Page 45 of Forbidden Wolf

Levi’s pace slowed as sunlight appeared above us, his delicate wolf senses finding us a waterfall to drink from. I dipped my hair in, scrubbing it with my fingers until the mud polluted the fresh water and my scalp felt free.

“Come in,” Levi said, splashing in the water and dipping his head under it.

A wound still marred the skin at his throat, but he was healing. For a brief moment, I wondered if the bite would kill him, but then I remembered that after my bite, he’d been able to withstand Sam’s attack.

My clothes were stuck to me with a layer of mud, but I felt shy and vulnerable to his piercing gaze. I washed the mud from my tattered clothes and placed them on a bush to dry, before slipping into the cool water. My fingers scrubbed the dirt from my skin until I felt raw. When I caught Levi watching me, I held my breath and submerged myself. Those eyes of his saw too much and the impenetrable mask I wore back at the coven dissolved when he was near.

My hand covered where the master had touched my cheek, the area still burning even in the freezing cold of the water. My heart beat double time at the memory, terror pulsing deep in my stomach. I didn’t know if I would be able to resist him if I faced him again.

Warm arms circled my waist to tug me up above the surface of the water. Levi kissed down my spine as I gulped in breath. I’d promised myself that I would steel myself against him since he’d been so resistant to me. Goosebumps rose on my flesh, but they had nothing to do with the cold water.

My eyes closed and I allowed myself to succumb to sensation. I’d tried to be strong for too long, hiding in the shadows to suppress my emotional pain when it got too much.

Levi took that burden from me, freeing me for the first time in years. I felt weightless in his arms, finally returning to that wild and free woman who roamed the rainforest at night, far from watching eyes.

I wanted to resist him, to gather what remained of my pride, and show him that I didn’t need him since he had been able to function without me. My emotions warred with each other, until Levi’s lips met mine and everything else dissolved away. His mouth swallowed all my arguments, his tongue sliding against mine to coax me into submission.

He left me stripped bare emotionally and trembling in his arms.

I had no pride left because I would do anything just to feel the warmth of his affection one more time. The last time we were together Levi stole my heart. I was lonely and vulnerable after all those years alone. This time if I wasn’t careful, Levi could devastate me and steal my soul.

***

Tasha

The waterfall cloaked us from the world, forming a wall.

After that experience with the master at the cave, I needed to remove his residue from my aura. One touch, and I felt dirty, that hellspawn polluting and freezing me by his words and intent.

My soul felt cold, making me tremble from the inside until my hands shook. Levi’s hand grasped my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. Heat burned there and infused into me. His hands skimmed over me, his lips leaving a path of seduction where they went. Nothing else ever had the effect on me that Levi did. Goosebumps rose on my skin as if to search for his touch. My stomach clenched as it reminded me who I truly belonged to. His lips kissed down every vertebra on my spine, his hands cupping my hips, causing a gasp to escape me.

“Mine,” he said in that growly tone that meant his wolf was lurking close to the surface, his teeth grazing my flesh.

Standing here, a light electrical current reappeared over my skin. My body swayed closer to his. I wanted to be his, but I knew when we were safe, he would leave me until the preordained time we agreed on so long ago. How could I return to a twilight existence when I’d found him again? Our happy ever after had always been there to tempt me, but now it seemed beyond my grasp. A mystical place that would never truly exist.

When I frowned, Levi backed me against the wall, his muscular frame caging me in. “Our bites should have killed each other, Tasha. Instead, they freed us from the prejudice of our people. He bit me thinking he would kill me, but your bite protected me.”

The master had spoken of a mark earlier. Is that what I’d done when I bit him all those years ago?

Levi kissed the sensitive spot behind my ear that made my toes curl and my head tilt to allow him access. His tongue traced the artery down my neck, ending in a kiss at the junction with my shoulder.

“We belong together,” he whispered against my throat, his lips teasing me. “We always have.”

He didn’t give me time to think. Instead, his mouth covered mine in a kiss that stole my breath and every one of my questions. His tongue demanded entry, and I opened myself willingly. This was what was missing in my life.

Levi.

His rough palm massaged my breast, making me arch and moan. My skin tingled where it connected with his in awareness.

“What are you doing to me?” I mumbled against his insistent lips, desperately trying to clear my thoughts.

“The same thing you’ve always done to me. You drive me fucking crazy.” He dragged me against him to show me exactly what his reaction was.

“We can’t, Levi.” I pressed my hand against his chest as I struggled for sanity, drowning under the influence of his presence. He’d gone from abstaining from touching me for days to scorching me with his intensity.

“We already have, Tasha.”

It was true. We’d given into this magnetic attraction before, consequences be damned. I’d been lost so long that I needed to find where I belonged again. The heat in his gaze and the warmth of his arms around me thawed my frozen soul.

---