Page 49 of The Hidden Falling
He lowers his face to my neck, and I hear him taking in a deep breath before nipping my skin lightly. He leaves open mouthed kisses against my skin, his nose trailing up and down before his body tenses. “You’re going into heat.” He takes another deep breath, a rumbling sound coming from him as he rubs into the side of my neck. “You smell like you want to be fucked.” He rocks into me again, and I whimper.
“You’re wrong.” I tell him breathlessly as he continues pressing into me at a leisurely pace. “My heat isn’t for another few months.” I can’t be going into heat, I would know. I only have one heat a year, and it’s during the winter months.
He chuckles deep and low into my neck as his free hand trails down the side of my body. His fingers caress over my shoulder, following down the side of my breast before stopping just above the waistline of my shorts. I hold my breath at his touch, feeling his wolf come to the surface. He moves his hand underneath the bottom of my t-shirt and circles my belly button with a light touch, the feel of his skin against mine making my head spin. I feel delirious. A tiny moan escapes me and I arch my back, wanting more, craving more. My body feels itchy and sweat beads at the back of my neck as heat fills in my stomach. Wetness soaks through my panties, and I whimper, knowing what these sudden signs are. What they mean. I shake my head in denial.
“I can’t be,” I growl, pissed and achy all at the same time. “It’s not time yet.”
“Your smell tells me differently,” he murmurs, moving his fingers down from my belly button to caressing just inside my waistband. I shift beneath him. “And you smell delicious,” he mumbles against my skin, licking at my neck.
He pulls his face out of the crook of my shoulder and looks down at me, desire filling his eyes as his fingers tease the edge of my panties. I close my eyes and will myself to calm down, to ignore the sensations those fingers are creating and the closeness of his body to mine.
This isn’t happening. No matter how much my body is begging me differently. I won’t give in just for him to throw it in my face later. He already lashed out at my heart when we lost control against the tree. Why are we like this again?
I can’t be.
I open my eyes and I feel Runa there, pinning him with our stare. “Get the fuck off me, Darius.” He smirks, his fingers skimming under the edge of my panties before he removes them all together. Releasing my wrists, he gets to his feet in one fluid motion.
I sit up, breathing through my mouth to ignore his scent as he steps beside me and stops. He crouches down and grabs his blade, twirling it in his hand before I feel his breath in my ear. “I look forward to making you beg me sooner or later, little wolf.” He nips at my earlobe, and my body trembles, my hands clenching at my sides to stop myself from reaching out to him to help with this need he just created. The only one who ever has.
I wait until he’s out of hearing distance before I release a growl of frustration, my fingers digging into the dirt. My body aches from Darius’ attention. How the fuck am I going into heat five months early? And why am I acting this way around him? Why him?
“I’m going crazy,” I mutter to myself. “Fucking crazy. This isn’t normal.”
I stand, dusting my hands off and head off to do a perimeter check, my body cooling down the more I walk. That’s what’s important right now, not the thought of a male grinding on me. One particular male. I huff and swing my arms as I walk, shaking them out when a blur of black catches my eyes to my left.
I swing my head that way, the bushes there swaying with too much force for it to be the light breeze, and I swear I caught the back of someone’s dark head moving further along. I let my senses go wide, but there is nothing out of the normal. I wonder if it’s one of the Elites, shit, did they see us?
“Where did you place the Elites?”I ask Josh quickly.
He takes a second to answer me.“I took them south. Why?”
“I’m east at the moment. What are the chances of an Elite being out this way?”I creep forward with silent footsteps as I head in the direction of those bushes, keeping my eyes peeled.
“Small. They could just be exploring. A few others have done that.”
“Yeah, I guess.”I reach the bushes and inhale deeply, scenting nothing but the greenery and berries around me. I look ahead of me through the trees and spot nothing out of the ordinary. I don’t sense anything. It was probably just an animal.
Shaking my head, I retrace my steps and continue on to the base of the cliffs to start my check. No signs of rogures still, which is a plus, but since Kade killed the few he saw a while back, I’m still cautious and have been checking the perimeter regularly on my own. Even when it’s already been done. The guys usually shake their heads at me when I do, but they know how I can be sometimes.
I pull a tree branch out of the way and my tattoos catch my attention in the light. Looking down at my forearm where it tingled before, I run my fingers across the swirls and lines. Bringing my fingers to the free space in the center, I circle around the clear skin and sigh. I think it’s time to let go of that tiny little bit of hope I have in the back of my mind of it ever being filled.
Part of me never wants it to be whole, but I would be lying to myself if I said the other part of me didn’t want it to be. I’m a wolf, and wolves want certain things.
And even as I look in the direction where Darius went and lie to myself that it’s all down to Runa thinking this way, the human in me wonders if it’s possible.
Twenty Six
Rhea
I’mhot,toohot.I fan myself with the paperwork I was going over before leaning back in my chair, sighing at the brief relief it gives me. Runa has been acting strange for a couple of days since Darius mentioned my heat, rolling around restlessly within me. It’s making my skin feel like it’s crawling, like I want to rip it off me, and that is something new. Josh eyes me from across my desk, tilting his head in question, his eyes amused as he watches me.
“Do I smell different?” I blurt out, heat filling my cheeks instantly.
“What?” he laughs, his gray eyes popping wide. “Where did that come from?” he asks. I grumble under my breath.
“You’re what?” he questions, not quite able to make out what I’m saying.
I growl before speaking up. “I’m going into heat.” Sebastian’s head whips around from where he stands next to my window, his tawny eyes brightening at my words.
