Page 42 of Moon Awakening

She backed up, toward the wall. "Where do you sleep?" she asked in a bid to distract him.

"We sleep in there." He nodded toward the doorway she had noticed earlier, confirming her guess it was the bedroom.

"I was thinking we could wait."

"To sleep?" His teeth flashed white. "Yes, that will come later."

Oh, heavens above, how could he put such strong sensual promise into a few short words?

"I meant before we mate… I would like to know you better."

He came closer, his scent growing stronger, letting her know that he was aroused. Her body reacted to it even as her mind scrabbled for logical reasons why he should not claim her.

Reaching out, he brushed his fingertips down the side of her face, making her shiver. "You have very soft skin."

"Thank you," she said primly.

He smiled as if her words amused him. "How well did you know your first husband before you mated?"

"He was a member of my clan. I had known him since childhood."

"Did you? Or did you know his face, his name… rumors of what kind of soldier he was?"

"I don't understand." But she did. He was implying she had not known her first husband the day they had wed any better than she knew Drustan. And he was right.

"Don't you?"

Silence was her best defense and she made use of it.

He touched her again, this time brushing his thumb across her lips. "Did your first husband court you?"

She almost laughed at that, but Drustan's touch drowned her humor in rapidly growing desire. Sean had never even run with her during a hunt before her brother decreed the two of them should wed.

Scurrying backward, she bumped her shoulder on the wall, changed course and increased the distance between them. "No. He did not court me."

"Did he wait to claim you as his until after the wedding?" Drustan sounded only mildly curious as he stalked closer, making her feel like prey for the first time in her life.

As a femwolf, she had hunted, but had never been the prize to be caught. Even when she'd gone into heat the first time, she'd already been mated and there had been no "hunting" involved.

She shook her head at Drustan, unable to talk because, try as she might, she couldn't seem to get the table between them again. She was panting in a combination of atavistic fear and excitement.

He got closer with each passing second, maneuvering her with the skill of a master predator until she was up against the wall beside the open doorway to the bedroom. Another step and she would be in the room. He did not stop until his body brushed against hers. Then, he caged her in with one hand against the wall on either side of her.

His head lowered until their lips almost touched. "I make you this promise, Cait. You will know me very well come morning."

Then his mouth covered hers in a kiss that burned her remaining resistance to cinders. She was clinging to his shoulders with both hands when he lifted his mouth from hers.

Drustan's wolf looked at her through his eyes, turning them dark green like emeralds. "You belong to me, Caitriona. You are my mate."

"Not yet," she said, shocking herself as her own wolf came out to defy him in a mating rite as old as her people.

Nevertheless, she had experienced no desire to indulge in this sort of behavior with Sean. They had mated like humans. It had been pleasant, but she had never craved physical joining with him as she did now with Drustan. She wanted to have his body connected intimately with hers, but she could not simply submit and let it happen. She needed him to prove himself a strong and worthy mate in the most primitive way. That need frightened her, but it excited her even more.

The scent of her arousal mingled with his now, letting him know what she felt without a word being spoken or even a slight movement on her part.

He growled, the sound blatant affirmation of her body's response to his. "I want you," he said gutturally. "I will have you."

"Do you?" She licked her lips, sliding her hands away from his shoulders. "Will you?"