Nothing happens.
Nothing moves, and yet I feel like I’m being watched. The hair on the back of my neck rises as my sense of fear returns and grows stronger, gripping the sides of my throat, making it hard to breathe. The wide expanse of sky overhead seems to condense into a wall of darkness closing in around me.
“Noah.”
A deep voice whispers my name inside my skull.
Goose bumps cover me from head to toe, and my exhale is a puff of mist, as if the night has suddenly cooled and instantaneously extracted all the heat from my body. I zero in on a spot that looks exactly like every other—black, shrouded, impenetrable—but there’s something about it. Something there.
“Come here, sweetheart.”
The three words are a whispered invitation in my head, and I reel back, completely rattled. Alarmed, I retreat from the railing. I’m a breath away from hurtling into the house and bolting upstairs to wake up Perth, Ellery, and Ruger when movement off to the side has me freezing. A huge black wolf emerges from the woods.
A familiar onyx-furred figure.
Gannon.
I gasp, heart hammering in my chest, and his head snaps in my direction as he pauses mid-step.
“Was that you?” I demand, stepping back to the railing as he stands there watching me. I know he’s got a problem with me, but would he fuck with me like that?
He trots forward and I feel a small rush of relief at his presence. It pricks the bubble of fear around me, and I inhale deeply, desperate for his scent to calm me.
Well, that’s fucking new…and weird.
Or is it?
I suddenly recall the way I gulped down both Ellery’s and Perth’s scents when I was with them, and how it almost seemed to anchor me. I didn’t realize I was doing that until now.
Gannon’s ears perk up, alert, as he lopes closer.
“Was that you in my head?” I question again, and he leaps up the handful of steps onto the deck.
His head tilts and his ears flicker as though he doesn’t understand what I’m saying, and then, in a flurry of pops and audible tears, the dark wolf disappears and Gannon rises to his feet, completely and gloriously naked.
Well…shit.
Immediately, I look away, despite the howling demand inside of me to take in every magnificent inch of him—and damn, there are a lot of inches.
“What?” he asks, his voice deep and growly like it’s still on the cusp between man and beast.
My mind stalls as my gaze settles on his naked reflection in the wall of glass next to us, only to flit away quickly in search of somewhere safe to look.
“Uh,” I mumble like an idiot. “Were you just in my head with the whole come here crap? Were you out there?” I stammer, gesturing to the dark line of trees around us. My eyes snap to him greedily as he looks from me to the dark towering pines I’m pointing at.
Eyes on his face, Noah. Eyes on his face!
But I’ve already committed the angular lines of his torso to memory, the sharp cut of his deltoids against the bulge of his biceps, the very defined pecs.
“Yeah, I was just doing a perimeter check,” he confirms, and I blow out a relieved breath.
I open my mouth to snap at him about fucking with my head, but I get distracted by his body.
How do his muscles have muscles? Crap, Noah. Don’t look!
In the two seconds it takes for me to get a hold of myself again, his chiseled chest and the dark line of hair leading from his belly button down will now be stamped in my mind forever. I’ve never seen brickwork abs before. Looks like I can cross that off my fuck it—I mean—bucket list.
“What are you doing out here?” he asks me, his eyes raking over me as he brushes his fingers through his hair, pushing the dark locks back from his face.
The obvious annoyance in his tone makes it easier for me to shake free from my addled state and focus.
“Waiting for you, obviously,” I answer, refusing to miss an opportunity to goad him.
I mean, if he’s going to dislike me, it might as well be for good reason.
He watches me warily and then takes the bait perfectly. “Why?” he questions with a glower.
“I figured it was time we fuck it out.”
Gannon chokes on air. His eyes widen as he coughs and hits a fist to his chest before his scowl is firmly back in place. “What are you talking about?”
“Fuck it out,” I repeat innocently. “You know, get whatever this is out of your system,” I continue, casually waving a hand in his direction and then adopting a mocking, over-the-top grumpy look on my face. “Now that we’re roomies, I figured this was the best way to help you get over your shit.”
Gannon rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest.
I do everything I can to keep my eyes from wandering lower.
It’s harder than it should be.
“We’re not roomies,” Gannon irritably contends.
“Don’t fight this,” I counter dramatically, lifting a hand like I’m reaching for him but he’s just too far away. “Besides, if we don’t bump uglies, then I can’t justify the screwvenir I’ve got my eye on in your room. And that dragon snow globe is really calling to me.”
His nostrils flare and his brow furrows as indignation creeps into his eyes and drips down into his words. “I’m too tired for this shit,” he grumbles as he turns to walk into the house.
“Is that a no then?” I taunt, and then the next thing I know, he’s right in front of my face.
Pissed is an understatement for the fury radiating from him.
I jerk back at the physical jump-scare, but I’m already up against the railing of the deck and there’s nowhere for me to go.
“Is this all a fucking joke to you?” he snarls, his ire pinning me in place and calling to my own.
“Not one little bit,” I snap back, and the venom in that statement seems to take him by surprise.
“That’s right, wolf, I can give as good as I get.”
A savage little smile starts to spread across Gannon’s face, and I suspect I didn’t keep my last thought to myself like I intended. I picture a vault in my mind and quickly shove all my thoughts inside before things like why is this turning me on and what would that big dick feel like inside of me slip out and blow my unbothered cover. I slam the door, turn the crank to lock the vault, and focus back on Gannon, who’s way too naked and way too close.
“So you’re done tucking your tail between your legs, kitten?” he challenges, towering over me as he presses even closer, calling my bluff. “You’re ready to let me fuck you right here, for us to bite each other, and then march you upstairs and let each of my brothers do the same?”
Holy fuck.
Let the thigh drenching commence.
But also, no.
I hesitate and Gannon’s grin morphs into a full blown sneer. “That’s what I thought,” he mocks, leaning back. “You can’t handle this.”