Page 57 of The Dire Legacy

His gray eyes narrow when he glances at me. “Don’t pout like that or I’ll bite that lip. It’s a good thing or the world would be overrun like Dire Day.”

“But, the puppies!” I just can’t imagine the little puff balls I saw today dying in only two or three years. That seems so fast.

Especially when there’s freaks like me that don’t even age.

“There will be tons. You’ll have your fill of babies.” He pulls me against him and I can feel how hard he is. “Or, maybe we’ll just have to keep practicing for our own.”

My stomach knots. I’d like that. “But, what if they’re like me?”

His lips skim over the fuzz growing on my head. “Then they’d be perfect like you.”

“Michael. They’d be hunted like me.” The thought that the institute is searching for me hasn’t lightened. “They’ll find the plane. What if they find me?”

“They’d have to kill me.” His growl sends a hot shiver through me. “If they don’t, I’ll be bringing all the hounds of hell with me to get you.”

Chapter 17

Michael

It took a week, but her dark hair is long enough to lay flat on her head in an adorable pixie look.

I can’t wait until it’s long enough I can thread my fingers in it.

Leverage.

The thought of tangling my hand in her long locks while I pound into her from behind makes me so hard it’s difficult to walk.

Maybe one day, our children will outnumber the wolves. If Sam can do it, why not me? Hope and I will outlive him and Dani. Probably even their kids. I’ll make my own army.

I get a twinge in my gut when I think of Angie. She was never right for me. I tried to warn her.

All she did was make me appreciate what I have now even more.

The morning crisp of late September is lasting longer into the day before it finally warms. It makes for good wood splitting weather. Not cold enough to freeze, but easy to work in.

Whoever was here before us built a masonry heater in the greenhouse, but didn’t get a chance to stockpile enough fuel before Lucky got to them. I’d like to fill the shed before it snows.

Alpha has been working the fish wheel at the lake, and showing some of the other half-breeds that are capable.

We’re like a regular Swiss Family Robinson, making a living in the wild.

I don’t bother bringing the ax in, but leave it stuck in the chopping block for tomorrow.

My ears prick when I hear a high pitched whine, but I can’t place it. The sound seems far away, but the little hairs on the back of my neck stick up like it’s close.

What the hell is that?

It’s fading. Maybe it’s just in my head.

“Well, hello my sexy man.” Hope steps around the kitchen counter by the window and wraps her arms around me, burying her nose against my sweaty chest. “I love how you smell after splitting wood. Like spicy pine nuts.”

“How about—” I hoist her so her legs circle my waist. “—I split you with my wood, and show you what I’ve got saved in my nuts?” It’s hard to kiss her when I’m smiling this wide, so I snarl and nip her bottom lip between my teeth instead.

Her shrieking giggle makes my cock stiffen almost immediately. “It’s been like an hour since the last time. How could you get any stacked?”

“I work better with empty balls.” Carrying her over to the island, I’m just touching the hem of her shirt when the sound returns. “Can you hear that?”

Her brows squirrel together over those big green eyes. “What? You have better ears than me.” As if to prove her point, she feathers a finger along the length of one sending a ripple of electricity through me.

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