Page 27 of Moon Fated

Without thinking, I flopped onto the ground, exposing my belly in a show of complete submission. Her wolf’s head shot up. Her eyes widened, intensely focused on my soft underbelly.

It felt like torture lying exposed like this, but I needed her wolf to understand. Yes, I was strong. Yes, I was an alpha. But I was not there to force her paw. I would not ask for trust I wasn’t willing to give, and I would never?—

Blake says that’s embarrassing. Evelyn’s wolf took a step toward me.

I kept my eyes fixed on her. Tell Blake he wouldn’t know alpha energy if it punched him in the face.

Her eyes narrowed as her wolf did the closest thing she could to a smile. Blake stalked forward, but Evelyn nudged him with her nose.

We should go to the truck, she said.

I rolled over and stood, dwarfing both of them as I rose to my full height. Even though I wanted to lead, I let Evelyn go first. The scent of her nearly sent my wolf into a frenzy. Thankfully, neither she nor Blake looked back to see me staring at her backside.

Evelyn stopped at the edge of the trees and turned her head to Blake. I didn’t have to hear their conversation to understand. We needed to shift back to our human forms, but that meant?—

Blake was suddenly standing there next to Evelyn. Butt naked. I let out an amused bark, and Blake flipped me the bird without looking back.

Tell Blake ‘nice ass,’ I sent to Evelyn. She rolled her eyes as I sauntered up next to her and settled onto my haunches.

You can tell him yourself after he sees yours.

A part of me wanted to shift right there. Walk down the hill in front of her and let her ogle the goods, but by the way she was sending sidelong glances, I knew she already was. My wolf was impressive. All alphas were, but I’d always loved the streaks of grey that ran over my shoulders.

Blake trudged back toward us with sweatpants and a t-shirt on. He tossed up two more sets for us, then pointed at me accusingly. “Turn around, Steele. If I catch you looking, I’ll run my truck into your pasty thighs.”

My thighs aren’t pasty, I said.

Evelyn huffed, then turned her back. I did the same, acutely aware of the shuffling sounds behind me as I shifted and dressed. My senses were still heightened from my wolf, and I could hear every inhale, every catch of her breath as she pulled on her shirt and pants.

Sweatpants were not ideal for hiding what her proximity did to me.

Blake’s eyes narrowed as I casually clasped my hands in front of my crotch and walked back to the truck. “Pants are a little short.” I couldn’t help rubbing in the fact that I was bigger than him.

“Asshole,” Blake muttered as he rounded the hood.

When the truck finally rolled to a stop at our destination, I was the first to step out.

“A mushroom farm? Really?” Evelyn dropped to the ground next to me, her boots sinking into the mossy earth. She was wearing Blake’s clothes, and everything was oversized. It was adorable to see her rolled-up sleeves and pant legs, though by the way she kept fiddling with her shirt, I doubted it felt comfortable.

"Were you expecting some mystical dwelling, maybe a woman living in the hollow of a tree?" I asked. Evelyn barely flicked a glance my way, but her cheeks stained, and the hairs on her arm prickled.

She wanted me. The problem was, her head was telling a different story. But heads were always easier to change than hearts.

“Disappointed?” Blake asked.

“Confused.” Evelyn chewed her lower lip. “She’s a witch, and she…just runs a business out here?”

“Everyone has to make a living.” I started toward the small building. “It’s not like we live in a fairytale.”

“You’re here, so definitely not a fairytale," she shot back, earning a low chuckle from Blake.

The nickname I’d used for her back at the truck almost slipped off my tongue again, but I caught myself. She didn’t like it. There was something there that I didn’t fully understand, but I was beginning to. A past she didn’t want to remember, even if there was plenty of good there. Nathan had poisoned it, spreading decay through even my memories of Black Lake back in the day.

That was fine. I’d give her a new one. “Fighting words, strawberry,” I whispered, low enough only she could hear. She looked up at me in surprise, and the pink in her cheeks deepened.

Perfection.

Chapter

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