Page 18 of Gavin

“Good, because my tiger has been acting up all day, especially once I was in my shift. He must have had some kind of supernatural clue that you were near.” He paused and then stepped closer until she could feel the heat from his body and they were almost touching. He towered over her by a foot and was so broad-shouldered and stacked with muscles.

“You’re my truemate,” she said. She grimaced as another giggle bubbled up in her chest. Tamping it down, she looked around the woods and said, “I don’t even know where I am.”

“Whisper Creek,” he said. “This is the pride’s territory you just crossed through. If you want to come with me back to my king’s house, I can grab my clothes and I’m sure I can find clothes for you there.”

“That would be great.” She stifled the urge to cover herself because he didn’t seem to mind being naked in front of her. And of course he was sexy as hell, so why wouldn’t he?

He took her hand and said, “Let’s walk, Sadie. It’s not too far to the king’s house.”

She slid her hand into his and all the nerves that had kept pinging inside her settled. She’d found her truemate. What were the freaking odds of that happening?

“So tell me where you came from,” he said.

“I was with the wolf pack,” she said.

“I didn’t know there was an albino wolf in the pack.”

“There’s not.”

He glanced at her with a raised brow which made her laugh.

“I mean, yes, I’m there, but I’m not part of their pack.” She paused before she told her story, worried what he might think of her.

He stopped walking and they faced each other.

“I know we just met. We’re virtual strangers but truemates, which means that I accept you, no matter what. And I hope that you’ll accept me too.”

“Of course I do,” she said. She shook her head. “I feel like I’m being a total weirdo. I just can’t seem to stop worrying about what you’ll think of me.”

“Don’t. I promise I’m just so damn happy to meet you. You’re beautiful, human and wolf, and whatever baggage you’ve got in your past is part of what made you who you are. I can’t wait to get to know you, all of you, and for you to get to know me.”

He was so freaking sweet she wanted to cry.

“I never cared so much about what someone thought of me until I met you,” she confessed.

“Me neither.” He gifted her with an amazing smile, which shook off the rest of her nerves.

She squeezed his hand and then tilted her face to his, silently asking for a kiss.

He lowered his head and kissed her.

The simple brush of his lips against hers was all the encouragement either of them needed to do more than just kiss. He hauled her close with a growl and her body crashed against his, her lush curves to the hard planes of his muscles and his erection trapped against her belly. She let herself go into the kiss as their lips parted and their tongues touched, and a swirl of need hit her right in the center of her body.

She moaned softly and he snarled and sucked on her bottom lip before lifting from the kiss.

“You’re so fucking addictive,” he said with a hoarse tone.

She’d never been called addictive before.

“You are too.”

“Let’s get going. I think you were about to tell me your life story?”

“Then you’ll tell me yours?”

“Absolutely.”

They clasped hands again, and while they walked, she told him about shifting as a teen and being ostracized and how everything had come to a head recently.

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