I shivered at the sultry promise in his words, the involuntary motion bringing my core deeper against his lap, his straining erection.
It was like a match to a fuse. Instant sparks.
“Yes. A thousand percent yes.”
His lips were on mine before I could process that he’d moved, one hand going up to cradle the back of my head, the other holding me firmly at the hip.
His lips were soft perfection, his beard tickling my cheeks as his lips slanted over mine, his tongue stroking gently over my lips. I opened for him, and our tongues tangled in a dance as old as the heartbeat of the earth. Primal perfection.
I don’t know when my hands moved to his shoulders, when I started to rock my hips into him, or when he tangled his fingers in my hair, firmly directing me where he wanted me. All I knew was that when someone pounded on the door several minutes later, I was breathless and needy, pissed at the disruption.
I pulled back, my hand flying to my swollen lips as if whoever was knocking could see our position through the sturdy wood.
The person pounded again, and Valens groaned, dropping his forehead to mine with a sigh. “I’m going to have to answer that. People know they can come here for help any time.”
I nodded, sliding to the side, my knees jelly as I landed back on the couch. Before he got up, though, he pulled me in for one more kiss, just a chaste brush of lips, even though it felt like he branded himself on my soul with the motion.
He strode across the small living room, quickly adjusting himself for discretion before pulling open the door.
Lucien stood on the other side, deep frown morphing into a grin when he took in the two of us. “Am I interrupting something?”
Valens cleared his throat and stepped to the side, effectively blocking Lucien’s view of me. “Respectfully, Alpha, what goes on between my mate and me behind closed doors isn’t your business.”
“Understood. Either way, I’m sorry to interrupt you during your personal time, but you’re needed. Both of you,” he added in a raised voice, to ensure I could hear him. “It’s all hands ondeck. Take a minute if you need one, then meet us in the pack mansion.”
After a quick goodbye, Lucien left, and Valens wore a grave expression as he turned back to me.
“That sounded ominous, as usual,” I joked as I pushed myself up, ignoring the way my thighs trembled with barely repressed need.
“Elodie,” he said my name like the very word was precious, crossing the room quickly to cup my face in his palm. He stared down at me with an intensity that set me on fire. “Are we good? Pack business is important, but not more important than you.”
Goddess, how did he slice me open with one little sentence?
No one had ever put me first. Not in the whole of my life.
Yet, here he stood, offering me every single one of my little-girl dreams.
And some more adult fantasies, if that couch make-out session was an indicator of things to come.
“We’re good. But duty calls.” The smile I pasted on felt forced, even though every word was true.
For now, I was still a maiden. And while I’d been more than happy to forget my duty while I was alone with him, the reality was like a bucket of glacial water.
“You’ll want to fix your lipstick before we go,” he said, running his thumb under my bottom lip.
“Of course. I’ll just be a minute.”
I escaped down the hallway to the bathroom, the flicker of the overhead light revealing the truth.
The woman staring back at me in the mirror was no maiden; she was a mate, all smeared lipstick and bedroom eyes. And now I had to erase her because the pack needed me.
I squared my shoulders and put myself back together.
Chapter 16
Valens
The woman who strode down the dark, quiet street at my side wasn’t the same one I’d just kissed senseless. She wore invisible armor underneath her sword. As if she bolted it around her heart when I wasn’t looking.
