Page 69 of Wolf Hunter

I turn to him. “You can’t believe in garbage sayings like that.”

Only, he definitely does. The powerful and deadly alpha has a terribly deep sentimental side. That must be his mother’s influence in him. No wonder why he still mourns her death.

I curse as I whirl around to face him, and he yanks me against him. How easy it would be to push him on the bed and distract him with my body…

“Stop being this way,” I whisper to him as he laughs. For someone who’s trying to get me to leave, he’s sure having a hard time actually letting me go. But for some reason, I don’t mind. “Stop being—”

“What?” he asks with a seductive smile.

I wiggle to get free, and of course he holds me tighter, bending to tug my earlobe between his teeth.

Stop being wonderful.

“Go on, Tash. Go back to your witches and get your answers. I’ll do my part here.”

“If I go, you know I won’t come back.” I jab a finger into his chest and fight against a grin as he continues to laugh.

Using laughter as a shield. A technique I’m also pretty fucking familiar with.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” he says.

Oh boy indeed. The man just said the one thing I might not be able to recover from: he opened the door to the cage willingly.

Fuck.

“Argh!” I fight to get away from him as he rubs his chin along the top of my head. The gesture seems too intimate.

He stalks closer before I can shoot away and locks his hands around my throat, tilting my head sideways to look at him. My hunger rises as he trails his thumb along my pulse, and fuck if I don’t want to have him again.

“You’d rather I keep you here and make you my sex slave? I can do that,” he offers with a teasing lilt to his voice.

But we’ve both come too far to actually believe he’ll make good on it.

I don’t trust myself to say anything else, and so I lift onto the tips of my toes to capture his lips. Reid inhales the moment I press my chest to his, the sweetness of the kiss taking me aback.

His gaze darkens on me as it skims my face. “How about I give you one more orgasm before you go? You know, one for the road? Something to remember me by?”

“Don’t tempt me,” I warn then he releases my throat.

He sighs heavily, rethinking it, and steps away. We waste no more time. After getting dressed in those grimy borrowed clothes, I follow Reid down to the foyer of the mountain mansion and smartly keep my lips zipped shut against further argument.

Unless I want to give voice to the abnormal storm of emotions seething inside of me. It’s too soon for any more stark truths or realizations. Plus, I have no clue what to make of those sensations, and one wrong word risks me losing my chance to leave.

“You’re going to freeze out there” he begins, “and I can’t give you a ride into town. I’m sorry. If the others knew what I was doing—”

“It’s fine. I’m no stranger to walking. I do it all the time.” I slap my thighs for some forced levity. “I’ve got good, strong legs.”

He turns to me, pushing one of his old coats into my arms and watching me thread myself into it. Much too large, but it will be great to have the extra insulation against the snow.

I’ll have to make do with my own damp boots, but at least they fit, and I know they won’t rub me in all the wrong places. Reid hands off a pair of gloves, a scarf, and his old hat until I not only throb from the sex but I smell like him too.

Surrounded by him in every way imaginable. I wonder if it’s a wolf thing—so the others have a harder time tracking my scent. Must be.

He stares at me with a slight frown pulling his features south. I don’t want to see it or think about how much this might be affecting him.

“Go on, now,” he urges. “I’ll thin the magic wards around the territory, but it’ll only last a few minutes. You’re wasting time.”

“I’m sure the others will be so heartbroken that I didn’t say goodbye to them. Do you think you could find Emily and tell her to watch her step now that she doesn’t have me to lean on all the time?”

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