Page 10 of Rescued

He’s wearing my missing sweats and an old Alice in Chains concert shirt that I washed last week. My heart stutters as I take him in, my breath catching.

It’shim. The man from my dream.

I blink, half expecting him to vanish like some kind of mirage. But he doesn’t. He stands there, solid and real, and he’s even more stunning in person.

His shoulder-length black hair falls in soft waves around his face, framing sharp cheekbones and a straight nose that somehow makes him look both regal and wild. His full, sensuous lips curl into a small, half-hearted smile, but it’s his eyes that hold me captive.

They’re deep brown, warm and familiar, like they’ve been watching me my whole life.

My body reacts instantly. Heat floods through me, and my cock hardens painfully, pushing against the waistband of my boxers as if it has a mind of its own.

His nostrils flare, and for a moment, I swear he can smell my arousal.

The thought makes my face burn. I jerk my gaze away from his, my heart hammering. My gaze drifts lower—and stop dead.

There, peeking out from the neckline of my shirt, are faint scars.

My breath catches as I take in the almost-healed wounds around his neck, wounds that look exactly like the ones I saw on the wolf.

My mind races, trying to process what I’m seeing. Black dots dance in my vision, and a strange buzzing fills my ears.This can’t be real.

“What the fuck?” I mutter, my voice strangled and weak. My brain screams that it’simpossible, that I must be losing my mind. But no matter how much I try to deny it, the familiarity of those scars won’t let me go.

“Who are you?” I manage to choke out, my throat dry and tight.

The man tilts his head slightly, his lips parting as he speaks.

“I’m Mika,” he says, his voice deep and rich, rumbling like distant thunder. The sound settles over me, and I feel the ground sway beneath my feet as the darkness rushing in finally overtakes me.

Mika

Shit.

I dive through the doorway, catching Gabe just as his knees buckle. He’s heavy, all long limbs and solid muscle, but I manage to get my arms around him before his head can slam into the floor.

This isnothow I imagined our first real meeting would go!

Not that I’d expected some romantic, cinematic moment where Gabe takes one look at me, throws his arms around my neck, and professes his undying love. I’m not that naive. But this? Watching him faint at the sight of me? Definitely not part of the plan.

I adjust him in my arms, holding him steady as I glance down at his face. He looks pale, his breathing shallow but steady. It’s enough to calm my immediate panic, though there’s a weight in my chest that I can’t shake.

What the hell was I thinking?

I had options—or at least I thought I did. Then again, maybe I never did. With no clothes, no money, and no transportation, I was stranded. Everything I owned had been left behind on my former pack’s land, and I hadn’t exactly been in a position to negotiate with them to get it back.

Still, breaking into Gabe’s room while he slept and borrowing his clothes probably wasn’t my finest moment. I don’t mean to linger, but…

I can’t help myself.

Gabe is beautiful. Even in sleep, with his brow furrowed slightly and his lips parted just enough to make me ache, he drew me in. The long, lean lines of his body, his muscles taut under that warm, bronzed skin—it was all I could do not to reach out and touch him.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

Instead, I crept out of his room, trying to convince myself that being direct was my best option. Clearly, I’d been wrong about that.

“Maybe I should have tried harder to think of another way,” I mutter under my breath as I carry him into the bedroom.Too late now.

I settle onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard with Gabe cradled in my lap. The weight of him feels right somehow, his head resting against my chest like he belongs there. My arms tighten around him briefly before I force myself to loosen my grip.

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