Page 29 of Witch's Wolf

A human. A human who sings like sin and burns like wildfire. A human who tastes like she was made just for me. Last night, I tasted that fire.

I won’t go to her. Won’t let myself touch her again. Because it ain’t happening. I can’t let it happen. Except, she’s already under my skin. And I don’t know how the hell to get her out.

By the time I make it home, I’m wound tight, my body betraying me with every damn thought of her. I push open the door, ready to drown myself in a cold shower, maybe a stiff drink, anything to erase the heat still simmering under my skin.

Cinnamon. Damn it.

I don’t have to follow the scent. I cross the living room and push the bedroom door open and there she is.

Naked in my bed, legs slightly parted, eyes burning with the same hunger as before.

My pulse kicks, hard and fast. The air is too thick to breathe. My body responds before my mind can shut it down, my cock is rock hard, straining painfully against the fabric of my jeans.

I have to walk away. Tell her to get dressed, to leave before I do something I can’t take back. But she’s looking at me like she knows exactly what I want. My wolf growls, asserting itself.

Mine. Dominate. Take.

Narrowing my eyes, I shake my head and growl.

“It ain’t happening,” I say, the words tasting like ash in my mouth, but I force them out anyway.

Erica doesn’t move. She stays right there, sprawled across my bed like she belongs in it, like she belongs to me. Her gaze flickers with a challenge. Or maybe it’s disappointment.

I clench my jaw. I’m too damn tired for this, too wired from Ray’s teasing, too raw from the way she tore through my defenses like they were nothing. It’s more than just exhaustion. It’s her. The way she looks at me like I’m all she wants. All she needs. It twists something deep inside me, something I can’t afford to feel.

“Get dressed,” I say, my voice rougher than I intend, but I’m fighting both the wolf and every manly instinct I have. “You’ve got a gig tonight.”

She blinks, slow and assessing. She languidly bends her leg, slowly tracing the other one with her foot. My heart thunders and my mouth is dry.

“That’s all you have to say?” she asks.

No. It’s not. But if I say more, I’ll end up right back where I started, trapped in her fire, drowning in the need to claim her. I rake a hand through my hair, exhaling hard.

“Get up. We’re going out.”

Erica’s brows lift, curiosity flickering through her expression, but she doesn’t argue. She slides out of bed, moving with the kind of grace that makes my pulse hammer harder. I force myself to look away, to focus on anything but the fact that she was just in my bed, naked, waiting for me and that I said no.

I take her to the one place that used to be off-limits, a place that once had my old Alpha tightening the reins on the pack. Shandaken.

Most of our kind steer clear, but Raul used to sneak out here, drawn to the kind of trouble our Alpha didn’t approve of. He got caught more than once. Never did learn his lesson.

I park near the main square, the town’s quiet hum vibrating under my skin. Erica watches me with barely contained amusement.

“What?” I grunt, shutting off the truck.

She smirks. “Just wondering what you’re up to, that’s all.”

Hell, so am I.

“I was here this morning,” she says, her voice light, but there’s curiosity underneath. “Didn’t have a chance to look around, though. Monica was in a hurry.”

I glance at her as two kids race past us, their laughter bouncing off the brick storefronts.

“Do you like it?”

She turns, taking in the quiet charm of Shandaken, her lips curving into a smile.

“It’s great. Of course, we could be doing something a lot more intimate, but…”

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