“I know this is a lot to take in,” Dominic said. “And I know you’ll never look at me the same way again, or any of the people here in Tolstone.”
Erica opened her mouth, and her brows pinched together, as if confused by the words that she was about to say. “Actually… I think I’m okay. It’s totally weird, don’t get me wrong, but… it explains so much and there’s this… something in me that is making me okay with all of this.” She looked up, eyes full of acceptance. “So, the reason you left last night was because someone needed you as… Prime Alpha?”
Dominic nodded solemnly.
“And when that guy came up to the booth at the festival?”
“That was Hank. He’s my personal beta for my pack.”
Erica pursed her lips. “That makes sense, too, I guess. The dude looked like he could wrestle a bull and win.”
He cracked a smile. “I think he used to, actually.” That might not have been the best thing to tell her, but her perceptiveness had put him at such ease that he was ready to tell her anything if it helped to perfect this image of what shifters could and could not be.
“And when you left the store earlier today?”
“I had to break up a fight at Howling Bones Bar.”
Her brows arched. “Is the bartender—”
“Yes. Along with wolf shifters, there are other types of shifters… Alex Rivers is a bear shifter.”
Erica held up a hand for him to stop. “Okay, one shifter race at a time, please… Although the guy does resemble a bear… Even you, when I look hard enough, I mean, you kind of do look wolfish in the face… Especially your eyes.”
Dominic had never noticed it before. Never cared to. Perhaps the shape of his eyes did have a slight feral tilt to them.
“Can… Can I see them again?”
It took a few heartbeats for him to realize what she meant. “Are you sure?”
Erica nodded, her shoulders squared and ready to face the beast that lurked within his soul.
It didn’t take much effort to bring the wolf forward, for man and beast to share the same eyes, the same mind in a nominal way. The cold rush infiltrated his pupils, and the blue gave way to the golden hue she asked for. The colors of the kitchen and breakfast nook brightened, every detail in sharp relief, crisp and vivid to his senses.
With a steady heartbeat, Erica rose to her feet. Dominic didn’t move, barely breathed. Anyone who had ever been on thereceiving end of his golden eyes either shied away or threw up their defenses, knowing that they were about to incur his wrath. She didn’t. Erica strode toward him with confidence, likely unaware of what danger she may find herself in under the stare of the wolf. Yet, there wasn’t a single trace of fear underneath her vanilla perfume.
She was just a few inches away now, her breath warming the cold rainwater on his shirt that had yet to dry. A hand came up and touched his rough cheek. Smooth skin grazed over his stubble as their eyes locked.
Another scent joined the vanilla, the same one that plagued his memory every waking hour, the same one that drove him to kiss her the night before. Warm, inviting, sensual. Her arousal paired so well with her natural musk, and it took all his self-control not to take her right there in the kitchen. He could see himself grabbing her, pinning her to the counter. He needed to take off these damp clothes anyway, and their heated lovemaking was the best thing to dry him off.
He resisted, though he could feel his erection harden and strain against the stiffening fibers of his jeans, eager to be caressed by those same fingers that brushed under his eyes.
He could see the tiny flecks of gold in her hazel eyes, those same eyes that Cole possessed, flecks and all. That thought sobered him quickly, and he was able to enjoy this moment without the yearning for further intimacy. Erica was his mate and Cole’s daughter, though she couldn’t understand that yet.
Her silky, enticing lips gave the slightest tremble as she took a stuttered breath and recoiled her hands. “This is insane,” she whispered, then took a few steps back to distance herself.
Dominic lost his senses and matched her step for step, staying as close as she would let him. “No, this isn’t insane. You know it isn’t.”
“But it should be!” Her fingertips covered her mouth as she shook her head, full of denial. “You can change into an animal and I…” Erica bit back those words that he had been waiting to hear. They were the words he needed to hear to know that things were going to go well between them, that she was willing to give them a chance and not turn him away because of what he was.
Instead, she stamped her foot like a frustrated child. “What is going on?” she demanded. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, but her face betrayed anything but anger. Hurt, confusion, desperation, but not anger. “I swear, I feel like I’m going out of my mind here!”
Dominic let his eyes change back to the docile blue and smiled at her in that sympathetic way. Their mating bond did so much more than tell him how far away she was. Her pain was his own, her feelings completely transparent to his spirit until it became almost infectious, and it could work the other way around. He wished he could have pulled her in for another tender embrace to show her that she wasn’t alone. Not anymore.
“You’re not going out of your mind,” he said softly. “This is all real. What you’re feeling is real because I feel it too.”
“But I don’t want to feel this!” she cried, stopping his heart cold. “It’s like I’m coming apart at the seams and the only thing holding me together is… is you. And I hate that! I hate this thing between us that makes me want you so badly I feel like I’ll die without… without…”
Her hands waved in the space between them, her nose wrinkling as a sign that tears may come. Dominic couldn’t let them.
