Her reply is another needy whimper.
I shift, guiding us back until her spine presses against the rough bark of a nearby tree. Her arms slip around my neck, pulling herself closer. She fits perfectly—her calm against my unrest, mercy to my damnation.
The kiss deepens until all thought and logic bleed away. I taste her sigh when I part her lips, trace her tongue with mine, and the tremor that runs through her nearly undoes me. When I break away, it’s only to drag my lips down the line of her jaw, over the pulse hammering in her throat, tasting salt andheruntil I find the spot my wolf fixates on. The gentle curve where her neck meets her shoulder just above her collarbone. She doesn’t know it yet, but this place now belongs to me. It’ll one day be the place that bares my claiming bite.
Noa arches when I linger there, breathing against it. Her hips roll against me without thought, searching for friction, and her little fingernails dig into the skin on the back of my neck. The little pricking pain makes me growl and I hope she’s left a mark there. The small, broken sound that escapes her throat turns my vision hazy. It’s pure omega need, unchecked and aching. I bitedown on a groan, ignoring the burn of my canines threatening to descend and the alpha instinct that screams to claim her.
Not now. Not here.
“My good little omega,” I breathe, the possessive praise rumbling against her flushed skin.
Her reaction isn’t made audibly, instead instinct she doesn’t yet understand has her head tipping to the side. The visual of my mate baring her throat to me nearly has me coming in my pants. For the second time this week. Fighting for a sliver of control, I growl and scrape my blunt teeth across that spot I’m now obsessed with.
And then I return my attention to her mouth, my lips sealing back over hers as my fingers tighten on her ass, steadying her when she moves against me, searching for more.Needing more.
The scent of her slick slams into me. Syrupy, intoxicating, impossible to mistake for anything butmine—the unmistakable perfume of my omega in need.It threads through every breath I take until it’s all I can smell and all I can think about. I drag in a deep, ravenous inhale and my wolf stills as it hits him. Like he’s stunned silent by the effect it has on us. But his pause only lasts half a heartbeat before he’s restless again and hungrier than before.
And then I sense it. Another presence.
In an instant, I go rigid. My body shifting and curling instinctively around her, shielding her from view. A low, warning snarl vibrates through my chest and into the crisp air around us before I even turn my head to see who it is.
Danny.
The younger beta male freezes at the bottom of the slope that leads down here to the creek bed, his face blanching as realization hits him like a slap to the face.
Rationally, I know he isn’t a threat. But reason means jack shit when my wolf’s one whimper from Noa away from takingover. The idea of another man seeing my mate like this—flushed, needy, her sweet slick permeating the air—makes something lethal roar to life within me.
“Turn the fuck around.” The order over my shoulder is nothing but a vicious snarl. “And walk ten feet in the opposite direction, Danny.”
Swallowing hard and nodding wildly, he obeys without hesitation. Only when my wolf deems him an acceptable distance away, do I gentle my possessive hold on Noa, but I don’t dare put her down. My beastly side protests the very thought of doing so. She’s buried her face in my shoulder, her cheek burning against the side of my neck, and her lithe body now shivers with embarrassment instead of need.
Which is a fucking crime.
I shift my grip, bracketing one arm below the swell of her ass and the other around her back, lifting her easily away from the rough tree. Her weight is something I barely note, but the feel of her in my arms is everything. I hold her close, murmuring soft, reassuring words against her temple and soothing my palm across her spine until her breathing is steady.
“Sorry, Alpha,” Danny calls, still facing away. “The other guys on shift at the gates sent me to find you. No one could reach you. We tried calling…”
I glance uselessly down at my jeans pocket, remembering only now that I left my phone on my bathroom countertop.
“What is it, Danny?” I attempt to keep the aggravation out of my tone, but I’m fairly fucking positive I fail tremendously.
“Delivery trucks are here,” he says, hesitant. “Supplies for this weekend. For your…event? We just need your permission to let them through.”
It takes everything in me not to react. Every muscle threatens to lock up, to give away what I know is coming, but I keep still. If I move, she’ll notice. If she notices, she’ll start asking questions,and I can’t have that. Not yet. Everything about what’s coming has to unfold exactly right, because it’s for her. Every piece of it.
I’m silently thankful to Danny for not specifying what kind of event is taking pace, but I’m also not delusional enough to believe I can keep this under wraps for much longer. I don’t want to lie to her, to keep secrets, but for the pieces to fall the way I want them to, I need to play my cards right.
And selflessly, I want to linger in her affection and lowered guard a while longer.
“Have them offload everything at the lodge,” I instruct Danny. “Gareth knows what to do and will oversee everything until I can check in.”
“Yes, sir.”
I don’t fully relax until his scent fades back up the hill.
Noa stirs in my arms then, peeking up at me with mussed hair and lips still swollen from my attention. Her eyes are hazy and questioning. “You have an event this weekend?” she asks, voice a little raspy. “Here?Now?”
There’s disbelief in her tone and I can’t fault her for it. From where she’s standing, hosting anything right now borders on insanity. Especially something that’s being presented as a celebration. But not for everyone. Some guests will be walking into their own reckoning. I’ll make damn sure of it.
