Page 51 of Black Moon

Going through heat could be wonderful, or terrible, depending entirely on your comfort, and I knew, marrow deep, that after giving myself to this with someone I wanted so much, who made my heart swell up like the Grinch on Christmas, I wasn’t going to be able to play it cool or walk away easily.

With Linden, now—I needed this to not be an inconvenience for him. I needed him to want me like I wanted him.

“Can I help?” he asked gently.

Hearing that wastorture. Here I was, being more of a pain in the ass than ever and asking for even more from him.

On an inhale, my breath shook. I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

With a soft, amused smile, Linden leaned in and brushed his lips across my temple. He didn’t pull away when he was finished but buried his nose in my hair and breathed in deep, almost like it was an indulgence just to be near me. My heart raced faster and I nuzzled in close, leaning in until I felt his breath tickle the pulse point under my jaw.

“Why don’t you tell me what you’re thinking?” He kissed my neck, not claiming, not precisely. It was almost like, despite everything, he wasn’t in any rush to be rid of me.

I shut my eyes again, for the moment, letting him hold me up and trace his tantalizing lips anywhere he wanted.

At first, the words caught in my throat. I groaned, and only the feel of his smile pressed against my skin knocked me out of it.

“Are you sure you can be here? I mean, with Brook—”

Suddenly, Linden straightened. A jolt of fear shot through me. Was he going to go now that I’d reminded him of his actual responsibilities to his pack?

That wasn’t what I actually wanted. Not even a little.

“You’re worried about Brook?” he asked softly, his hand lifting to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing across my swollen bottom lip.

I nodded. “Just—so many alphas act like every single thing they do issoimportant, because they’re alphas. But you—you’re not like that. And I don’t want to keep you from where you need to be. I can manage.”

Linden’s scowl fell heavy, his lips turning into a frown. “I need to be here,” he said firmly. A shiver ran down my spine at that, the wolf in my head in full agreement on that point.

“I know, but—”

“You’re important.”

Oh. Oh, wow. Okay. Wasn’t expecting that.

He stalked forward then, his legs tangled up with mine, sending me shuffling backward toward his enormous, cozy bed. Hell, the quilt on there looked handmade, and the throw at the end definitely was.

Linden’s pack loved him, and it wasn’t hard to understand why. Unlike any alpha I’d ever known, he gave so much of himself to his pack, looking after their needs like they were his own.

When I needed him, he’d hardly hesitated. Well, he’d been slow to talk, but he’d been firm about being there for me.

My thighs hit the mattress and I sank back, leaving the alpha looming over me, his intense eyes skating over every inch of my face and down my body. I wanted to bare all to him, give myself over, and it was so easy to lean back on my hands, turn my head to expose my neck to him, let him take control.

But he didn’t push his advantage right away. No, he curled his fingers gently around my chin and turned me back to look at him.

When he leaned in, his tongue swept across my lips, a hot, searing invasion that left me whimpering into his mouth.

“Brook is taken care of,” he assured me. “He had his sister, Skye, his family is nearby. And he has my number. But there’s nothing he needs more than space and time to heal.”

Fucking hell, he was putting together an awful lot of full sentences. There I was, couldn’t manage more than a moan, pushing the balls of my feet into the floor so I could press my rigid cock against his firm thigh, and Linden wanted to make sure I felt comfortable, that I knew his attention was right here.

“I want you to stop worrying. Let me take all that, for a while. All you need to do, Colt”—his voice lowered to a growl that made my skin tingle and tighten—“is give yourself to me.”

Holy fucking hell. I dropped my head back, and Linden bent to drag his teeth across the curve between my neck and shoulder. The sound that came out of me was practically feral, and I didn’t care.

He wanted me? Fine. All of me. He’d have it.

I scrambled with the buttons on my shirt, but Linden wasn’t as patient as all that. With a confident flick, he undid the button of my trousers, unzipped them, and shimmied them down my hips with my boxers all at once.

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