Page 12 of The First Year Continued
We sat there for a while, a comfortable silence between us. She snuggled into my hold deeper and deeper until we were tangled in each other’s embrace while the world changed from day to night around us. Surprisingly, no one came around. I could hear students and other people moving around, talking, making noise, but no one bothered us.
I wished we could stay like that forever.
“Do you want to go inside? It’s getting cold and today has been a doozy.”
She laughed. “It really has been a day. Can we stay here a bit longer? It’s peaceful.”
“We can do whatever you want to, sweetheart.” The word poured out of my mouth effortlessly.
“What did you just say?” She turned, breaking our bubble.
“It just slipped out.” I cupped her face with my hands. “But I mean it. You’re my sweetheart.”
Her cheeks immediately turned red. Goddess, she was gorgeous in this moment. My mate was beautiful all the time, but right now? I’d surely been blessed with her. “Odin, after what I did to you…”
“Hey, I’m trying to have a moment here. Forget about what happened, okay? It doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”
She cocked her head and pressed farther into my palm. “How do you feel about me, Odin?”
Every time she said my name, my wolf wanted to claim her right then and there. This wasn’t fair. None of it was. Us being forced to be here. Her being bitten. All of us being bitten.
We deserved to have a life, not just survive.
“I feel like I want to kiss you, female.”
“I feel like I want you to kiss me too.”
My heartbeat throbbed between my temples. It was so loud and powerful. My wolf whined inside me.
I moved my face toward hers, slowly, in case she changed her mind. “Are you sure?” I breathed.
She didn’t answer with words. Instead, Roxy wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned forward. Her scent intensified. I was surrounded by her smell. Fire, rain, the wind before a winter storm, leaves. None of the elements were left out.
And then her lips were on mine. I sank into her embrace. At first, the kiss was sweet, chaste, almost. Her lips were soft, softer than anything I could’ve imagined. Her silken lips opened and I gasped as her tongue licked my bottom lip.
I opened my own mouth, and we turned our heads, deepening our kiss as though we’d been doing it for years. My hands reached into her jacket and I pulled her closer. Her body was so warm, so damned inviting. If we weren’t here. If we weren’t under the supervision of this place, I would’ve invited her to my room. Out for a date.
To be my mate.
She let out a little whimper as our tongues met, and it was the end of me. My cock strained, punching against the restraint of my pants. Her legs scissored against themselves and me.
I’d never wanted anyone as much as I wanted Roxy in that moment.
A sound from behind Roxy made me pull away from the kiss. The bushes behind her moved. Not a shake from the wind or a branch falling on them.
Someone was in there.
“Get behind me,” I said, putting my body between her and the bush. Everything went still for a second. The bush. The wind. The sounds around us. The night became immobile. Ringing began in my ears, and my wolf snarled and snapped his teeth, wanting out. There was someone in the bush.
Someone near my mate.
And they didn’t smell like anyone I knew.
“What is it?” Roxy whispered from behind me. She clutched my shirt in her fists. Her body pressed against my back.
“I don’t…”
A figure darted from the bushes and to my right. It was so fast. Faster than a shifter moved. I watched for a few seconds as the shadowy person or thing ran a distance and then stopped. I could see it a bit more now. It had a body. A shape like a human or an unfazed shifter. It was on two legs. Even though it shot out of the bushes and ran, it wasn’t breathing hard.
