Page 27 of Wolf’s Fated Bride

My nipples rub against my bra as my breasts swell painfully, my stupid body thinking his scent means the heat should come before the night of the full moon. I swallow my saliva. He smells good enough to eat.

When Ash returns, he will smell that I was in the room. There’s no hiding the fact that I was here. Hence the reason I brought the basket, which I will now drop off on his bed. I search his nightstand for the vial that contains the medicine Sven might’ve already made for him.

I don’t see it anywhere, but Ash’s pillow catches my eye.

Don’t sniff.

Don’t.

I bend, press my nose into his pillow, and take a deep breath.

My lower belly contracts painfully. It feels like I pressed my nose between his legs, which to us wolves is part of the mating cycle when we’re in our animal forms. I inhale a lungful, then gather myself and step back. When I swallow, I can taste him on my tongue.

I lick my lips and swallow again. Then I sneeze. Oh, that felt good. I sneeze again. Excellent.

I want to shift and rub my fur on his sheets. What a mess that would be if he detected that I’d done that. How humiliating. I won’t do it. He’s reserved for Maren, even if she doesn’t want him.

I put away Ash’s clothes and search for the Regulator vial in the drawers, the bags, the closet, and among his dirty clothes. It’s nowhere to be found, so maybe Ash already drank it.

Maybe I’m too late and Ash will drown in the baths like his Regulator. As I pull the curtains together, I spot the alchemy vial on the table outside. The mixture is frozen.

I quickly step out onto the terrace, grab it, and slip it into my pocket. Mission accomplished, I close the terrace door and draw the curtains. I turn to leave, but freeze because Ash Fireborn stands in the room.

Stealthy bastard.

He’s a mountain of a male, a monster with wide shoulders. Unmoving, blocking the exit, arms crossed over his chest, wearing gray sweatpants. Gray fucking sweatpants.

“Lose something?” he asks.

Chapter 10

Runa

The gray sweatpants outline his fat alpha dick that I know has an even fatter knot at the base. I saw his package this very morning when I wished I hadn’t looked up at the terrace while he wore wet jeans. Now he’s fresh and clean, wearing only gray sweatpants and a five o’clock shadow.

I can’t wait until he grows a beard. I don’t find bearded men attractive, so I hope it happens by tomorrow. Can’t Sven give Ash some alchemy that’ll make his facial hair grow out faster?

Ash bites his bottom lip and pulls it through his teeth. “I wish you wouldn’t look at me like that.”

I’m sure he means that my eyes are hazel, signaling that my body is reacting to his proximity. I’m mortified. “You know that I can’t help it. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t bring it up.” I think of asking him to put his shirt on, but he’s in his bedroom, where he could walk around nude if he liked. I’m the intruder.

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

I don’t know how I can get away with the lie. He’ll find out I took the vial when he goes to drink it and finds it missing. When that happens, I also have no idea what he’ll do with me. He’d be within his rights to punish me. But that makes me think of the over-the-knee discipline he threatened me with this morning, which doesn’t help dim my aroused state.

“I brought your laundry.”

“It’s a little late for doing laundry.”

“We do it around the clock.”

Ash stalks toward me.

I freeze.

“Don’t worry, little wolf. I’m not going to discipline you, even though I could.” Ash grabs a chair, spins it, and sits on it backward. He folds his arms over the back.

“Have a seat.” He points behind me.