Page 75 of Savage Hunter

His voice is rough with emotion and thick with unshed tears. His chest rumbles from the low pitch of his voice. It feeds into me, spreads over the pain buried deep in my heart and soothes the wounds.

“Thank you for trusting me.” I shudder at the feel of his lips on my bare shoulder as he speaks the words.

I sit up. Tears spill down the sides of my cheeks and match the ones disappearing into his bears. “You gave me no choice.”

His smile is slow but genuine. “I can be an asshole, can’t I?”

“Among other adjectives.” It’s my turn to take his face in my hands. I can see the appeal and why he does it so often to me. It’s the quickest way to shut out the world and narrow it down just to two people. His beard scrapes against my palms.

“Don’t cry for me, Wolfe. I can’t stand to see you pity me.”

“You have it all wrong, Harmonia. My tears are for the strength that shines through your pain. The woman who is gifting me her angelic touch and her truths. My tears are for that version of Harmonia. The warrior queen I see before me who is strong enough to keep fighting.”

His lips are possessive when they come over mine. Between us his arousal grows, but he makes no move toward actually claiming me.

My heart shatters with the force of his words. The pain burrowed deep inside recedes a fraction more.

“Wolfe, I…” My gaze drops to the center of his chest. I can’t find the words to voice what I need.

He takes my chin in hand. “Eyes up and on mine,” he says in the calmest voice I’ve ever heard on a man.

When I comply he rewards me with a husky, “Good girl.” A rush of heat thick as honey pours through me. It touches every part of me and leaves my insides warm from the core outward.

“Tell me what you need so I can give it to you.” Wolfe, a man the size of a mountain and as untamed as his namesake, has so much patience for me I’m left in awe. I’ve seen him fight. I’ve seen the devastation he leaves in the wake of his wrath. I have experienced his unbridled lust and now I feel his love.

My stomach drops out and leaves me feeling like I’m free falling. He brushes the back of his scarred knuckles over the curve of my cheek. I lean into him and tell him another truth. “You.” The single word makes me quiver from my toes on up, but it’s true. “I need you, Wolfe.”

The gentle beast in front of me turns hungry. The heat in the room triples. His lips peel back and the edges of his teeth reveal the beast within.

“Be careful what you ask for, my Harmonia. I can be gentle but I am too far gone with my hunger for you.”

I mentally catalog my body’s reaction to his gruff words. The way they rake over me and lock a chain around my heart.

I rub the side of my face against his. “I want to forget the past.”

“I want to remember it so I know how blessed I am to have you once again.”

His face is a bare of its usual scowl and in its place is the truth. It shines through and begs me to understand. The smile on my face feels brittle. Like one wrong answer from him and I’ll turn to ash. “Can you find it in you to give us both what we want then?”

Fifteen

Avery

Wolfe stands, pulling me out of the bath water with him. Uncaring of the water going everywhere when he steps out, he holds me securely against him. There’s a mat, but you actually have to stand on it for it to absorb the water. Wolfe seems more set on leaving the bathroom than drying off. I try to lower myself from around his waist, but the hands on my ass cheeks keep me pinned to him.

“Wolfe.” Left with little other choice, I wrap my arms around his neck and then my legs around his waist. He takes my weight with ease. His body heat sends a foray of warmth through my chilled limbs.

“I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.”

He throws open the bathroom door and I suck in a harsh breath at the sudden wash of cool air over my damp skin.

He lowers me over the bed, taking the time to position my feet in a way that leaves my thighs spread open for him to see all of me.

I know what he sees. I’m wet in ways that bath water has nothing to do with. Old habits make me want to slam my legs closed but I hold his gaze and anchor myself in the here and now.

Inhale.

Shaky, but brave exhale.

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