Page 41 of The Wolf's Secret Twins

No one but a true mate could do that to me.

He gripped my upper back and held me close. Which meant he was close. And that meant I was close.

I dug my fingers into his hair. “Don’t stop.”

“Come for me, Ginny.”

“Slater, I—”

He kissed me into silence. He bruised me with his affection. His weight was a comfort as I rode myself into oblivion, nails puncturing his skin as I found that fleeting high and let it drop me from the heavens. I rolled and wiggled, gyrated, and wailed. I felt the whole world collapse and rebuild anew. I climbed him like a mountain and didn’t stop until he stopped, until our fluid was a mess between us.

I collapsed on the blanket. Pie stuck to my stomach with cheese on my hip. I burst into giggles when I noticed the wine had toppled over. Slater lifted the bottle, held it over his mouth, and then frowned when nothing came out. That just made me laugh even harder.

The way he tossed the bottle aside shut me up quick. I clamped my hand over my mouth and stared at the bags, trying to figure out why I had suddenly gone from giggles to glum. Was it the sex? The wine? I couldn’t figure it out.

Slater touched my upper back. “Badass princess.”

That helped. But not by much.

I smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

“You alright over there?”

“Yeah, tired.”

He scooted toward me. “You always use that as an excuse when you’re thinking about something you don’t want to talk about.”

Anger stabbed my gut. “If that’s the case, then why do you push me?”

He frowned. “I’m just saying, Ginny darling. You get upset and you shut down. You don’t ever let me in. I have to tear down the walls just to get you to tell me anything.”

“I’d be inclined to share more if you didn’t push so hard.”

“And I wouldn’t push if you would justconfidein me. Jesus, girl.” He stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants. “Let’s pack it in. I don’t feel like sleeping outside again.”

I huffed while hopping up to my feet. The anger was taking over. I couldn’t stop the way it tumbled through my system and picked apart all my insecurities. Sex was what Slater wanted. I had to get that through my thick skull eventually. Everything he did was for himself, not for us.

With enough time, he’d become just like Dirk. Men did that. They disappointed me with their fast desires and slow ghosting. I hadn’t even seen the car that Slater claimed to have found. I didn’t even know the spot he was going to hide it, or whether he had already hidden it. He barely shared much with me.

“Nobody asked you to sleep on the porch,” I snapped. “Nobody asked you to protect us. Or did you forget?”

“Don’t catch an attitude with me.”

I shoved shit into the bag, not caring whether the blanket was folded or whether the food containers were sealed. “Whatever. Let’s get back before somebody sees us out here.”

“Whatever you say.”

Gods, I hated this. I hated arguing. I hated that we fell right back into it like it was just what we did. Neither of us deserved to be like this, so why did we do it? Was it the family crap? Was it the pressure from hiding our relationship?

Or had we made a monumental mistake by trying to mate when fate hadn’t dictated it?

Chapter 15 - Slater

Hot one minute, cold the next—some things just didn’t change. (Except maybe when they did.) With Virginia, she was usually something of a flirtatious vixen. She had a fiery attitude, though it was typically matched by sweetness. Given her latest encounter with a shitty parent at the school, an attitude was a logical byproduct.

I just hated that I couldn’t help her inside her brain. Because that was where my presence was needed most. My mate was uncomfortable, suffering in silence, and there was nothing I could do except stand by and hope that she reached out for me.

Instead, she had lashed out. She probably would have scratched my eyes out if she’d gotten the chance. I had run off before she could do such a thing, understanding that space was often needed for her to process the rough stuff. Hell, space was good for me too. That was what I kept telling myself after I ran home.

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