Page 10 of Lost Fate

We’re shifters. Shifters are often naked around each other. Physical contact when naked is also something that happens, because you just kind of end up touching after you shift occasionally. But with my arms wrapped around Leander’s neck, and his scent in my nose, and his body so close to mine…

Fuck.

It’s a good thing we’re in a lake, so that he can’t notice how wet I’m getting.

I shift slightly, and Leander growls. “You have to stop that,” he says in that same voice that sends chills spiraling over my skin.

I don’t, but I see why he wants me to. Or rather, I feel why he wants me to.

There’s a little satisfaction in knowing that, as completely wrecked as I am by desire right now, Leander is at least in a somewhat similar boat. If he’s not on the same page, he’s at least reading the same book.

The urge to arch against him is palpable. But that would be…

Would it be so bad?

“Ember,” he says.

I snap my eyes to his.

Leander’s gray eyes are so dark, they almost look stormy. His pupils are wide and consuming, and I want to be consumed.

I want to give him everything, in this moment.

He leans forward, and my heart slams in my chest. Unless I’m very mistaken, he’s staring at my lips. Which means that if I just lean forward another tiny, tiny inch…

What if he’s taken?

The thought slams into me with the force of a Mack truck. I jerk my head back and quickly escape Leander’s arms.

I pretend that I don’t feel his fingers lingering on my elbows as he lets me go.

“Is everything okay?”

I shut my eyes. “Yeah. Just. You know. If you started seeing someone in the last month or so…” I let the words hang there.

“Oh.” Leander doesn’t move.

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve just… I’ve been in that position before... not with someone who can’t remember me, or anything like that. I guess he was more like someone who did remember me and chose to forget, anyway.”

His eyes darken, and a frown tugs at his beautiful lips. “Damn. Who the fuck is this guy?” he growls.

Aw. He thinks he’s being protective. That’s cute. Unfortunately, it’s not like he’s going to be able to find my dad and beat him up or anything.

I shake my head. “Not like that. My mom… well. My aunt and my mom, I guess. My mom had me when she was really young, and apparently, I was the very unwanted product of a hot one-night stand or something. She passed when I was a baby, and I had to live with my aunt. My mom and I never knew each other. I mean, as much as I could for, like, a baby,” I say softly.

Leander makes a noise. “And your aunt?”

“Yeah… she was my mom’s sister. She raised me, and she never really… she was super disapproving of the whole situation. And because she disapproved of what my mom had done, she disapproved of me.”

Those words are the simplest possible explanation for what happened while I lived with my aunt. She didn’t just disapprove of me. She didn’t care about me at all.

“I take it your aunt doesn’t live with you now?”

I give him a playful swat. “No. Trust me, I wouldn’t have brought you home if she was around. She lives in Alaska. She didn’t move with the rest of the pack.”

There’s a little silence, and my mind goes to places that feel scarred, but still painful.

“Does your dad know?”

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