Page 36 of Strawberry Moon

Ford

All the problems I’d been carrying around for years blew off my back in my race after Archer. They were like bugs on the windshield—I could watch them cling on for dear life, but the second they eased up, they flew off into the distance, forgotten. Unimportant.

So much nothing beside the tantalizing wag of Archer’s tail as he rushed through the shadows.

Strange, how the weight of those problems crashed back down on me the second Archer whined. He leaned against me, his full weight pressed against my body. The smell coming off him was sticky sweet, like strawberries and peach slices drowned in their own juices.

Fuck.Fuck.

I should’ve scented it before. Should’ve known. I was the one with the knowhow between us. But I hadn’t had a clue. My head was too messed up to pay close enough attention to Archer. Hell, it’d been years since I’d been around an omega in heat. It’d come on so fast, or I’d forgotten the smell. I—

I needed to keep it together. For Archer, I needed to do better than this.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, sinking my fingers into the thick fur around his neck, pulling him in, encouraging him to lean on me.

His front legs buckled, and his chin fell onto my naked thigh. His eyes, when he stared up at me, were gleaming. The pupils, wide and black, reflected the moon back at me balefully.

“You can howl. Linden will come.” It took effort to get the words out while I was holding him close, to encourage him to seek help from another alpha at a time like this.

What I wanted was to gather him up in my arms, keep him for my own. My wolf cried out to care for him.

But what the fuck did the wolf know? We hadn’t done this in years. And Archer—Archer deserved somebody steady, somebody reliable, to see him through his first heat. He needed better than me.

Only, when I mentioned Linden, Archer whined. He hid his face, which had the unfortunate side effect of nudging up the insides of my thighs, tickling the thin skin with the fur on his snout.

I shivered. Naked, there was no way to hide how his scent affected me. My cock was rigid and ready, precome glistening in a bead at the tip.

I’d have given anything—anyfuckingthing—for Archer to shift, to lean in and brush his full, pink lips across mine, and for me to be able to take his hand in mine. Just hold it. Be close. I could sate myself on that much.

But there I was, going selfish again, when he’d flinched away.

Clearly, he didn’t want Linden.

I scratched behind his ears. “We don’t have to call the pack,” I promised. “We can stay out here. I’ll—I’ll take care of you, Archer. I promise. Won’t let this go bad for you.”

His breath caught. I felt the rush against my balls. The nudge of his wet nose as he wiggled closer.

A nervous, breathy laugh escaped me, and I eased his head up with a touch to his canine chin. “Do you want to stay like this?”

He just whined, and I worried he was already too far gone. I’d have to find us somewhere safe, wrap around him. It’d be better if I shifted back too.

But before I could think of it too seriously, a ripple ran over Archer’s fur. It disappeared in a wave of light skin, and he came back sitting on his heels, both hands braced on my thigh before he pushed himself upright.

He was panting, his breaths coming quick. When he stared at me, his eyes were liquid black. “I’m okay.” His voice was raspy. He didn’t sound like he believed it at all.

“You are,” I swore. “You’re gonna be fine.”

My hand was still on his shoulder, but he hadn’t shrugged it off. In the blue moonlight, I took him in—the swaths of his pale skin, flushed red across his collarbone and the tops of his shoulders. Pink pooled at his kneecaps and—I swallowed—the flushed shaft of his dick.

Without fur, without the smell of leaves thrown up around us, there was only Archer and his warm, sweet, pulsing scent. It drew me in, but I knew better. I had to know better.

Dammit.

I pushed my fist into my leg, digging claws into the flesh of my thigh, just to try and clear my head. Startled, Archer blinked at me.

“What’s wrong?” He sounded small, afraid. And at the same time, there was a raspy need running through his every word and movement. But that was the heat. It didn’t have anything to do with me, specifically.

I shut my eyes. Was it wrong to say I wanted him?

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