Page 91 of Blood Magic

He shrugged. “I wanted to pick you up.”

I stepped out, closed the door, and took a moment to run an admiring eye over his suit. “Fancy,” I said, when what I wanted to say was “sexy.” He was crisp and clean and smelled so good. My stomach clenched and the longer I stood there staring at him, the more intense my feelings became.

He took my arm and led me toward his car, his fingers warming my entire body. I hadn’t bothered with a coat. Wolves ran hot, and anyway, soon I would be dressed in fur.

He opened the door and started to hand me in, but I looked up at the evening sky, and for a little while, I was frozen. Mesmerized. I could feel the moon coming. Calling me.

My wolf shivered through me, and her need grew stronger with each second that I stood there. “I can feel her,” I murmured. “Already I want to shift.”

“She is hard to resist.” But his stare was on me and his voice was caressing.

My mouth dry, I climbed inside his car. Soon, we would arrive in Shadowfield, the day would fade, and I would get my first moon shift. Tonight, she was irresistible. Much like the alpha.

He stood there without closing my door for a good twenty seconds. “Kait,” he murmured. “Why are you afraid?”

But I simply didn’t know—not really. “Tonight is a big deal,” I said, finally. “Before you freed my wolf, the full moon, in her power, called my shift. When I couldn’t give it to her, she hurt me.” I swallowed hard and stared down at my fingers. “That pain…”

“Is over,” he said firmly. “There will be no pain tonight. Only joy.” He shut my door and when he was inside the dark closeness of the car, he spoke again. “When you give yourself to the moon and she brings your shift, it will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced. Remember when I first freed you?”

My heart was thumping against my ribs, hard and fast. I was scared. Anxious. Nervous. “I will never forget. That night was…huge.”

He nodded. “This night will be even bigger. For your wolf, this night is everything. This time, the moon will call, and your wolf will answer.” He took my hand, squeezing gently as he ran his thumb over my knuckles. “Don’t be afraid, little wolf. I will be with you.”

It was what an alpha was supposed to do. He would protect, reassure, calm, support. But there was something more in his eyes and we both knew it.

But tonight…

Tonight I would belong to the moon.