Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 38523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 193(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 193(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 128(@300wpm)
She tilts her head and gets a sad look in her eyes. “They aren’t? Why would they do such a thing?”
“I just assumed.” I close my eyes; the weight of her response denies that she’s been with them.
“Well as far as anyone here knows, they’ve only ever been with you.” She scrunches her nose. “And I can tell you I’ve never smelled them on anyone else before.”
I heat with embarrassment and bite my lip. “Are all you wolves good at smelling?”
She laughs at my irritation. “I’m not a wolf, but most shifters are good at smelling.”
“What are you?”
“Lion.”
“So you can shift into a lioness?”
She smiles and nods. “I don’t much though.”
“Why?”
“She’s a bit aggressive. It’s rare that a female possesses so much dominance. I try to repress her, but she doesn’t like it when I do. So I just don’t shift much.”
“I don’t understand. That sounds awful.”
Her tone drops slightly, almost uncomfortably so. “Well when dominance is expressed, it’s challenged. For a female surrounded by stronger males, especially males who aren’t her mate, that’s not good for her.” She offers me a sad smile. “It’s why I left my pride.”
“Oh my God, they didn’t—” I can’t even finish my thought, but she adamantly shakes her head, stopping any assumptions from turning dark.
“No, my family would never hurt me. But my lioness kept picking fights and would sulk when she would be beat in a match. It was just too much for both of us to handle. I think she wants to be tamed, but only by her mate. And I haven’t found him yet. We were both miserable, so I left, hoping to find my mate.” She shakes her head. “But after a year, I never found him so I just stopped looking.” She looks sad but resigned. “A lot of shifters never find their mates. When you get to a point in your life, you just have to make a decision of whether you’d rather have a small bond with someone else, or no bond at all.”
My eyes search hers. “What did you decide?”
“I haven’t made my decision yet, but I’m getting to the point where I need to.” My heart aches for her as she changes the subject, not so subtly. “Ooh I can smell your heat hitting you.” She wrinkles her nose comically.
“So heat means what exactly?” I find myself sitting on the bed beside her. All of this is exactly what I was hoping for. My fingers itch to snag my recorder but I resist on the off chance that she’ll stop giving intel if she knows my intention.
“It’s the time of the month when you’re most fertile.” I nod my head and immediately feel like an idiot for not figuring that one out on my own. Heat…like a dog. “And shifters get super, forgive my bluntness, horny around that time.”
“Well good thing I’m human.” I don’t expect her to laugh, but oh she does and I find my face heating.
“You aren’t feeling horny at all? From what I’ve heard it hits humans just as hard and sometimes harder.”
I sit uncomfortably on the bed, tug down the tee shirt, and feel the ache between my thighs. Oh shit… I remember Luke’s remark about begging him and I hope it’s not true. I won’t be able to handle that. Being so degraded and having no control over it. “Maybe I should stay with someone else until the heat’s over.”
She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Why would you want that?” She doesn’t wait for a reply, instead she just shakes her head. “The Alphas won’t allow that so I wouldn’t suggest it. They aren’t going to be able to let their mate be anywhere but with them. No mate would ever want their partner somewhere without them during their heat. It’s awfully painful to be apart.” Before I can reply she adds, “And I’m sure they’re going to want to bond with you before the claiming.”
A cold sweat breaks across my skin as my gut drops. “What’s the claiming?” Every inch of my skin tingles.
“For wolves it’s when they bite you, to mark you as theirs.” I nod my head. Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad. “The bite lets their magic mix with your blood. That way everyone will scent you as theirs and they’ll always be able to find you and know how you’re feeling. It’s wonderful.” Her tone and smile brighten once again. “And the claiming moon is only four days away.”
Fuck. I need to get the hell out of here in less than four days.
Luke
I stifle my groan as another wave of her arousal hits me, the entire house smells of her sweet honey. She hasn’t sought either of us out today and that confuses me. We waited close by, not even daring to leave the house. I know the pack wants to meet her, but they understand what a test it would be for all of us at this point. Even having Charlotte in the house put us on edge. There’s no fucking way that she’d ever be interested in our sweet little mate, but still. I don’t want anyone around her.