“I was not running away,” she huffs as she crosses her arms. “I just needed to cool off.”
“From what, exactly?” I drawl coolly, nearing her until there’s only a meter left between us.
I don’t stop there, closing it to half a meter and forcing Yvonne to look back at me with a startled gasp.
“It doesn’t matter,” she murmurs, her eyes taking on a heady, sensual glow as I close the little distance that’s left between us. Yvonne gulps when she realizes our casual banter allowed me to move in.
“Oh, I think itdoesmatter, Yvie…” I purr as I lift a hand out of the ice-cold water, my fingers trickling with beads of it as I reach out and loosely touch her cheek.
She shudders, her eyelids fluttering closed as she lets out a sigh that borders on fear and relief.
She’s afraid of the heat that grows between us, a heat so profound and intense that it combats the coldness of the icy lake. She licks her lips as I let my fingers ghost toward her neck, traveling toward her exposed collarbones as a deep breath caves her chest and springs goosebumps across her flesh.
I can taste her breath, its sweet deliciousness enticing enough to forget about all the logistics of why I came here. I followed her because we needed to talk, but talking has gone out the window when primal need takes over, and I lean in.
“I’m going to kiss you…” I warn, my voice dropping an octave to sound raspy enough to be felt on her lips. “And this time, you’re not gonna run away.”
Yvonne’s bottom lip parts in response, and she makes no protest to my warning, allowing me to sever the final distance between us to meet her lips. As soon as my lips meet hers, she sighs as if this is exactly what she’d been waiting for.
Sharing those sentiments, because Lord knows my craving for the omega has been insufferable, I grab her hips and pull her flush against me as I devour her lips in the kiss. It’s sloppy, messy, and desperate, my body aching for her with the rising heat that flushes over me.
My inner wolf seems to take the reins, a rumbling growl growing deep in my chest and coming up to plunge my tongue deep in the depths of her mouth. She doesn’t fight me, only grabs my shoulders with biting fingernails, allowing me to grab her rear and hoist her onto my waist for her core to meet my swollen member.
I pull away to give her a chance to breathe, my throat hoarse and needing more of her lips. Just as I’m about to conquer her lips again, an unsettling feeling washes over me, prickling the fine hairs on the back of my neck as if in warning.
I look up as if my attention is drawn toward the sky, realizing that it isn’t the same star-littered sky it was when I followed Yvonne out here.
A poignant, eerie silence hangs over us like a dark cloud, our surroundings growing darker and hiding the luminescence of the moon’s silver rays in the sky. At the same time, the prickled fine hairs on the back of my neck serve as a warning, an alertness, as if a sixth sense is letting me know of danger about to come.
“Shit!” I grumble, turning back to Yvonne’s confused eyes, a wave of regret washing over me. “The demon dog … it’s coming…”
Yvonne bats her eyes with confusion as if blinking away the stupor of desire to gather her senses. “Are you sure?”
I nod quickly as I take her hand and lead her out of the water. Once we’ve climbed up on the edge, I grab her shoulders and warn her that I know when the malevolent spirit is about to come.
I’ve dealt with the demon dog before, and I know the signs that warn of its arrival.
“We’re not in Snehvolk territory,” I continue as I grab my shirt off the ground and press it into her hands. “I won’t be able to fight it by myself.”
“I’ll help you,” Yvonne offers as she pulls my shirt over her, but I shake my head.
“You have no idea what we’re dealing with,” I warn hastily. There’s no time to explain that the demon dog doesn’t suffer damage induced by our wolf claws, and the only way to impair it is through the magic Luna Aurora wields as a gifted witch. “We have to go. Now.”
Immediately, I shift into wolf form, nodding my furry head in a gesture for Yvonne to climb onto my back. She makes no protest, as if she intuitively understands how serious our situation is, and instantly hops on.
I can’t let anything happen to her. As the air takes on a dark, sinister mist that warns of the demon’s coming, it’s as if my wolf becomes more protective of the woman riding my back, spurring every quickened step as I rush out toward Girdwood. I have no idea why or how Yvonne managed to get so far out of pack territory, but there’s no time to question it, and my senses go into overdrive, my wolf remembering that there’s an isolated hut in the forest just outside the village.
The stone hut was bound by a protection spell cast by Luna Aurora as a failsafe in case any travelers from Snehvolk found themselves in a predicament during one of the demon’s attacks. I rush forward, relying on instincts to get me through the narrow arrangement of trees, until I see the hut up ahead and bolt for it.
The silence is deafening and daunting, my wolf breaking out in goosebumps underneath my fur. I’ve faced the demon dog before, when we attempted to lure it to Girdwood under the guise of harnessing Aurora’s powers in an electronic gadget until we had it cornered to attack it. But none of our defenses were strong enough to take on the demon, and if four alphas together couldn’t stop the attack, I don’t stand a chance on my own.
As soon as we near the hut, I slow down and lean onto one side for Yvonne to climb off. When she’s safely on her feet, I shift into human form, grab her hand, and pull her into the hut.
I press a finger to my lips, keeping my eyes pinned on hers as whooshing sounds circle the hut. Yvonne’s eyes are doe-like and fearful, and I’m suddenly compelled to pull her against my chest, folding her into a soothing embrace.
“It’s okay, we’re safe here,” I assure her, hearing the wretched cries of the demon dog screeching through the air surrounding the hut. Inside, we’re protected by the shield that Aurora cast over the hut, becoming invisible to the spirit of the underworld.
I explain this to Yvonne, knowing she hasn’t witnessed the horrifying creature before. She shivers in my arms as I recount my encounter with the creature, and she has only one question when I’m done.
