Page 31

The answer is immediate. Terrifying.

Nora reaches for me as I step back, her fingers closing around my wrist. The contact burns straight through me.

“Hewit.”

I lift my eyes as she moves closer, slowly enough that I could stop her. I don’t. My heart slams as her palm settles against my chest.

“You keep blaming him. The wolf.” Her thumb shifts against my shirt. “But he’s not the one standing here shaking.”

“Nora—”

“If you don’t want me to kiss you, tell me.”

The wolf explodes inside me. I can’t breathe. I could tell her no. I should.

Instead, I hear myself say, “You’re going to regret this.”

Her mouth curves. “That’s not no.”

Then she kisses me.

For one heartbeat, I don’t move. Her mouth is soft against mine. Warm and careful and nothing like the way I’ve imagined it.

Then she makes a small sound in her throat, and everything breaks.

I catch her face in both hands and kiss her back. Hard. Years of silence, control, distance—all of it evaporates at once.

Nora gasps against my mouth, and I swallow the sound as I back her toward the counter. My body crowds hers before I can stop myself. Her hands fist in my shirt and pull me closer.

That’s all the permission the wolf needs.

A growl rolls out of my chest.

Nora shivers, and her scent changes. Sweetens. My cock goes painfully hard against her stomach. She feels it, and her hips shift against me.

Fuck.

I tear my mouth from hers. Her lips are swollen, her breathing rough. Mine is worse. For a second, I can only stare at her.

Then her fingers slide into the hair at the back of my neck. “Hewit.”

I close my eyes. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Touch me like that.”

Her hand stills. “Do you want me to stop?”

No.

Gods, no.

The wolf is raging now, every instinct screaming to take, mark, claim.

I grab her wrist, but I don’t remove her hand. I just hold it there and force the words out. “Nora, I haven’t been with anyone since I changed.”

Her eyes widen.