Page 48 of Entering a New World

My wolf didn’t get why we’d stopped. He didn’t understand that, now that we’d started the mating process, we weren’t seeing it through.

We don’t want to hurt our mate, I told him, balling my hands into fists, needing an outlet to release the tension inside of me.

It worked. My wolf huffed and pouted, but the pressure inside me to pick up where we’d left off lessened.

“That was so hot,” Levi said, voice all raspy and breathy. His eyes were still glowing, shining with desire, his bulge still pressing against his zipper. “Hands down the hottest kiss of my life. But…” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Tonight… I… I can’t…”

“You don’t want more than a kiss?” I guessed, though I already knew that was what he was trying to tell me.

Levi nodded, his cheeks turning a dark shade of red. “If we keep going, I’m not sure I can stop. And I’m not sure if I’m ready to go all the way yet. Mating is… it’s a pretty big commitment.” He swallowed, glancing out of the window for a while.

“It’s a decision you shouldn’t make lightly,” I agreed, though it felt like I was tearing myself apart.

“No, I shouldn’t.” Taking another deep breath, he looked back at me. “That’s why we need to stop. Trust me, I want nothing more than to kiss you again, to lose myself in you. But… It’s hard to explain. At least for me it is. Maybe it sounds completely logical and natural to you, but there’s a part of me that’s… it’s urging me on. I’m so drawn to you, and kissing you is so… wow, it's actually scary. Like losing control in the best way possible.”

I let his words hang in the air for a while and tried to really understand what he was saying. That he wasn’t rejecting me. He wasn’t saying he didn’t want to be my mate, he just said what I’d already guessed—he was overwhelmed.

I had no idea why he felt our bond in a way that usually only paranormals did, but he obviously did. And he was wholly unprepared for it.

“But it still feels like you’re losing control,” I murmured.

“Yeah. And it’s not that I’m losing control over my body, but my mind… that’s what’s freaking me out.”

“So, we stop. No problem. I’ll always stop when you want me to.” No matter how difficult it might be. No matter how much my wolf pouted and whined.

“Thank you.” Levi’s bright, grateful smile lit up his face.

“That’s really not something you have to thank me for. It’s called human decency.”

Furrowing his brows, he cocked his head. “I guess you’re right, but, unfortunately, it’s still not the norm.”

Rage tore through me like a wildfire.

Who had dared not to accept my mate’s no?

“Anyway,” Levi said, a shy smile returning to his face. Leaning in, he kissed my cheek. “Thank you for our date. And thank you for being a decent human, um, shifter, being. Have a good night.”

By the time I was done staring after him open-mouthed, he’d already disappeared inside.

The skin on my cheek was still tingling, my heart hammering inside my chest, my whole body filled with so much pent-up energy I knew my good night wouldn’t consist of me sleeping.

I needed to run.

The barrier was getting stronger; I was sure of it.

Turning my head, I looked at my best friend. “Can’t you feel it?”

Because I sure as shit could.

I didn’t even need to be in my wolf form. I didn’t need to focus on connecting with the barrier; it just happened as soon as I came close to it.

The buzzing, the electrical static in the air, the pulsing life… it wasn’t faint anymore. It was almost like the barrier was reaching out to me, wanting a connection—just like I’d been reaching out to it for years.

Gray frowned, drawing his thick brows together. Raking his hands through his long hair, he pursed his lips.

“It feels… different,” he said eventually. “I’m not connected to the barrier the same way you are. I can feel a change, but I don’t think I can feel it to the same extent you do. To me, it feels stronger.”

“A lot stronger,” I whispered, reaching out as if I could actually physically feel the barrier. It was right there, maybe two feet away from where I was standing. I couldn’t see it, no one could. Well, maybe a witch or a wizard could. There was no line on the forest floor, no fog in the air. But I still knew exactly where it was. “It feels like it was on the cusp of death, and now it’s living again.”

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