Page 28 of There's No Place Like Oz

The moon was high in the dark sky by the time we returned. My body still shook with adrenaline and endorphins, while my stomach was sated and full in a way that apples and plants could never provide.

I felt alive. Sofuckingalive. My pulse was absolutely pounding, while the flavor of blood still so pleasantly coated my taste buds. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced in any lifetime. Not as a dog and not as a man. To be so wild and animalistic and powerful—I was drunk on that aggression, and I didn’t want to let it go.What a fucking rush.

Leon gave me a pat on the back and a knowing smile. “There’s nothing like the first hunt. Once you’ve tasted blood like that, you’ll never want anything else.” With a soft chuckle, he squeezed my shoulder, then he whispered in my ear, “Don’t ever let go of this feeling.” His hand drifted to my bicep, where his fingers slid through the still wet traces of crimson on my skin. He dragged his claw downward, scraping a clean line through the blood spatter, then the lion licked the blood from his nails with steady, satisfied strokes. He addressed me again with one last wink. “Good night, little black wolf. Don’t let your princess wait too long for your warmth.”

Leon sauntered off and found a comfortable spot to rest beneath a tree. I turned my sights on my tent. The small privacy door I’d woven from leaves and vines had been closed but not secured, and I could hear Dorothy’s steady breathing of sleep from here. Her natural scent filled my nostrils. She was giving off so many natural scents.

I was too charged to think. I got down onto my knees, and I undid the door cover. Dorothy stirred, lifting her chin as if to verify the right person was joining her in her bed. The slight skip in her heartbeat immediately calmed to easy and comfortable levels, just as it always did when I was with her. The perfect contentment and safety a person experiences around a most trusted friend.

A most trustedfriend.

When I crawled in with her, her eyes widened when she caught sight of the blood on my skin. “Toto, are you hurt?” She asked with so much concern it was smothering.

“Tobias.” I corrected her, before I pulled her back against my chest with an aggressive tug. I didn’t want to hear that cute little nickname right now. I didn’t need to be treated like a defenseless puppy. Maybe it was the near drunken surge of adrenaline that was still pumping through me, but I wasn’t able to hold myself back right now. “Toto was your puppy. I’m not a frail little black dog anymore, Dorothy.”

“N-no, of course not.” She snuggled back against me of her own will, and she rolled over in my arms, until she was resting her head on my bicep and staring directly into my eyes. The look on her face was one of confusion, worry, and curiosity. “But then… Whose blood is this?”

That delicate concern did something to me. I responded before I gave myself even one more moment to overthink it.

“Not mine.” I said, before I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. She jerked back with a slight hint of surprise, but only for a second before she relaxed into the kiss. When she nibbled at my lip, I took that as mutual interest, and when she placed a hand on my cheek to pull me down further and deepen the contact, I lost any restraint I had left. I shoved her hand back down to the leaves, and I repositioned myself on top of her. I pinned her body beneath my weight, and I slipped her my tongue, just wanting to taste more of her warm and perfect lips.

She sucked on me before she slipped me hers. She dug her fingers into my hands that had hers locked against the ground, and I shifted my hips to grind against her pelvis. I know she could feel how hard I was, and I wanted her too. The moan that she shared directly in my mouth told me she didn’t mind it.

I released her hands so I could better brace my weight above her, then I pulled away so both of us could catch our breath, Her chest heaved while I fluttered kisses down her jaw line, and she lifted her chin to give me access to her neck. I sniffed along her skin, savoring her natural scent while relishing in her taste as I fluttered soft pecks downward. When I reached her collarbone, I paused and breathed so many possibilities over that sensitive skin. I hadn’t seen Leon’s mark yet. It was somewhere invisible while she wore her clothes, and I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to find it. Taste it. Share that same spot.

I can mark her too. She can be mine. She likes being taken like this.

The thoughts all flashed through my mind at once, and I clenched my fists in the leaves below us to try and get a handle on this animalistic need bubbling up in me.

No. Absolutely not.

I pulled back, and I instead placed a single soft, delicate peck on her lips again. “Good night, Dorothy.” I said, as if it was the most casual night in the world. She stared at me in surprise but was at a complete loss for words.

Words weren’t necessary right now anyway. I rolled off her, got into a comfortable position at her side, and I wrapped an arm around her again. I secured my lady up against my chest, and she rested her forehead against my shirt without protest.

Her body was trembling, her heartbeat was racing, and she was exhaling short breaths through her still open mouth. But I knew what fear smelled like, and that was not the scent she gave off now.

Her stress signals calmed, and she snuggled up more tightly against me of her own accord. Then she whispered three simple words that meant more than an entire novel:

“Good night,Tobias.”

She was asleep shortly after, while my adrenaline had only just started to subside I stared at the wall of our tent, wide-eyed, horrified, and processing that I’d really just done that. Without even asking, I just kissed Dorothy.

I rested my chin on top of her head, and I swallowed down my mortification.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.Would she forgive me for this? Had I ruined our relationship?

Maybe I really am a beast.

Chapter 21

Black filled my vision as I awoke, still cuddled against Tobias’ chest. The rise and fall of his muscles implied he was still asleep, and I held firmly, not wanting to wake him. The blood that was smeared on his body had fully dried, and he looked so intense against his usual soft and collected demeanor.

“Not mine.”He’d said, but… whose was it? He and Leon had been nowhere to be found when I’d come back from the waterfall, and I could taste the blood on his tongue when he kissed me. Maybe they’d gone hunting together. But Toto was such a sweet little dog. He wasn’t a killer. He wasn’t rough and aggressive like this. I’d never seen him like that before at all.

I’d never…felthim like that before. Whatever synapse in his brain snapped last night, I was fairly certain he was ready to wreck me from the inside out, and with how sexually frustrated I’d been lately, I was ready to let him.

Focus, Dorothy!I admonished myself. Just because I was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of hot guys with issues, didn’t mean I needed to ride all of their dicks. I’d have been way more successful in Hollywood if I had this kind of desire for old, creepy narcissists. Stupid picky hormones.

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