Page 40 of The Alpha's Silent Mate

“Lexa—”

I peel his hand away and jump to my feet. “No. Maybe you weren’t supposed to find me. Maybe—” something in Shay’s gaze makes the words stop in my throat.

His eyes burn as he rises. The intensity in his gaze makes me back up.

“Maybe what?” Shay breathes as he prowls toward me.

He doesn’t stop until my back hits the wall and his hand is once again wrapped around the nape of my throat.

I lower my gaze to his chest. “Maybe I was supposed to die with my pack.”

The silence that follows my whisper is so thick with tension that I can’t breathe. I don’t lift my head. All I do is watch Shay’s chest rise and fall.

“And is that what you wanted?” he asks, an eternity later.

I don’t respond.

“Lexa?”Shay growls.

My eyes fly to his because he never growls. Not at me.

When I glimpse the depth of emotion in his eyes, the pain, the anger… and the need, I lose the ability to think, much less talk.

“Lexa, tell me,” he orders with a thread of desperation in his voice.

Tears fill my eyes, and I shake my head. “No,” I whisper. “It isn’t what I want.”

A little of the pain and hurt melts away. “Why not?”

I swallow more tears that threaten to choke me. “Because of you. I should leave, but I don’t want to because of you. I need you.”

“Just need?”

I shake my head. “No. Even in my dreams, I want you.”

“Baby,” he murmurs, as he lowers his head. “Baby.”

His lips touch mine and the moment they do, I grab onto his shoulders and use them to force myself closer. To make him deepen the kiss.

He kisses me until I feel like I’m drowning, and it still isn’t enough. I press closer, my hands stroking up over his back.

With a muffled curse, Shay tears himself away, his breathing as ragged as mine, his eyes dark with need. “We have to stop. You’re not ready for this, baby.”

Despite his desire, his gaze begs me to stop him.

“I want you,” I tell him.

He frames my face with hands that shake. “Lexa…”

My fingers explore his muscled chest. There’s no part of him that I don’t want. That I don’t need.

“I didn’t tell you about all of my dreams,” I murmur as I stroke his skin.

Shay swallows hard enough for me to hear. “What dreams, baby?”

I squeeze my eyes shut briefly because this isn’t easy to tell him, but I force myself to be brave. All Shay has done is give, and not once has he asked for or expected anything in return.

“Sometimes it isn’t you touching me,” I whisper.

---