I tilted my head and kissed his cheek. The whiskers abraded my lips, but I didn’t mind. I moved lower finding his lips. He didn’t resist me, but didn’t join in as he had in the car. I frowned slightly. A stab of doubt pierced my heart. This didn’t feel right yet. He still hid from me.
Nudging his jaw with my nose, I made room to nuzzle his neck, my lips skimming his smooth skin. His pulse jumped under my lips. Finally, he reacted. Both his hands came up holding my sides, kneading me, encouraging. My breath quickened and heart hammered. Yes! This was right.
Something took possession of me. With one hand, I gripped his hair, tugging it to pull his head to the side, better exposing his neck. He gave in willingly. My eyes traced his neck where his pulse skipped erratically, matching my own. I couldn’t look away from that clean-shaven spot. I recalled when he’s started shaving it. He’d known I would need to see it. For this. I kissed it lightly and felt him shudder. Before the shudder ended, I bit him hard on the same spot. Hard enough to draw blood.
The taste of his blood on my tongue broke the hold he had on me and created a new one somewhere deep inside. I pulled back slightly to look at the small marks I’d left. They’d already begun healing.
The pull he had on me, and the euphoria of the moment faded as the horror of what I’d just done washed over me.
Clay sat staring at me in stunned silence… versus his everyday silence. Behind me, someone moved calling attention to the fact that we still had an audience. A deep blush seized my cheeks. A claiming typically occurred in private. Embarrassed tears began to gather.
I wiped the blood from my mouth with a shaky hand. I didn’t regret claiming him, but wished we could have talk first. I needed reassurance. Had I just forced him? Would this mean I’d have to quit school? Would he want me to live in the woods with him? If he did, I owed it to him to try after everything he’d done for me.
Panic bloomed in my chest. Before I could scramble off his lap, he reached up and gently stroked my hair. I froze at his touch, hands braced on his chest for stability, ready to flee.
“I’ve been waiting for that since the moment I saw you,” he said in a deep and husky voice. He sounded like a midnight radio DJ.
Hearing his perfect voice ignited my temper. Now, he could talk? I scowled at him. The man had the audacity to laugh and then scoop me up in his arms.
The room around us erupted in cheers and I hid my blazing face in his chest, my thoughts a confused jumble. I felt him move, walking, but didn’t have the courage to look up to meet the faces of the people who’d witnessed our claiming. The sounds of cheering faded as he walked through the doors out of the commons. My tears of embarrassment dried before they spilled over.
Part of me couldn’t wait to get him alone and yell at him for not talking to me for so long. Another part of me wanted to skip talking altogether and get back to the kissing part. And yet another part of me wanted to ask his thoughts about my gifts and the lights I saw.
When he carried me into our little room and set me on my feet just after closing the door, I did none of those things. I stood mere inches from him still too stunned, and very unsure, to do anything but stare. Where would we live? How would we support ourselves? What about my education? His job? Was he upset I bit him under the influence? Should I tell him about the other wolf? Did he have ideas about the weird color lights?
I trembled. He no longer smiled, but his eyes still twinkled.
“Why?” My high strained voice made me sound like a child. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Why wait until now to talk?” My curiosity won.
He quietly studied me for a moment and then opened his arms. I didn’t hesitate, but stepped right into them needing his comfort.
Tucking me against his chest, he gave me his explanation in a simple, heart-melting way. “If I’d spoken, even just one word, I would have never been able to hold back what I feel for you. You would have run.”
I remember the day he’d plopped down on the towel next to Rachel. Had he arrived any other way, I would have tried kicking him out. If that wouldn’t have worked, I would have… run. Pulling back, I met his gaze. Even then, he’d known me. I hadn’t been ready for any monumental life changes and still wasn’t sure if I was now.
“Can I finally get answers from you now? You’ll keep talking?” He smiled at me and nodded. Well, he’d never be a chatterbox. “Do you think I’m right about the…”
He interrupted me looking serious. “Now’s not the time. We’ll talk later.”
No way. “No, we’re talking now. If not about that, then something else. I’ve waited over six months to hear your voice.” He didn’t look motivated to talk yet. “You owe me. I bit you.” It sounded a little backwards, but he smiled.
Then he looked puzzled. “How are you feeling?”