Page 29 of Jasper

But mostly what she was feeling right now?

The ridge of his erection pressing against her stomach.

The ache in the center of her body increased as the part of her that was wolf rolled and stretched inside her, wanting to be close to him.

It was wildly unfair that they’d lost so much time because of one asshole alpha and his backwoods beliefs that she wassomething to be locked away and kept from mating and having children.

His hand moved from her arm to her back, pulling her even closer. She could smell his wolf—all dark woods and moonlight—and her own arousal, the two scents combining in the air between them. She wanted to say a hundred things, but words failed her.

All she could do was stand in his hold and helplessly stare up at him. If he let go, she’d flop to the ground like a fish on the riverbank, she was sure of it.

She whispered his name.

He crushed his lips against hers with a snarling growl. Curling her fingers tighter into his shirt, she tilted her hips into him and opened her mouth to the sweep of his tongue. The demanding kiss drove the breath from her lungs and made her skin prickle. Their tongues danced and slid together like they’d done a hundred times before everything went to hell.

His wolf rumbled in his chest, the sound vibrating and making her hands tingle.

He eased from the kiss and her world spun.

“Come with me to my place,” he said gruffly. “I want to do what I should have done seven years ago.”

“What?”

He brushed his thumb along her throat and a riot of shivers wove down her spine like a caress. “Mate you. Mark you. Make you mine forever.” He leaned in close and brushed his lips over hers once more. “Tell me you want me too, Melody, because if I take you to my place and we make love again, I’m nevereverletting you go.”

She exhaled sharply. It’s what she’d always wanted to hear from him.

“I want you too, more than anything or anyone.”

He took her hand and walked through the room, but not toward the front door. Instead, he took her to a small hallway and entered a code at a steel door. The lock clicked and he pulled the door open, revealing a set of steps leading down.

“No one can know about this, not even your parents,” he said, tugging her hand to follow him as he headed down the stairs.

“Of course.”

“Everyone lives down here,” he said. “All the shifter groups have their own private living areas, and there’s a marketplace with a cafeteria and other businesses.”

“I had no idea. I assumed there were other apartment complexes.”

“Just the one,” he said. “It’s mostly for when non-shifters bring their families to the park so they have a home to show them without revealing the truth about shifters. Or for visitors, like your parents.”

“There are non-shifters here?”

They reached a hall at the end of the stairs and walked along it until they reached another security door, which he unlocked with a code. As the door swung open, she could see a room that was barely illuminated with soft lighting around the perimeter and was filled with small homes.

“Yes,” he said, lowering his voice.

She kept forgetting how late it was. She was amped up on adrenaline and arousal, a potent combination for forgetting all sorts of things.

“We should talk about that later,” she whispered.

The door shut softly behind them, and he gave her a wicked grin. “You read my mind.”

She let out aneepas he swung her up in his arms and walked swiftly across the large room, stopping long enough to open the door of a small home that had what looked like rocks on the exterior, which made it look like a cave or den.

He put her on her feet and shut the door.

“I’d give you the tour,” he said, pulling his shirt over his head and reaching for hers, “but I could pound nails with my dick because you smell so fucking good right now.”

---