Page 36 of Wolf's Claimed Mate
I looked at him.
“Come catch me, then,” I whispered, shifted, and launched myself up the bank, and into the woods.
***
I got to our clothes pile first, picking my way to them by the scent. I always doused my clothes in perfume to be able to track them down. I’d learned the hard way what happened when I didn’t leave my clothes easily findable to myself.
I shifted just as Conall entered the clearing. Between one step and the next, he was back in his human form. I felt his gaze on me as I tugged on my hoodie and pulled up my pink thong.
Before I could snatch up my shorts, Conall pressed up against my back, clad only in his jeans, the top of them undone. His crotch brushed my ass, his chest to my back, as he crowded me against the tree trunk I dressed next to.
“I can smell myself on you,” he murmured, nosing into the back of my neck.
His fingers danced over the thin waistband of my thong. I made a soft noise at how close he was to where I was still pitifully wet. If he were to only slip his hand further, run his fingers through my folds, he’d see how much I wanted him.
And yet I clammed up, clung onto my pride, my independence, because I could not let him get attached.
“I want to tear these off you with my fucking teeth,” he said, snapping the thin band against my skin. I moaned quietly, pressing my forehead to my arm, braced on the tree trunk. “One day, will you let me?”
“Yes.” The breathy answer was out of me before I could stop it.
“Not today,” he said.
I shook my head. Not today.
His hand slid to fondle my ass, grabbing hold of one cheek. “This ass will be mine one day, Sasha, when you’re ready.”
His teeth grazed the back of my leg. God, I wanted him. I wanted him to push my legs apart, sheath himself in me, fuck me until I was trembling and screaming for him. But I couldn’t do it. Not yet.
So I slammed up every wall and defense I had against Conall.
I turned in his arms and smiled up at him. “Do you only want me because I’m the only thing youcanmake yours?”
He frowned. “What?”
He went to pull back, but I snagged his wrist, dug his fingers harder into my ass cheek, letting him feel everything he wanted to claim. My body burned and ached with desire.
I hated it. I hated how I wanted him. I hated how my heart and body waged war against each other. I hated that I wanted to push him away, that my past codependency had forced such a firm need for independence and self-reliance on me.
Take me, make me yours, I wanted to beg.Make me forget my own foolish pride.
Claim me. Collar me. Mark me. Scent me.
And yet the worst thing ever came from my mouth as my face twisted into a nasty smirk. “Well, it must hurt to watch the other two alphas claim their mate and no longer need you as much. They have their mates, their Lunas, theirsupport. What do you have, Conall? Nothing.”
His confused expression shattered into anger.
I patted his face condescendingly. “Thanks for—back there. I had a great time.” The words tasted like acid on my tongue, false, pretentious, everything that I didn’t feel.Stop it, stop it, Sasha. Stop sabotaging what could be something genuinely good.
But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let myself want another wolf shifter. I couldn’t do that to myself.
“Oh, and Conall?” I said, walking past him. “At least this time, you got to come before I walked away. You should be thankful.”
Chapter 16 - Conall
I didn’t know what the fuck had happened. One minute I’d had my dick down Sasha’s throat, her eyes heavy with desire, and the next, she’d pushed me away.
Again.
