Page 72 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

I stared at his sleeping profile, the sun’s first rays lighting him like a statue, carved under a master’s hand from the finest marble. The curve of his full lips was enough to heat up my core, let alone the rest of him. He was truly as beautiful as he was rugged alpha.

He made me feel things I’d never felt before. I wanted more with him than just friendship, and in the warm rays of dawn, I couldn’t deny it anymore. He was mine, and I was his, and it was time to stop hiding behind my hurt and pain. Behind my fear.

Gael began to stir, and I bit my lip as I froze, not wanting to wake him so soon. He’d only been resting an hour or two, tops, and I knew he’d expended an enormous amount of energy, shifting multiple times and running all over the mountains hunting our attackers.

But his grip tightened on me, tucking me tighter against his chest and eliciting a perturbed squeak of protest from Nugget.

He buried his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply. A rock-hard erection grew under my thigh, and my needy pussy was already awake and dripping.

One of the big positives of pregnancy was that I got to blame that on the extra hormones. But frankly, the man had had me twisted in knots since day one. That was why I’d fought him so hard, pushed back against everything he said.

I didn’t want to want him when he acted like a superior asshole.

But also, I’d asked him to be friends. The fact that I wanted to rub myself on him like a wolf in heat wasnothis fault. It wasn’t at all fair for me to be drooling over him like he was a piece of meat when he was probably just experiencing your average case of morning wood.

Okay, let’s be honest. There was nothing about the man that wasaverage. He had a magnificent dick, and my mouth watered at the vividly delicious memories of our one glorious night together.

Damn, that had been so long ago. It felt like lifetimes had passed, even though it had only been about seven or eight weeks. That was exactly seven weeks and five daystoo long.

I shifted a little, rubbing my thighs together to try to get a little relief, hopefully without waking him. He shifted his grip, and I froze, but the hand that had been over my still-flat belly like a muscular seat belt withdrew, slowly driving me mad as his calloused palm dragged along the hem of my shirt, catching and lifting it, the tiny strip of exposed skin feeling like a livewire pressed against his warmth. His fingertips stopped at my waistband, a few inches above my pubic bone and very, very awake clit.

I wanted to put that handexactlywhere I needed it, but I was ninety-seven percent sure he was still sound asleep. His breathing was slow and easy, the rumble in his chest still low and persistent. He was exhausted.

This wasn’t going to work. I wanted to comfort him, but I needed some space or I was going to self-combust all over his eight-pack abs like a virgin with her first vibrator, and then I would look like a very confused she-wolf who didn’t know her own mind.

“Let’s be friends—oh, sorry I orgasmed on you while you were sleeping because your fingertips brushed my highly sensitive, overstimulated skin. I’m a needy bitch who can’t control herself.”

Yeah, no. Wasn’t going to happen.

I latched on to his large hand with both of mine, getting momentarily distracted by the beautiful contrast between our skin tones. He was a shade or two paler but more olive, while I had the healthy—if slightly waning—tan of a Texan who liked running outdoors. Even hishandswere hot. They were strong, wide and thick where mine were slim and small. He made me feel delicate.

That didn’t happen often as an alpha she-wolf. I could bench-press a full-grown human man without breaking a sweat. Weaker pack members didn’t attract me. But Gael? Damn, his dominance was addictive.

I was officially losing my mind. I lifted his hand cautiously, slipping myself sideways, toward the ground.

Nugget took that exact moment to panic, leaping off my chest like a rat off a sinking—err, sliding—ship and skittering across the windowsill like he was demon possessed.

“Where are you going?” The question was low and quiet, and it shouldn’t have sent a frisson of need sizzling through me,but we’d already covered the fact that I was on the edge of crossing lines that shouldn’t be crossed with one’s friend-zoned baby daddy.

“The bathroom,” I fudged, though as soon as I said it, I realized that nature was, in fact, calling.

“Come back quickly,” he murmured, pressing a tender kiss to the top of my hair. I closed my eyes for a second, soaking in the feeling. Feelings that weresonot friendly.

Gael treated me like no one else ever had, and if that ever changed, I was pretty sure something inside me would break for good.

I hustled to the bathroom, took care of business, and then hastily brushed my teeth. Anything to delay going back in there and dealing with my feelings.

But when I’d run a brush through my hair and straightened my clothes for the third time, I gave up on stalling. I tiptoed back into the room, just in case he’d drifted back off and I could leave him to rest. But deep brown eyes tracked me across the plush carpet with a predator’s intent, sending goose bumps across my arms.

Yet somehow, I wasn’t cold. I was hot under the collar, and he was taking up all the damnairin this room.

I sank to a seat on the foot of the bed, and he cocked an eyebrow in question.

“Why are you all the way over there?” He patted the top of his thigh in invitation, and I swallowed hard, already shaking my head.

“I… need some air. Got a little too warm.” I tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace.

Probably because I was guilty as fuck.

---