My throat tightened. “He’s not just my alpha. He’s all the family I have left. But I wanted more. Even before I met you.”
He turned slightly, his blue eyes locked on my face. “What stopped you?”
“My echo-sense.” The words felt strange spoken out loud. Nobody outside the chain even knew I had it, but Booker was my fated mate. He could be trusted. “I can feel emotional residue—like fingerprints left behind by people. The stronger they feel something, the more there is for my echo-sense to find. Fear, deceit, danger. Sometimes even joy.”
“That sounds like it could be a lot to deal with.” He reached for my hand and set it on his thigh, interlacing our fingers.
“I inherited it from my mother after she passed when I was seventeen, and I had trouble filtering it out at first. The elders said it made me too vulnerable to be far from home.” I shrugged. “But I’ve learned how to deal with it over the past five years. Now I have a good handle on it.”
Booker’s brows drew together, and his head tilted to the side. “That shows a lot of strength.”
A small, startled laugh slipped out of me. “If only my brother and most people around here would see it that way.”
“I’m not most people.” He leaned back a little, bracing one hand behind him on the mattress, eyes steady on mine. “And I can understand the frustration to a certain extent. Balancing life between two packs wasn’t easy either. Timber Ridge was home because of my parents. The Wilderness Pack became home because it made sense for the kind of man I am. But even with both, I never felt rooted. Not really.”
I flipped my hand over to squeeze his. “I’m sorry.”
“I do now, though.” He reached over and brushed a knuckle along my jaw. “You choose where home is, Alara. Not your bloodline. Not tradition. You.”
The simplicity of his response undid something inside me, especially since it sounded like that was what he’d done in leaving his childhood pack.
“I want you,” I whispered. “And the future fate saw when it tied us together, wherever that might take us.”
Booker’s gaze darkened, and his thumb stroked the corner of my mouth. “Careful, kitten. If you say things like that…”
“I mean it,” I cut in, breathless.
His control slipped just enough that his pupils flared, gold burning at the edges of his irises. We gravitated toward each other without thinking. My hand slid up his chest, feeling the steady hammer of his heart. His fingers curved around my waist, and the world narrowed to the warm press of his breath against my lips.
Our first kiss in the courtyard had been a wildfire. This one sparked in an instant, blossoming into something molten the moment he closed the short distance between us.
“Mine,” Booker growled, the word rumbling from deep in his chest as his hand slid up under my sweater, his fingers tracing the bare skin of my back before tugging the fabric over my head.
He tossed my sweater aside, his gaze devouring me as I sat on the edge of the bed in just my simple bra and leggings. The air between us crackled, the mate bond pulling taut like a string about to snap.
Booker stripped off his shirt in one fluid motion, revealing the hard planes of his muscled chest, tanned and scarred. My breath caught at the sight of him—my wolf, so powerful and patient, now burning for me.
He dropped to his knees in front of me, his hands gentle on my thighs as he peeled my leggings down slowly, his thumbs brushing my inner thighs and sending shivers racing through me. When I was bare except for my underwear, he leaned in, inhaling deeply at the apex of my thighs, a low growl vibrating against me.
“You smell like heaven, kitten.” His voice was rough with need. “My lynx. All mine.”
My cheeks flushed hot, but my lynx purred inside me, arching toward him. I'd never felt anything like the desirebrewing low in my belly, making me ache in ways I'd only dreamed of.
“And you’re all mine, too.”
“Damn straight.” Booker rose, shedding his pants quickly. He went commando, and when his cock sprang free, my eyes widened.
“You're huge,” I whispered, a mix of nerves and want twisting inside me.
“Only for you.”
I loved knowing that we’d be each other’s one and only and was fascinated by his hard length. His wolf flashed gold in his eyes as I reached out to tentatively trace a fingertip along his shaft. He twitched under my touch, a hiss escaping his lips.
“Careful, kitten,” he warned, his voice strained. “You're testing my control.”
I smiled up at him. “Who needs control when we have passion?”
“So fucking perfect.” He unhooked my bra, sliding the straps down my shoulders to bare my breasts.
