Page 64 of Wolfkissed
“You’d think,” I say primly, “that running for your life, both our lives, would have you more focused on the task at hand.”
“And yet,” he crouches down and leans forward until he’s looming over me, “I can’t think of anything but you.”
“That’s...” I clear my throat, because right now I can’t see, hear, smell, or feel anything buthim, and apart from the moments of sheer terror, as he’d scaled down the tree and jumped over impossible gaps and distances... he’s been on my mind, too.
But it won’t do.
“I’m to be married,” I end up saying. “This is?—”
“Improper. Right.” But his smile lingers, if strained. “So you’ve said.”
“Is it different in werewolf society? Do you...” I wave a hand back and forth. “...sleep with anyone you fancy, no matter your prior commitments and promises?”
“I don’t sleep with everyone I fancy,” he murmurs, his warm gaze still on me. “I don’t fancy anyone. And I haven’t made any promises.”
“Oh.” I don’t know what to say to that. What it means. He isn’t promised to anyone, he seems to say. He’s free to choose with whom to be. And isn’t that nice?
This isn’t the time to be bitter, though, or stop trusting that my future husband will be wonderful. Why am I doubting it now? Is it the dowry thing? How could he have predicted my stepfather’s reaction?
Valen reaches out a tanned, large hand, and I take it, letting him haul me to my feet. Letting him pull me against him once more, steadying me, pressing me to his tall body. He inhalesdeeply and... and something large and hard pokes into my stomach.
I try to pull back, see what it is. “Valen, your knives?—”
He barks a laugh and steps away suddenly. “My knives are happy to see you. Now, I hunted for both of us yesterday, but when you decided to take a hike without me and night fell, we missed our chance to have dinner together.”
“Dinner,” I mutter. “You make it sound like a banquet, when it was probably a raw carcass we’d have to bite into.”
“Yeah, sorry, honey, I forgot the golden forks and knives at home.” He snorts. “That said, I would have cooked the carcass for you.”
“How? Can you light fires with the force of your gaze?”
“In these areas, you find flintstones, and you have a steel knife. It wouldn’t be too hard.”
“You didn’t think you’d need to cook it, though,” I muse, recalling the blood on his face and arms. “You already ate your portion. Raw and bloody.”
“It bothers you that I sometimes act like an animal.”
“Sometimes?” I laugh. “You’re funny.”
He’s quiet, though, and my laughter dies. He tugs on my hand and starts walking, so that I have to hurry and match his pace.
Guilt nibbles at my thoughts as he leads me out of the grove, striding fast. Most of my focus is on keeping up, but after a while, I can’t hold it inside of me anymore.
“Valen,” I start, “about earlier?—”
“It’s fine. You voiced your thoughts. I’d rather have the truth than lies.”
I grimace. “But that’s not?—”
“Don’t sugarcoat things for me, Princess. You think I’m a disgusting beast. You never hid it. So why start now?”
“That’s not... Will you stop and look at me?”
He halts and turns around. “What?”
“I was only teasing. I see now it was in bad taste. I don’t think you’re beastly. At least... not in a bad way. I...” Heat spreads over my cheeks. “I mean... forget it.”
What am I doing? What does that mean,not in a bad way?Have I lost my mind?
