Chapter 21

[ 811 words ]

She is shifting

21: 21.

She is shifting Kade

“You’re thinking too loud,” she says.

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

She sets the plane down slowly.

Then she turns to face me fully.

The movement puts her chest inches from mine.

Her eyes search my face.

“You’ve been staring at me all morning,” she says.

I shrug.

“It’s easier to keep you safe if my eyes are on you.”

Lie.

Lie.

Lie.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her if I wanted to.

“Is that all it is?” she asks.

There is something in her voice, something suggestive, sensual.

“What are you doing, Aria?”

She reaches out, running her fingertips along the cord of my forearms as if she can’t help herself.

Her touch sends a molten shot of lust through me.

“Are all wolves so hot?”

I have to blink and concentrate on the meeting of her words.

“Our body temperature runs higher.”

I curl my hands into fists, preventing myself from touching her back.

From feeling the skin that looks so soft and smooth, it’s almost hypnotizing.

My wolf claws at me.

I want to get closer to her.

His mate.

My mate.

“Mmm,” her voice is husky.

It makes too many images flash through my mind.

Her scent.

Her laugh.

The way she looked in Ronan’s office.

The way she looked at Barric.

The way I want to—

My wolf pushes forward.

Taste her.

I want that

Shit, how I want it.

Instead, I say, “You’re a terrible woodworker.”

She gasps.

“Rude.”

“Just being honest.”

“Oh, really?

Well, lucky for you it’s not my daytime profession.

I prefer metal work but a girl’s gotta make do with what she has.”

“Metal?” I repeatedly dream up an image of her in a leather smock with a welder in her hand.

It’s hotter than it has any right to be.

“It’s my art of choice.” She says her breath teasing lips.

I should step back.

I would if my feet would listen to me.

“I’d like to see your work,” I say.

I’d like to see every part of her, to unwrap all the pieces of her mind and know all of her secrets.

Her voice drops slightly.

“Maybe if you’re a good boy, I’ll let you.”

I catch the scent of her lust.

The air gets tight.

My pulse thuds in my ears.

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” I warn.

Her lips twitch.

“Are you scared?”

I lean closer.

“Of you?”

“Yes.” Her breath brushes my mouth.

“No.”

Her scent deepens again.

But this time, there is a sharp overlay in her scent.

It’s a spike of pheromones, as I’ve only encountered it in one circumstance: a female in heat.

Heat coils low in my stomach.

She whispers, “Maybe you should be.”

That’s it.

My control snaps.

I grab her waist and pull her against me.

Her gasp turns into a soft sound as my mouth crashes into hers.

The kiss is instant fire.

Aria responds without hesitation, her hands fisting in my shirt as she kisses me back just as hard.

My wolf surges forward, thrilled.

Finally.

Her lips are warm and soft and demanding.

She tastes like mint and something wild.

I push her back against the workbench.

Tools clatter.

Her fingers slide into my hair and pull.

A growl rumbles out of my chest.

She breaks the kiss for half a second.

“Wow,” she breathes.

I search her eyes for fear, for any discomfort at what I am, but all I see is intrigue and lust.

Then she kisses me again.

Harder.

Her body presses against mine, and the contact sends heat flooding through me.

Her scent spikes—pure attraction now.

My wolf is practically vibrating.

Mate.

My hands slide along her waist, pulling her closer.

She arches into me with a soft gasp.

“Kade…”

The way she says my name nearly destroys what little control I have left.

I drag my mouth along her jaw.

Her pulse jumps under my lips.

I nip lightly at her neck.

Her fingers tighten in my shirt.

“Oh,” she whispers.

“Fuck that feels good.”

My wolf purrs with satisfaction.

Her scent grows richer, sweeter.

Every instinct I have screams to claim her.

But beneath the heat, confusion still claws at me.

Ronan.

Barric.

Liam

The pack.

What does this mean?

What are we doing?

Aria pulls back just enough to look at me.

Her eyes are bright.

Breathless.

“You look like you’re regretting this already,” she says.

“I’m not,” I say, finding that it is the truth.

She kisses me again before I can think too deeply about it.

My brain short-circuits instantly.

Her hands slide down my chest.

And my growl rumbles beneath her hands.

I eat at her mouth, nipping and suck on the plump, round of her lips.

She melts against me instantly, opening up to let me in deeper.

I love how responsive she is, and so does my wolf.

My hand slips up the hem of her shirt, and the second I touch her skin, something niggles in the back of my mind.

It’s like a drop of water under the fire our desire is creating.

The steam grows until my instinct sends a warning through me.

Without warning, I’m thrown back with more strength than Aria would possibly be capable of.

She curls over, yelling out as she holds her midsection.

The pain forces her down to her hands and knees, and it is only then that I put together the things my mind was trying to tell me.

The heat of her skin, her scent…..

“Kade!” she yells, and her back bows.

“Help…me…”

Claws begin to extend from her hands.

Fuck.

She is shifting.

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