Page 116

“You did so well.” I repeated my earlier words so I knew he’d truly heard them, but I meant them with utmost sincerity. Gingerly leaning down with his knot still throbbing inside me, I draped myself over his heaving chest. With a sigh, I nestled my cheek between his pecs and closed my eyes. “Thank you for taking such good care of me during my heat, Brian.”

Again, I meant every single word, but that sneaky seductive instinct also knew that Brian would respond extra well to that kind of praise. He was still in his rut, which made him ultra possessive and protective and gave him a feverish urge to look after his partner.

He shuddered with pleasure and wrapped his strong arms around me, some of the tension bleeding from his body. His knot was still pulsing, but each throb was weaker now, and they were spaced further apart. Beneath my cheek, his heartbeat was already slow and steady. Relaxed.

Maybe his rut was drawing to a close. His heart had been beating at a much faster pace over the last few days, and his internal temperature had risen to the point that I began to sweat just from being near him. Now, though, he was comfortably warm—still hot compared to me, especially now that my heat was slowing down, but in a way that made me want to nestle into him.

When his knot finally deflated and his cock started to slip out of me, I sat up and shifted higher so I could sit on his stomach. Cupping his muzzle in my hands, I leaned down to start peppering kisses all over his lupine face.

“I can’t wait to kiss you,” I told him, rubbing my cheek against the side of his muzzle so he could feel my smile. “And I’m going to kiss you all over, Brian.”

He loosed an unsteady breath as his stomach muscles twitched beneath my ass. Voice still slurred, and now sounding half-asleep already, he mumbled, “You have to let me suck you off first, though.”

I laughed, kissing the side of his snout before stroking my thumb along the top of his nose and between his eyes. They fluttered with pleasure, drowsy and already half-closed.

“You could suck me off…” I murmured, running my hands down to his pecs and squeezing them, then finding his stiff little nipples and stroking them with my thumbs. “…and then maybe you could soothe my hole with your tongue. It’s so swollen now because of your big werewolf dick.”

Internally I winced a little at my sub-par porny talk. Don’t get me wrong, I loved dirty talk, and I liked to think I was okay at it. Sometimes. Maybe. When I wasn’t too worked up. But right now, the seduction stage of the heat was making me say some fairly corny things.

Although, apparently they were working.

Brian let out a shuddery groan and kneaded my hips with his big hands, claws gently raking over my skin. “Yeah,” he croaked, blinking heavily. “Fuck yes. Need to eat your hole.”

Said hole clenched up in reaction. “Did it feel good, Brian?” I murmured. “Was I hot and tight around you?”

He shuddered, hands sliding back to roam over my ass. “Fuck yes. And wet.”

I grinned wide and leaned back down to nuzzle his face, still massaging his pecs. “Mmm, yes. I was so wet for you, Brian.”

“Fuuuck.” He shook his head weakly. “Don’t make me hard again, Klaus. I don’t think I can move anymore.”

My brows shot up. I glanced back to confirm that Brian’s dick, for the first time in days, had actually softened. Not completely—he was still half-hard against his thigh, but it wasn’t an angry, swollen red anymore, and his knot was nowhere in sight.

I looked back down at him and saw him blinking sluggishly, barely conscious now. Over the last few days, Brian had never fallen asleep first. I knew he’d been forcing himself to stay awake until I dozed off, which I was guessing was a protective-werewolf-in-rut thing, or maybe it was just a Brian thing, because he was so sweet and considerate that he wanted to make sure he didn’t pass out when I might still need him.

He could probably sense the change in me now—the absence of the hard, feverish need that had been driving me the last few days—and it was letting his body subconsciously relax.

“You need to sleep, sweetheart.” I kissed his muzzle again, then plastered myself against his front and tucked my face into the crook of his neck with a sigh.

Big hands skimmed tiredly up and down my spine, between the roots of my wings, making me shiver. “What if you need me?” he asked in a slurred mumble.

I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. I need to sleep too.”

He didn’t need any more convincing than that. Poor baby. Within seconds, he was passed out cold, his arms going lax around me and flopping down onto the mattress, his chest vibrating from the air sawing in and out of his lungs.

I wasn’t so sure I’d succeeded at the whole seduction stage of my heat just then, but maybe that was because I didn’t really feel the need to. Something fundamental had settled deep inside me, taking up root in the very core of my being. I trusted Brian, and I felt safe with him.

He wasn’t going to leave me now that he’d gotten lots of sex from me like every other man I’d ever dated. He wasn’t.

That thought soothed me into a deep sleep, still curled up on Brian’s chest.

***

I slept hard, but I could still tell that I wasn’t anywhere near caught up on all the sleep I’d missed over the last several days when I was jolted awake.

Something felt weird immediately, but I couldn’t place it at first as I lifted my head and peered around the room through bleary, barely open eyes. The light had changed, and the air was cooler, but everything looked the same.

In fact, I was able to take in Brian’s bedroom properly for the first time. It was warm and cosy, the walls painted a deep forest green, the bedframe a nicely stained dark wood, and there were plants everywhere. Tall ones in floor-standing pots, vine-like ones cascading from hanging planters, as many as possible crammed onto the large, deep windowsill in here. I couldn’t name a single one, but they looked pretty. Green. Well cared for. I couldn’t see a single brown or yellow leaf or withered stem.