bubbled from her lips as she ran her fingertips over him. She wanted to kiss and lick each ridge and plane, so she pushed him back down. The temptation of his skin was a delight to revel in and she did exactly as she desired, licking a path up the strong line of his throat, stopping to suck in places and leave openmouthed kisses in others.
Luke pulled in a breath and swore, his strong hands gripping her hips.
Nothing before in her experience had ever—could ever have—prepared her for the firestorm of desire racing through her veins. She couldn’t get close enough to him. Every single thing about Luke was as intoxicating as a drug. She was drunk on his scent, high on his kisses. And she never wanted to come down. She wanted to become a part of him and make him a part of her so they could never be separated.
The sensation of fur stroking beneath her skin returned, decadent and delicious. Her head pounded with a need she couldn’t explain. Her teeth throbbed and her skin drew tight. For a moment, she worried she’d shift and hurt Luke, but her wolf rumbled. And Izzy knew the wolf would never do anything to hurt this man. He was safe with them. Protected. They’d do everything in their power to take care of him.
Forever.
Izzy shook from the power in that word, in Luke’s hands on her skin, in the vibration of his groans and growls as she touched and kissed him, in his fraying restraint.
Dear God, she wanted him, like nothing she had ever wanted before.
Underneath her shirt, he slid his burning hands along the bare skin on her sides and back. She shuddered, and when he moved those so-hot hands beneath the waistband of her jeans and palmed the globes of her ass, she lost all control.
Her gums burned, and without thinking about it, needing to be closer, she bit him on the strong muscle of his shoulder where it met his neck. Blood flowed into her mouth and she swallowed, coating her tongue in his rich flavor.
She moaned.
Luke roared.
* * *
Isabelle’s fangs punctured his skin, and Luke froze.
She had marked him.
A torrent of instinct and need ripped through him, and Luke finally gave up the battle to go slow, breaking the restraints her past had wound around him. His brave, unpredictable Isabelle had surprised him again and taken what she wanted. And he couldn’t deny her, or his need for her, anymore.
He rolled and flipped Isabelle onto her back. Before she could do more than gasp at the change in positions, he shredded her clothes with his claws. Little strips of fabric floated to the ground around them like a ticker-tape parade as he did the same thing to the rest of his own clothes.
He was naked and between her thighs within a blink of an eye, his fangs burning in his mouth. He grabbed her hips and stopped.
The effort to keep himself from plunging into her like the beast he was made every muscle in his body shake like a ten-point-oh on the Richter scale. He knew the wolf was in his eyes when he finally raised his head to look at her. Her pupils were huge, her mouth reddened from kissing him, her cheeks flushed, and she was panting. So was he. He needed her, wanted to mark her and claim her as his.
Forever.
She gripped his biceps, and when she licked her bottom lip like she enjoyed the taste of him, he growled. There was no fear in her eyes, only desire. Her tongue peeked out again from between those swollen, glossy lips, and he saw a spot of blood in the corner of her mouth. She lapped at the little crimson drop and hummed.
A desire so immense hit him, it demolished everything Luke was or ever thought he could be. And when Isabelle wrapped her legs around his hips, he was done, remade into someone new. Someone better.
A snarl ripped from his throat, and he stared into her eyes as he voiced the one truth that could never change: “Mine.”
Then with a gasp, he plunged into her body and bit the soft, fragile skin of her shoulder in a mirror image of what she’d done to him.
Marking and claiming his mate for eternity.