Page 96 of Knot Broken

“If that’s the way you respond to shifting, there’s gonna be a lot of running in wolf form in your future,” I sighed.

“Promise?”

The twitch of her smile, the way she looked back at me, had me leaning over to kiss her.

“With everything I’ve got.”

We slept through the rest of the night, only to be woken by the sound of a car approaching.

“Heads up, we’ve got company,” I told the others as I moved to put myself between Nadia and what was surely the farmer that owned this field. Imagine my surprise when the Taylor pack jumped out of the car.

“We tracked you to your location using the sensor in Nadia’s arm,” Fen said, tossing us some clothes. As we scrambled to put them on, Haze threw a set of keys at Grey. My packmate caught them neatly.

“Your car is on the road over there,” he said. “Could’ve made it back in fur, but we figured you’d rather drive back after what happened last night. How are we all feeling?”

“Good.” Nadia smiled, then flushed. “Better than good. Please thank Riley for me.”

“Thank her yourself when you make it back to the institute,” Colt said. “I know you shifted successfully, but knowing our mate…”

He looked over at his brothers.

“This is just the beginning.”

“We know.” I pressed a kiss to my mate’s temple. “But we’re a pack now. You can get through anything if you do it together.”

As we headed towards the car, everyone unconsciously walking within arm’s length of each other, I felt an unfamiliar lightness in my chest. Hope, I realised. Fragile as a candle’s flame in a storm, strong as a bushfire.

“Ready?” I asked Nadia, opening the car door.

“Finally, I can say yes to that,” she said with a grin.

Chapter 45

Grey

I just couldn’t seem to stop touching Nadia.

It was late in the afternoon and we’d all fallen into bed to nap, but at some point Ethan had wandered off and Tex must be in the kitchen, if the smell of burnt toast was anything to go by.

That just left me and my mate.

Her slow breaths drew me closer and I watched the way a strand of hair kept flying up, then falling back on her face with every inhale. Reaching out slowly to push it behind her shoulders was a mistake. The slip of her hair made my fingers tingle, because it wasn’t enough. My knuckles grazing her cheek wasn’t either. It was like a bone-deep hunger had been awakened by the moment her wolf appeared, and it gnawed at my guts.

Because we need to mark, claim, mate her, the wolf informed me.

By the ache of my knot, it was what I wanted. It throbbed so hard it set my teeth on edge, but as my cock rubbed against the sheets, I leaned in closer. Just letting my fingers trail down her arm so I could marvel at the satin of her skin, watching her shiver, then her brows crease, let me know this was a mistake. Her eyelids flickered then opened so she could stare muzzily at me.

Shit…

I was so freaking bad at this whole mate thing. Who the hell left me alone with Nadia? A complicated swirl of horror, fear, and self-recrimination rose.

Then she smiled.

My shame spiral was aborted instantly as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” By all the gods, did I have any people skills at all? “Sorry I woke you.”