“No, no! Though I think I may need some time to retrain my brain.”
Brux found himself smiling back, though the expression felt strange on his face after so long in beast shape.
“You can call me anything you want,” he told her.
Her eyes flickered over him again—down his chest and shoulders and then lower before she caught herself and looked away and the flush in her cheeks deepened and her scent changed–becoming tinged with the rich notes of feminine desire.
Brux’s body tightened in immediate response, and he tried to stop it. Gods, not now–he couldn’t let his shafts get hard when he was holding her!
But how could he help it? Kiera was in his lap. She was warm and soft and curvy, and her scent was fucking addictive. One of her hands was resting on his shoulder and the other had curled, almost unconsciously, into the fur on his upper arm.
Everything about the moment was too much…and not enough.
He forced himself to focus.
“I didn’t mean to deceive you,” he said quietly. “When you found me, I could barely think. I knew only that you smelled right. That you felt right. I knew I needed you. And when you called me ‘Buck’ it sounded close enough to my true name for me to answer to it.”
Kiera nodded thoughtfully.
“That’s why you were howling,” she said slowly. “On the rescue ship. You smelled me and I smelled ‘right?’”
Brux nodded.
“Yes.” He didn’t add that she smelled like his mate–or one who could become his mate. He thought that might be giving away too much, too soon.
“And that’s why you grabbed my arm in your mouth,” Kiera continued.
He nodded again.
“I was trying to keep you from leaving me there. I had been sliding into the void–my primal self was taking over. Kiera, I needed you and I was so afraid you were going to leave me there.”
Her face went suddenly tender and she cupped his cheek in one soft little hand.
“Of course I couldn’t leave you there. I knew right away that you needed to come home with me.”
Brux exhaled in relief. She wasn’t afraid of him…and she felt it too. That electric connection between them…the warmth…the mutual need. It called to her too.
That mattered more than anything.
Still, the instability he had felt earlier had not vanished entirely. It hovered at the edges of his consciousness like a storm waiting to break. He could feel his animal instincts shifting and muttering beneath the surface, made restless by emotion and proximity and the impossible good fortune of having Kiera in his arms at last.
He lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry if I seem…overly needy. But I don’t think I should let go of you just yet.”
Kiera looked down at where she sat across his lap and then back up at his face. Something softened in her expression.
“That’s all right,” she said quietly. “I don’t really want you to let go either.”
The simple admission filled him with a fierce, aching gratitude. He bent his head and closed his eyes briefly, resting his forehead against hers.
Kiera’s breath hitched and Brux held very still, savoring the touch. With her this close, her scent wrapped around him like a living thing. Her body heat flowed into him. The darkness inside him retreated another step and his shift steadied.
Brux inhaled deeply, breathing her in, holding her close. Yes, this was what he needed. And perhaps—if the Goddess was kind—this was what Kiera needed too.
He opened his eyes again and looked at her.
“There’s so much I need to tell you,” he said softly.
