Page 59 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

"Oh, everything you heard is true, but this silver-haired girl walked into my life, turning everything upside down." He brushed his lips against mine. "The first time I met her, she challenged me, infuriated me, and was so damn alluring. The first moment I laid eyes on her and she cut through all my bullshit, I was a goner."

"You expect me to believe that?" My head didn't believe him, but my heart and wolf did. The awful stench of a lie was missing. My wolf whimpered, wanting to get closer. "You fought with me constantly and disappeared until last night. You didn't even come into the shop."

"When I lost my dad, it was the worst day of my entire life," he said as he took my hand. "And I swore I would never grow close to anyone else again. But then you came here, and not only did I care for you, but I fell for you so damn hard that the thought of losing you makes me insane."

Happiness surged through me stealing my breath. I never thought I’d even feel a fraction of this ever again, but that was the kind of effect this man had on me.

"So you ran?" He and I were more alike than I’d thought.

"Yeah, but every day, the urge to see you again got stronger and stronger. Watching you with Killian would have killed me." He turned his body fully toward me. "But yesterday, I couldn't stay away any longer. It was like something pulled me back here in the nick of time. I'd only been home a few minutes before something told me you were outside. And there you were, running away."

"Griffin—" I started, but he placed a finger over my lips.

"Please let me get this out." His irises darkened to a brown.

I nodded, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"Between you confiding your secret to me and Luna trying to hurt you, I knew my heart was done for. That I would have to watch you with Killian, from the sidelines." He rubbed histhumb against my wrist. "But then I came into the house to help you get shifted back and realized that, not only are you sleeping in Olive's room alone, but you don’t love Killian in the way I feared you did, and I didn't need to worry about betraying my best friend any longer. You are fair game."

"What are you talking about?" There was no way he could've known that Killian and my relationship was based on pure friendship.

"Because I found this." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.

My breath caught as he showed me the letter I’d written to Killian. Griffin did know everything. "That's why you kissed me."

"Yup." He waggled his brows. "The only thing standing between you and me wasn't a problem after all. I wouldn't be betraying my best friend, and I had to see if you felt the same way about me."

"And what did you determine?" My breath caught as I looked at his lips.

"That you do." He kissed me, not holding back any longer. My stomach fluttered, and my head grew dizzy as his tongue slipped inside my mouth. His hands went to my waist, dragging me onto his lap. He began to whisper against my lips.

“At first, I thought it couldn’t be possible, that this feeling was lust. Each time I see you… touch you… kiss you, I can’t focus on anything else.” He pulled back, and his eyes stared into my soul as he whispered, “We’re fated mates. Tell me that you feel it?” He peppered kisses down my face.

His words crumbled every wall I’d built up around my heart. Maybe he’d been a player before, but everything inside told me that we’d changed each other. Thetugbetween our souls was painfully blissful, as if we needed to connect to make us whole. “I feel the same way.”

I straddled him, needing to be closer, but I still couldn’t get close enough. My body caught fire as I slipped my tongue into his mouth, and he matched me stroke for stroke. The sweet scent of arousal coursed between us.

Between his minty taste and his smell, my head swam in a way I never wanted to end. I moaned when his fingertips brushed the bare skin of my stomach, and my need for him slammed through me.

His hand slipped under my shirt, cupping my breast as I rocked against him. I had no clue what I was doing, but he bucked against me, making me feel as if I was doing something right.

As I kissed down his neck, he sighed. “Wait. We can’t do this.”

The rejection stung as I pulled back. “What? But I thought—”

“Iwantto.” He removed his hands from under my shirt and growled. “But you deserve better than this. I don’t want to take you in Killian’s house while he’s out. You deserve to be courted and pampered. I want to give you all of my attention and go back to an empty house so we can take our time in my bed.” He kissed me and ran his fingers through my hair. “I want our first time together to be the best memory possible because it’ll be the start of our whole life together.”

“You do want this?” The tug had become an overwhelming leaping sensation that made me yearn for every inch of him. For him to want to wait made me fall even more.

“There’s no doubt in my mind.” He gently pressed his lips to mine. “So, Dove, what are you doing tonight?”

“Sterlyn,” my name fell from my lips.

“What?” His brows furrowed. “Sterlyn?”

“It’s my real name.” No one had called me that in so long. “I didn’t tell Killian my name, so he started calling me Dove.”

“It’s beautiful.” He brushed his lips against mine. “So, what are you doing tonight, Sterlyn?”

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