My body relaxes, my sore muscles loosening, and I’m finally resting as I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep. For the first time in years, I feel peace.
I dream once again. But this time it has nothing to do with needles and the faces of people I’ve cared for. It’s warm. A warmth I’ve never experienced before radiates through me. It starts at my core and spreads to my limbs, tingling from my head all the way down to my toes.
A face appears through the darkness, and I feel my brain working to sharpen the details. But first, I see eyes, green like grass growing in the sunshine. Every other detail forms effortlessly after that.
Zeke.
We’re outside, both of us glowing in the sunlight. I’m on my back, and he is above me. His hands are on my shoulders, but I’m not afraid. His fingers move in lazy circles on my arm, slowly trailing their way toward my chest.
I feel my nipples harden, a breeze brushing against them and tickling me in a way that excites me. Warmth centers on my core, and I squeeze my thighs together, sending a tiny jolt of pleasure down my spine.
“You’re safe with me,” Zeke whispers in my ear. His breath is hot against my skin, sending a shiver through me.
His fingers caress the hardened pink of my breasts, and my mouth opens with a quiet moan. Zeke smiles and laughs, leaning down and pressing his lips against me.
I feel how excited that makes me. My heart beats fast, and it feels like my brain is hovering outside of my body. His warm mouth is wet against me, and his hand doesn’t pull away from my chest as his tongue slides in my mouth.
I moan all the while, my thighs squeezing together to drive out every bit of this pleasure I can.
He lowers his mouth to my neck. My skin is so sensitive. Even though he is gentle, the sensation overwhelms me. Warmth wraps around me, and I close my eyes as I feel his teeth scraping against my skin. He bites me. Normally, I would be uncomfortable with the idea of someone biting me, but this feels natural. It feels right.
As his teeth mark my skin, pleasure unlike anything I’ve ever known wracks through me. Suddenly, it feels like I’m whole, like everything in my past is meaningless. None of that matters anymore because Zeke is here, and I’m safe with him.
Chapter 6
Zeke
I don’t knowwhat time it is when I finally wake up. I’m usually up very early because it’s hard to live in a house with the pack Alpha without being awoken at sunrise. There’s always something to do, something to check on or prepare for. There’s never a dull moment.
The sun beaming through the windows tells me that it’s at least nine o’clock. By this time, on a normal day, I would have already gone on a long run through the woods, checked the perimeter of our territory for any signs of damage, and then returned home to have a big breakfast with my family. I don’t care about any of that right now. I care about Addison in bed beside me.
The distance I put between us last night seems to have meant nothing at all. I don’t know how it happened, but she’s in my arms now. Did she move closer to me, or did I pull her in?
Either way, waking up with her and feeling her skin against mine is both intoxicating and torture. I can smell the musk of her skin. The drugs have left her system to a point where I only smell a small portion of them. Being so close and not being able to kiss her is difficult. That problem turns even worse when I catch a whiff of something else.
“Fuck...” I groan, clenching my jaw.
I can smell her arousal. Sweet and so inviting. It’s faint but undeniable. I’d give anything to taste her.
My cock stiffens and is at full attention the second I realize it. I truly don’t think I’ve ever been this turned on before.
Thisis what I’ve waited so long to find. My mate. My person.
My wolf scratches desperately at my insides, begging me to claim her, to mate her. I want to listen. Never have I had to fight back against him like this.
Addison stirs in bed beside me, breathing in deeply while starting to stretch her limbs. She stills and holds her breath, while I feel like a vise is gripping my throat. Our bodies are still pressed together without even a centimeter of space between us. I expect her to jump up and run away. Instead, she lies beside me for a moment longer.
“What’s that?” she asks, her voice thick with sleep but full of curiosity. “Something’s poking me.”
I don’t need to clarify what she’s talking about. I’m so turned on by the feel of her body against mine and the smell of her arousal that my cock is pressing firmly against her back.
At first, I think she’s joking or trying to play it off to make this less awkward. But then I remember all the other stuff she doesn’t know about. She turns around and looks at me with a curious wrinkle in her eyebrows.
“I’m sorry. It’s just my reaction to... everything.” I clear my throat and back away from her.
She looks at the space between us and sees the bulge in my sweatpants. “Because you’re my mate, the slightest things arouse me.”
“You keep saying we’re mates. What does it mean?”
