I turn once more to Greld, then grab the ropes that heused to tie up Selene. While he claws at me, I drag him across the floor toward a support beam, then strap him to it.
“The constable will find you,” I tell him. “Eventually.”
Then it’s time to attend to Selene. I lean down, scoop her up, and she wraps her arms around my neck to hang on as we head up the rickety steps. At the top, I step over the broken door, and we emerge from the darkness.
11
SELENE
Ihave not known Harry for very long, that’s true. But the way he towered over that alpha, ready to squash his head like a melon—that was a new Harry. A strange, different Harry, who burned with rage.
He was almost beautiful. I didn’t know he was capable of such things, and it makes that never-ending ache in my belly grow fiercer.
Wordlessly, he carries me out of the house and down the front steps, then along the overgrown road. I know I don’t need to hold on to him, that he would never drop me, but I also can’t let him go. He smells… perfect. Like home. Like a hearth and a warm meal. Like everything I’ve ever wanted, ever needed, and it’s right here.
I don’t even have words to express how grateful I am that he came when he did. And it is a very inconvenient moment for that endlessly needy part of me to become very loud andveryneedy.
“Harry,” I whimper, rubbing my thighs together. He pauses, then inhales deeply as he peers down at me. “I’m sorry. I… It…”
I can’t even finish my sentence, as embarrassed as I am. He just rescued me from what could have been something very terrible. He took a massive blow to the head, and a few ugly stumbles. He needs rest and his wounds cleaned. He needs a meal and a bath.
But I need him, too.
Harry’s voice comes out low, throaty. “Is it bad?”
I nod, pushing my nightgown down to cover myself. “I’m sorry. It hurts. It?—”
“Shh.” He glances around, then seems to locate what he’s looking for, and heads to a tree. He bends down and sets me down at the base of it, where the pine needles have pulled away from the trunk. “This will work.”
“What will work?”
He doesn’t say anything as he kneels in the dirt in front of me, then gently, sets a hand on my thigh and pulls it to one side so my legs are spread around his broad shoulders.
Oh, no. Is he going to lick me? Here?Right here?
I can’t think of anything better right now, except maybe…
No. Not that. Harry doesn’t want that, with me, on the forest floor.
Once my legs are spread, he tucks his hands under me, lifting me up by the rear. Then he leans down and slides his tongue down, from my clit to my ass. He groans, and the scent I detected earlier—his masculine, homey smell—swells bigger around us. It makes my need even more acute, and it won’t be sated by this alone.
Instead of tasting my clit, Harry’s tongue wiggles insideme, and I moan as it spreads me open. He sucks, and his shoulders clench between my thighs.
“This flavor,” he says with a groan, “is like nothing else. I can’t get enough.”
Then he reaches upward, flicking his tongue back and forth, riling me up. But I don’t need any more riling. I need something inside me, desperately.
“More,” I plead.
Obediently, Harry lifts a finger and slips it inside me, and it’s so good, so unbelievably good, and still not enough. My hips cant up into it, and he pulls that finger out before plunging it back in again. Soon, it’s joined by two, and yet I need more. Still, something important is missing, and I will never escape this feeling unless Harry gives me what I crave.
I reach down and touch his hair, and his eyes dart up to mine as his fingers slow.
“Thank you,” I tell him, stroking his shaggy blonde mane. “But… you don’t have to do this. For me.”
I want to give him the chance to tell me the truth. I don’t know what I’ll do if he says the thing I’m dreading, but he needs to have the choice.
“What?” Harry raises his head, bushy brows furrowed. “I want to do it.”
