Page 26 of Wolf Marked

After a few moments of uneasy silence, Astrid said, “So is that it? You came to apologize?”

“Not exactly.” He rubbed the back of his neck. His gaze bounced around the tent,everywhere but on her again. “About before…by the pomple tree…”

Oh no. Not this. Not now.She had thought she wanted to talk about it before, but she’d changed her mind. The words coming out of his mouth weren’t the ones she wanted to hear. Another rejection. She’d rather forget the entire thing altogether.

“Erec—” She tried to stop him.

“I shouldn’t have,” he continued over her. “I shouldn’t have, but I did anyway. It was a mistake.”

As if she’d been punched in the stomach, all the air whooshed from her lungs. Was being with her really that terrible? Was she really so—

Then his eyes found hers, and his darkened gaze locked her in place, stealing the rest of her thoughts right out of her own head. There it was again, the primal, hungry look he’d given her before. The one that made fire shoot through her veins. Astrid’s heart galloped.

When Erec spoke again, his voice took on an entirely different tone. It deepened, became gruff, as he leaned forward. His smoky scent filled her nose. “The thing is,” he drawled, “I just couldn’t control myself.”

She swallowed, her words lost in the fog of desire building inside her. But even as her conscience shouted at her to not give in, her control was slipping away, her inner voice becoming muffled by the drumming of her pulse. Why did this man have such an effect on her?

“And I really shouldn’t be doing this, but…” His lips were on hers in the next second, his hand coming up to tangle in her hair.

Astrid’s body responded without instruction. She moaned as her lips parted, welcoming him to deepen the kiss. And he did greedily. Then in one swift motion, he leaned forward even more, lowering her onto her back, and shifted himself on top of her.

She closed her eyes, her brain adrift. She was lost in the taste, smell, and feel of him. Of the heat of his skin under her hands, of the way his tongue danced with hers, of the pressure of his hips against her own. She was completely immersed in the moment.

Her hands slipped under his coat and ran along the defined muscles of his back. Erec groaned against her mouth, the sound desperate and full of need. He pressed his hardness against her stomach, and she gasped. For someone who had just told her he’d made a mistake being with her like this, his body said something entirely different.

But she wasn’t any better. When it came to him, there were things she had toldherself and then couldn’t follow through on. It was all so confusing. She couldn’t trust herself or make sense of what was happening, but she didn’t want to think about that now. All Astrid knew for sure was that this felt right, them being together. She didn’t want it to end.

His hand found the waistband of her stockings, slithering underneath the stretchy fabric to the apex of her thighs. As his knee came up to separate her legs, he applied the smallest bit of pressure with his thumb to the most secretive part of her. Moaning, she opened her thighs wider for him, her body responding to his touch on its own.

“Astrid.” His words came out in a husky pant. His tone said he was trying to resist, but the swift, aggressive nature of his touch said the opposite. That despite the conflict raging inside him, he couldn’t ignore the need thrumming between them.

He slid one finger past the tightness of her lower folds and then another. She sucked in a sharp breath as he filled and stretched her, mind reeling with pleasure.

“Dammit, Astrid,” he panted against her lips. “Being with you—this—it feels right but wrong at the same time. None of it makes sense.”

He stroked her up and down, in and out, as his thumb rubbed her sensitive nub at the same time. She trembled, but he didn’t stop, only sped up his pace.

“I know.” The words came out on their own.

Breathing hard, Erec pressed his forehead against hers. As he stared deeply into her eyes, she saw torment captured in his lustful stare. “When I heard the wolves’ howls, I could think of nothing else but getting to you. I thought I’d lost you.”

He took a deep, shuddering breath. “I would have never forgiven myself.”

What did he mean? Was he just feeling guilty about leaving her alone in the camp, or did he— Was it possible he cared about her? For a moment, her common sense floated back to her from a distant dream. This was all happening so fast. Her and him. Like this. Why did it feel like she was spinning out of control? Losing herself completely?

Astrid reached up and placed her hand on the side of his face, feeling the tickle of his stubble against her palm. He leaned into her touch and closed his eyes.

“I don’t…understand this…” he whispered.

She didn’t, either. But when his lips brushed against hers again, she arched up and captured them for another kiss. He didn’t fight it. He kissed her with even more fervor than before, the building passion between them silencing any lingering doubts. At the same time, his fingers continued to play with her until a delicious pressure began to build in her lowerabdomen.

When her climax peaked, everything inside her unraveled at once. Every nerve ending ignited, sending the world spinning around her. She gasped, but Erec’s lips muffled the sounds of ecstasy while he continued to ride out the waves of her orgasm.

When the fever finally ended, she stared up at him, dazed. “Erec…I…”

The sound of footsteps outside the tent shattered the reverie.

“Erec?” a male voice called.

---