A sharp knock at my door interrupts my planning.
“It’s open.”
But instead of Dane with another friendly overture, or one of the other pack members with some invitation I’ll politely decline, it’s Lithia who steps through the doorway.
She’s changed out of her formal Beta attire into simple clothing—dark pants and a fitted shirt that emphasizes her lean strength. Her silver hair catches the lamplight, and her pale eyes are unreadable in the dim illumination.
“We need to talk,” she says, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
My pulse spikes, though I try to keep my voice steady. “About?”
“This.” She gestures between us.
I lean against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest. “I wasn’t aware there was a ‘this’ to discuss.”
Her eyes narrow. “Don’t play games with me, Kier. I want to know what you expect from me.”
The blunt question catches me off guard. I’d expected deflection, maybe another lecture. Not this direct confrontation.
“I don’t expect anything,” I say honestly. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
No, it isn’t. She’s asking what Iwantfrom her.
“What do you want me to say, Lithia? That I think about you constantly? That I wake up hard every morning remembering the taste of you? That being near you without being able to touch you is torture?”
Her breath catches, pupils dilating slightly. “Yes. That’s exactly what I want you to say.”
“Why?”
She’s quiet, and I can’t resist twisting the knife a little. “Besides, based on tonight’s dinner performance, I figured you’d mastered the art of pretending I don’t exist. Barely looked in my direction once.”
Her jaw tightens. “That’s because I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t what?”
“Couldn’t look at you.” She takes a step closer, frustration bleeding into her voice. “Because every time I do, I remember everything. How you fed me when I was too weak to get out of bed. How you held me when my ribs were broken and I couldn’t take another step. How you nursed me through fever dreams and never once complained.”
She shakes her head. “I remember how you put yourself between me and that fire, willing to burn alive rather than let me get hurt. How you had freedom in your grasp—actual freedom after three years of hell—and you threw it away to come back for me.”
Fuck.
“I didn’t look at you tonight because every time I do, I see the man who puts my needs above his own. I see someone who makes me want to be brave enough to risk everything.” Her breath hitches. “And that terrifies me more than any torture they could devise.”
She takes another step, until she’s standing directly in front of me. Close enough that I can feel the heat radiating from her skin, smell the scent that’s been haunting my dreams.
“But tonight I also couldn’t look at you,” she continues, her voice dropping, “because all I could think about is your mouth between my legs. All I remembered is the way you touched me. The way you made me fall apart. I didn’t look at you because I was too busy trying not to come just from smelling your scent across the room.”
She reaches up to trace my jaw. “Because I feel the same way. About all of it.”
Before I can process what she’s said, she’s pressing up onto her toes and crushing her mouth to mine.
The kiss is desperate, hungry, full of suppressed need finally cracking apart. I groan into her mouth, my hands gripping her waist to pull her closer.
She tastes like fire and home, like everything I’ve been denying myself since we arrived at Shadowmist. Her tongue slides against mine with the same fierce intensity she brings to everything, and I’m lost, drowning in sensation.
I back her against the door, pinning her there with my body while my hands map the curves I’ve been aching to touch. She gasps when I bite down on her lower lip, her nails digging into my shoulders hard enough to leave marks.
