Page 52 of Let It Snow
One small thing is comforting, someone dressed me while I was out. I’m wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. At least I’m not sprinting half-naked across the lawn.
I make it to the beach and only then stop. Feeling like an overly hormonal teen, or like in a pre-heat phase, I drop onto the sand, curl up with my arms around my knees, and start to cry.
Yeah, cry. I haven’t in ages, but it just breaks out of me, spilling over, every bit of misery my life has turned into. Maybe I’m irrational, but I’m overcome with this strange sense of humiliation. I don’t want to be like this, like some wild, unstable creature trapped in a cage of pain, stuck inside this memory block. Robbed of my identity. I want out!
I hear footsteps coming from the house.
Of course, it can only be him. Snow.
The last thing I want is for him to see me like this, falling apart like a moody kid.
When I finally lift my tear-streaked face, I catch some flicker across his features, but I can’t read it. I don’t know if my suffering stirs anything in him or not. That dull, constant ache locked inside me makes even simple interactions hard.
Snow kneels down slowly beside me in the sand. His calm face looks strangely gentle as he watches me. Then he says quietly,
"I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. But it couldn’t be avoided anyway. The second touch will be different."
I almost laugh, but what comes out is a broken sound, half snort, half choke.
"I promise. The surge was only at the start. Now there’s nothing to be afraid of."
Maybe I’m a fool, but something in me believes him.
My wild side surges, takes over, and I fix him with my gaze. Suddenly, a pitiful sound escapes me, and then I throw myself at him…
I slam into him full force.
He’d been kneeling, but now he falls back, sitting in the sand on his ass, and I crash against his chest, straddling his hips.
The feeling that hits me is indescribable. Snow’s scent: heather, tempting, tugs at my senses like a bow across violinstrings, pulling a sound from me I can’t contain. A very meaningful sound in AO mating language. A demand to bite!
That’s crazy! We’re not in a relationship!
My emotions explode, punching straight through the block I’ve been trapped in.
A wave of pure feralness takes me. And I don’t wait for his answer.
My mating fangs slide out, and I growl low, frenzied, hungry—
The next second, I sink my teeth into his neck…
Fate! I never thought I’d do something like that. Not in my wildest dreams.
Snow’s body jerks, and mine shudders with it. It’s divine and shocking all at once. I recognize what I’ve done: I’ve bitten his gland without permission, without asking, without any established bond between us to justify it. A violation.
And yet, I feel something ripple through him, answering my shock. He trembles, too. Then I realize what’s happening. A wetness spreads across my pants… and his.
What the hell?
We both came…
Madness. Impossible. It’s strange and terrifying and blissful all at once. What’s happening to us?
I tear my teeth free from his gland and stare at him.
But I’m not finished.
I grab his face in my hands.
