Page 12 of Knot a Chance in Hell

“Sure.” Ezekiel either didn’t feel that tension or he didn’t care. He grabbed a lighter from a drawer and winked at me. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

Part of me wanted to grab him, to tell him not to leave me alone with Kodiak. It was silly. I wasn’t a girl anymore,frightened of big intimidating Alphas. When I had first met my oldest sister’s mate, I hid from him in my closet the entire afternoon while he was visiting. It was only when he had helped me build the biggest sandcastle ever that he won me over. Kodiak did not strike me as the type to build me a snow castle.

Once Ezekiel left, Kodiak was still silent. His gaze bore into me.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, I offered a smile. “Did you want something to drink to warm up? Tea or coffee, or maybe a hot chocolate?”

His hands flexed and fisted before he flattened them on the counter. Some of the hardness slid from his expression as he shook his head. “I wanted to… Earlier, when you first came out here, that wasn’t how I wanted it to go when we first met. I wasn’t… the friendliest.”

I bit my tongue to keep from gaping. Was he apologizing?

“And before that, when I opened the bedroom door, I didn’t mean to…” He clenched his jaw and let out a low grunt.

Hewasapologizing. I didn’t hear an ‘I’m sorry,’ but I bet those words didn’t come easy for an Alpha like him. I’d been a little embarrassed. Okay, I’d been momentarily mortified when he saw me naked, but it seemed he was feeling guilty. Maybe this wasn’t going to be bad at all.

My smile turned genuine. “Don’t worry about it. Things happen when people share the same house. I have bikinis that cover as much as those few drops of water did.”

Kodiak’s eyes went wide for a few seconds as his pupils dilated. He gripped the sides of the counter and nodded slowly a few times. His breathing grew heavier as his gaze darted down my body. Maybe I could have said something different, because it seemed like he was imagining me in a teeny bikini.

Since he appeared to be without words, I came around the island and held out my hand. “Let’s start again, shall we? Hi.I’m Nicolette Lancaster. It’s nice to finally meet you. You have a gorgeous home, and I thank you for giving up your room for me.”

Staring for another moment, Kodiak finally took a few steps toward me. He was a good foot taller and took up nearly the entire width between the island and the counter section against the wall. Every inch of him looked solid as rock too.

A smile curled up his lips and warmth made him even more gorgeous than before. “It’s good to meet you too, Nicolette. I’m Kodiak Volkov.”

The second his massive hand enfolded mine, the world as I knew it exploded.

Like I was hit by a lightning bolt, my whole body shuddered. Slick wet my thighs and my heartbeat thumped hard in my ears. Even though my heat had been triggered by Ezekiel already, Kodiak’s touch was just as powerful. What I had felt for Ezekiel was animal lust accompanied by a deep down feeling that we were mates. With Kodiak, the sensation was even more primal. We were mates in the way a giant mountain was meant to protect its luscious valley. A force of nature.

It had been a small chance that I would have been compatible with any of the Alphas here, but with two of them? I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it.

But fuck, I wanted to wrap my legs around this big hunk of a lumberjack.

A growl roared up his throat and suddenly I was in his arms. His mouth was on mine, hot and demanding. No cute and tentative first kiss for us. This was earthshaking.

And I could do nothing other than throw my whole self into it.

CHAPTER SEVEN – Kodiak

Mine.

That was all I could think. Every other thought fled from my head from that booming claim.

I had to have her. I needed to hold her, taste her, bite her.

Nicolette was tiny against me, so perfectly beautiful and feminine. She moaned against my mouth as I thrust my tongue between her lips. She tasted like she smelled: like a tropical paradise. Sweet and hot and I fucking wanted to devour her in every way.

Easily I picked her up and sat her on the edge of the island counter. Her skirt rode up her toned legs and I followed along that silky bare skin to knead her thighs. My thumbs swiped by her wetness, and my hard dick jolted with the sensation.

Her slick. So wet. Just for me.

“Kodiak,” Nicolette murmured my name, running her nails along my jaw through my beard. Atka barked, and if she hadn’t done a sexy twist of her tongue around mine in that moment, I would have snarled at the husky.

I thrust my hips forward between her legs, and we both gasped. I did it a few times more, slamming hard, unable to stop, and wanting our clothes gone so I could fuck her.

Everything I had hoped to happen had come true. Nicolette was every bit as gorgeous as her pictures, even more so than that red haired nymph on the beaches I’d seen. She was sweet and patient and fit just right in my arms. And we were compatible. No, that stupid word wasn’t enough. She was made for me. She was everything.

Fuck that she was also compatible with Ezekiel. He wouldn’t dare stand in my way. She wasmine.

---