Page 88 of Smoke and Moon

Strange, but okay.Morlie slipped her hands into Chanin’s, fascinated to see what he would do.When she was younger and would fall and scrape a knee, her mother would blow on it and kiss it to make it better.However, she also used an antiseptic bandage to cover it, which was the real magic.

Chanin again assessed her hands as he turned them, rotating her wrist to inspect all the damage.Then he bowed his head at the same time he lifted her hands closer to his face.Before she knew what was happening, he slowly licked one of her hands from the tips of her fingers with the tiniest cuts to the deeper ones in her palms.

She choked on the air in her throat at his actions and tried to snatch her hand back, but he held fast.

His firm, manacle-like fingers around her wrist held her in place.

“Chanin, stop.What are you doing?”

However, he didn’t respond; he continued his ministrations as he switched to the other hand.He swirled his long, talented tongue around and between her fingers, as he glided over sensitive skin.

She tried to tell herself that the warmth dispersing up from her hands and up her arms, causing a frisson of heat down her spine, was because her skin was raw, not because of Chanin’s treatment of her hands.And not because it brought memories back to her mind of his head between her thighs and his rapacious tongue gliding between another part of her body.

Liar.

Morlie ignored the tiny voice inside of her as she stopped resisting his avid attention to her injuries.Once she was no longer fighting him, she realized there wasn’t only warmth and a tingling sting in her hands but a fiery sensation making her wince and hiss.Something mysterious tugged at her palms, knitting the ripped flesh back together.

Tears popped from her ducts and filled her eyes, causing her to have an underwater-type view of Chanin.

Finally, it was over, and Chanin glanced up at her.He released her hands and lifted one of his to swipe an errant tear away.“Better?”

She glanced away from his mesmerizing eyes, noting that the orange of his shirt made the Nordic-blue more breathtaking.Looking down at her hands, she saw they were still red but healed.She flipped them over and then back again only to see the same thing: no more cuts.“How...?”

“Healing properties are in our saliva and wolf DNA.Once you change, you will be able to heal yourself.”

“When will I—?”

“Good, you’re home.So much is going on.”A short tornado of a person chattering a mile a minute breezed through the door.

“Runt—” Chanin attempted to get in a few words, but the person continued to rattle off information.

“Before you can ask, yes, I stayed at your parent’s house while you were gone—” The young woman, appearing around the same age as Morlie, stopped dead at the end of the couch and stared from Chanin to Morlie.“Well.Who’s this?”

Morlie met the young woman’s curious gaze as she wondered if she lived there and what the relationship was between the intruder and Chanin.

Chanin rose to his full impressive height, but even from a distance, he dwarfed the woman significantly.“Runt, this is Morlie.Morlie, this is Rudie, my assistant and all-around pest.”

The broad smile on Rudie’s face showed that she was not offended by his words.“Alpha, you should know better than to put me down in front of mixed...”Rudie’s nose wiggled as she sniffed the air, then leaned forward more and sniffed again.

Chanin growled at the short one’s action.

Morlie wanted to growl, too, anything to keep the heat from infusing her cheeks.She figured if she could smell the bright, floral yet earthy scent surrounding the other woman, then Rudie’s sense of smell would probably be ten times her ability if Rudie was a wolf.

“Your mate.Well, not fully.”If Rudie’s grin could get bigger, it did in that moment.

“Yes.”Chanin held a hand down to Morlie.

“Nice to meet you, Rudie.”Morlie gave a small wave.She slipped her hand into his, allowing him to pull her to her feet.Morlie was fascinated by how even the soreness was gone from her hands.

“You, too, Morlie.The Pack will be excited to hear our Alpha’s mate has finally arrived.”

‘Finally arrived.’Morlie wondered if all the Omega Pack knew of the situation at the council meeting.

“I need to present her before the Pack,” Chanin declared.

Rudie glanced down at the clipboard in her hand.“I can get the word out that you want everyone at the meeting grounds.But Valko.”She looked at Chanin.“And as you ordered, most of the Pack is stuck close to central areas, but some are worried and won’t have clarity on the situation.When the teams returned, Bleddyn sent a brief but informed everyone you would offer more when you returned.”

Morlie wondered what introducing her to his Pack entailed.She also felt concerned about the growing situation and the Valko person.

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