“I missed you too,” I whisper, smiling when he lets out an answering rumble and licks my jaw. “Come on.”
He trails after me into my room, silent but for the faint click of claws on wood. The big wolf leaps onto the bed in one smooth motion. He turns in a slow circle before settling into a spot and lifting his head to look at me expectantly, like he’s waiting for me to catch up. When I don’t, he flicks his tail once and lets out a small huff that feels suspiciously close to impatience.
I glance at the clothes in my hands. My practical side says to fold them and set them aside.But my instincts—my rising omega nature—disagrees vehemently along with my wolf. They want his scent close. Surrounding me. Comforting me.
Following an unfamiliar reflex and blindly trusting it to know what to do, I move to the bed and start weaving Rennick’s clothes into the blankets and pillows.Is this…Am I nesting?The word flickers through me, making my stomach twist. My cheeks flush when I feel his attention on me. Somewhere within the animal, I know Rennick is inside peering out, watching as I adjust and readjust until it finally feels right.
His wolf’s eyes track every movement too, patient and knowing, like he understands exactly what’s happening.
When I finally slip beneath the blankets, he shifts until his body molds to mine and his large head rests over my heart. Hisweight should feel like too much, smothering, but it doesn’t. It feels like relief. Like safety.
My fingers trace through his fur until the ache fades and the chill gives up. My eyes close, and for the first time in days, sleep comes easy.
If mercy exists, it’s here in this fleeting moment of peace I’ll bleed to be able to keep.
Chapter 17
Noa
When I wake, I don’t move at first.
I lie still and wait for the familiar pain to slam into me. It always hits the moment I try to move, to stretch my sleep-stiff body. The brittle feeling in my bones, the tension that makes my muscles feel like they’ve been twisted in barbed wire. Every morning is the same. Every morning, it only gets worse. So I brace myself when I inhale and stretch my limbs, already expecting the defiance in my ribs as they expand, the burn in my lungs that usually ends with me coughing up blood these days.
But…nothing.
No soul-deep ache. No rattle in my chest. No blood staining my lips as I fight for my next breath. No sickness clawing at me from the edges.
I feel good.Whole.
But something is still off. It takes me another beat to realize what. My hand is pressed against skin. Warm and alive, moving beneath my palm as they draw in their steady breaths.
My eyes snap open and I come face to face with him.
Rennick Fallamhain. Asleep. In my bed.
We’re face to face, so close that one small tilt would have my nose brushing his. One muscular arm rests heavy across my waist, his hand curved protectively at my side as if even in sleep he can’t stop guarding me. The sound that tries to escape me is half laugh, half disbelief.
Then another realization hits, one that sucks all the air from my lungs.
He’s completely, unapologeticallynaked. At some point in the night, his wolf must have ceded control of their shared skin and shifted back.
This new discovery settles slowly, bringing heat with it, a warmth that crawls beneath my skin and stays there. I bite the inside of my cheek to stop a noise that would definitely wake him. My wolf, on the other hand, is wide awake and feeling smug as shit about this development. She stretches lazily within me, a wolfish smirk firmly in place, clearly pleased that our mate is sprawled out in all his bare glory like some sort of gift.
He’d been just as naked that day in the woods when he’d torn through a witch to get to Ivey and me, but I’d been so out of it at that point, barely staying up on my own two feet, to take any real notice of his body. And then last night, I’d—mostly—refused to look when he stripped to shift. Out of stubborn defiance to the challenge he seemed to lie at my feet with that knowing smirk of his. I hadn’t wanted to give in to the temptation, to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break and my eyes roam.
But now, he’s asleep. Unaware. So, fair game, right?
Sure, whatever you say, Noa. This is fine. Totally not pervy. Just staring at the unconscious pack Alpha like a total deviant. But then again, it’s not like the man’s got a self-conscious bone in his body. He’s pretty, he knows it, and I’m apparently the idiot proving him right.
My gaze drifts down the strong line of his throat, across his built chest, to the rigid planes of his stomach. The faint gray morning light throws shadows, making every dip and line appear more defined. Chiseled.
Rennick looks like something the Goddess carved out of stone just to prove she could.
I reach the groomed dark trail of hair that starts below his navel. Then I move lower and my breath catches.
Even in sleep, he’s already half-hard.
His long, thick cock is heavy against his thigh. It’s the kind of sight that makes heat lick through my veins. I need to turn away. I really do. But I can’t. Not when the ache between my own thighs wakes like a beast stretching after a long slumber.
