Page 112 of Love Bites

LUKE

Itake in the scent of our mate. It is cool and green, like the forest. She is fragrant and lovely, better than any prey.

She smiles at me and I smell her tomato red happiness when I butt my head into her hip again.

Her clever fingers slide through my fur and I close my eyes at her touch.

She is gentle and kind and she is not afraid of me, not even a little. I would smell it on her right away. Fear is a specialty of mine.

She yawns, and I can taste everything she ate today on the air she releases. She likes sweet things and herbal teas. She is no wolf.

But I like her anyway. I adore her.

I stretch back on my haunches and yawn too, and she laughs. The sound sparkles and flows like the waterfall in the forest. It is as stimulating as when she ran her fingers through the thick fur of my ruff.

But my other self was right. She is cold.

I stretch out on the floor of the cave. The cold stone feels good to my hot pelt.

I lift my snout at her and she understands that I am beckoning.

She moves close to me and lowers herself to the ground, curling up in a ball, as if to conserve her own body heat.

I wrap myself around her. Satisfaction blasts through me at the knowledge that I am marking her with my scent.

She snuggles in and makes a happy noise in the back of her throat as we share our warmth. Her contentment is a mist of greens and blues.

Soon her breathing slows, and I can taste the flavor of her dreams, but I don’t know what she is dreaming about. Whatever worries her in her waking life has not followed her into her dreams tonight.

I close my eyes and drink her in. My other form would be wakeful with his need to claim her. I remain awake with the desire to protect. I am afraid someone will come to harm her or to claim her before he can.

His feelings about her are complex, threaded with a resentment I cannot understand.

Mine are simple: This is our mate. She will love us, and we will protect her. Together, we will make a pack.

In the back of my mind I can sense that my human is listening, and I feel at peace. I have done all I can to help us.

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