My heart falls.

He really does want to get away from me.

“I don’t know,” I say. “The thing is…”

“Yes?”

“I feel something for you,” I blurt out, my cheeks burning. “I don’t know if it’s real, but I feel close to you. I care for you. Tonight, when I found you gone, I panicked.”

“You did?” he asks, sounding incredulous. “Why?”

“I thought you might be hurt, and it made me crazy. I couldn’t stand it. I just had to see you again.”

He sighs, looking down at the ground. “I feel something, too,” he whispers. “I don’t know what it is. I’ve never been in love. I don’t know if I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life.”

This admission makes my heart ache even more. I can’t imagine what he’s been through, the trauma he’s suffered, the lengths he’s had to go to just so he could survive. The idea of having no one, being completely alone, is so alien to me that I can’t even imagine it.

Peter looks up at me suddenly. His green eyes are wide, lit by the pale light of the moon into shimmering emeralds.

“I don’t know how to love,” he admits. “Even if I could fall in love with you, I know I’d only let you down.”

His words completely, utterly break my heart. Tears sting my eyes, and I lean forward, putting my hands on his cheeks.

“Don’t worry about anything, then,” I whisper. “Just feel this. Feel me.”

For a moment, he stays frozen in place, a million miles away, even though he’s right in front of me. Then, he leans forward and kisses me.

When our lips touch, my body responds immediately. The aching between my legs spreads fire along my belly, making my nipples tight until they feel like red-hot embers. I grab his shoulders and pull him towards me, running my hands across the bare skin of his chest.

Peter shoves me against the ground, grabbing my waistband and tearing open my pants. I lift my butt as he yanks the jeans down my thighs. He barely gets them to my kneesbefore I feel him grab my hips and flick his tongue against my clit.

I throw my head back and scream, my hands digging into the ground. My knees are trapped by my pants, and I can’t get my legs open, no matter how hard I try. Peter keeps me pressed against the ground by the hips and teases against the outer lips of my pussy with his mouth, sliding his tongue around to tease my clit.

The orgasm takes me by surprise, building so slowly it feels almost like teetering on the highest point of a roller coaster. I grab Peter’s head, tangling my fingers in his hair as I rock my hips against his mouth and let out a scream that echoes through the clearing and out into the forest.

I’m a trembling wreck as Peter tugs my jeans all the way off my legs and climbs on top of me. When I look up at him, he’s wearing that cheeky grin again, but I don’t want to slap him this time. Instead, I reach up and catch his bottom lip with my fingers, pulling him down to me.

He kisses me with even more urgency now, his tongue diving into my mouth as he pushes me down to the ground. I can feel his hard cock pressing against me, and I grip him with my knees, twisting my hips until he slips inside.

Peter groans, a shudder running through his entire body. He props himself up on his arms, looking down at me as he thrusts his hips forward. I brace my hands on his forearms and smile up at him, rocking my hips back to slide him even deeper inside.

A growl rises in his throat that is more wolf than man. When he grabs my shoulders and digs his fingers into my flesh, I can feel the sharp tips of his claws. Even though it scares me,I know he won’t truly hurt me. The sense of danger turns me on even more.

Peter’s cock gets thicker and harder as he moves in long, slow strokes. Another orgasm shudders through me. As my pussy convulses around him, Peter stops and rests his head on my shoulder, waiting for the waves to subside before he starts to thrust again.

I wrap my arms loosely around him, clinging on for dear life as his thrusts get harder and faster. Every stroke triggers another orgasm from me until I’m trembling, nothing more than a wreck of utter surrender.

Peter throws his head back and cries out, thrusting his hips into me with all the strength in his body. I open my legs and scream as his hard cock pounds the end of me, triggering a wave of pleasure that blurs all my senses.

When Peter collapses against me, panting for air, I wrap my arms and legs around him, stroking his hair as I bury my face in his shoulder. He’s trembling all over as his body shudders with the release of his orgasm.

I don’t ever want to let you go, poor little lonely wolf. But I can’t bear to keep you in a cage, either.

I push away all my thoughts and feelings and just cling to him, praying I have satisfied his body, even if I can’t comfort his heart.

Chapter 16 - Peter

For the second morning in a row, I wake up with my arms around Lucy.