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Chapter 18 - chapter 18

"Fu..." I fumbled the word the same way I now fumbled my blade, dropping both to the forest floor. For a moment, I'd forgotten myself. Forgotten that I was training against a comrade while wielding a vicious hunk of metal that could slice a shifter in half. Forgotten my vow to protect my friends with my own life. Forgotten to hold back.

I fell to my knees, frantically parting the uber-alpha's hair to make sure he wasn't hurt. My heart was beating so fast I found it difficult to breathe and my throat was raw from my gasping breaths. Let him be alright. Hunter shivered beneath my ministrations. And then there was a kneeling man in my arms rather than a hefty wolf. A kneeling man with a distinct lack of clothing to shield his taut skin from my frenzied fingers.

I'd ended up beside naked pack mates dozens of times in the past and the encounter was usually entirely innocent. Shifters often fell into bed as wolves then woke up human, with the result that they lacked the usual civilized modesty of two-leggers.

Other times, our nakedness had been shared and purposeful. But never had it felt anything like this.

"Once isn't enough," the uber-alpha murmured, his voice rough. "We need to keep at it until the killing stroke comes as naturally as breathing."

For a moment, I didn't know what he was referring to. But then I remembered our fight, my wolf's assistance, our lucky strike. Yes, Hunter was right—I needed to continue practicing with my sword if I wanted to be sure I could save Lia's life the next day. But not right this instant. Not when my mate and I were alone with no possibility of interruption for the first time in the recent past and for the last time in the foreseeable future. I took a deep breath of the pine-scented air and relaxed into the tranquil ambiance. Warm sunlight percolated gently through leaves above our heads, giving the impression of a frozen moment stolen from time. The glowing orb's gentle caresses loosened tense muscles and made me bold.

"Okay," I agreed. But I didn't release Hunter's nape from my grasp. Instead, I nudged his bent legs further apart and eased myself closer until we were almost chest-to-chest, he on his bare bum and I on my denim-coated knees. Using the hand that had been searching for injury along the base of his skull, I drew my companion in until I could whisper into his ear: "But first, I expect a reward for good behavior."

This was the second time I'd acted like a brazen hussy around Hunter and it wasn't lost upon me that the uber- alpha had never been the one to initiate physical contact between us in the past. But we were going into battle tomorrow, which made the concept of flirting coyly while hoping for reciprocation seem unbearably slow. What if one of us didn't make it out alive and I went to my grave never having shared more than a single kiss with this magnetic uber-alpha who had once called me his mate? To the brave go the spoils, I thought, nibbling a line of seduction down Hunter's earlobe. My skin quivered with anticipation as I waited to see how the uber-alpha would respond.

Before, Hunter had acted hesitant every time I flung myself into his embrace. But not this time. Now, rock-hard arms glistening with sweat rose up to surround me and Hunter's scent enveloped my body like a heady cloud of warm perfume. I relaxed into the sassafras aroma as if resting by a warm fire on a cold winter night. Irresistible. The spicy scent cradled my chin and cheeks and, to my delight, Hunter's fingers soon followed suit. "Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked, rough callouses tickling across my skin as his fingers touched me lightly as butterfly wings.

In response, I reached up and stroked a lone finger across my companion's chiseled jaw. He hadn't taken the time to shave this morning, and the scratchy stubble of an incipient beard attempted to grab hold of my skin. I didn't mind—I felt exactly the same way. Putting so much as an inch between myself and my companion's magnetic pull was impossible.

"I don't want to lose you tomorrow," I whispered by way of reply, my voice husky with desire but my stomach hollowing out with fear. Unlike my wolf, I had a hard time believing we'd both make it out of tomorrow's battle unscathed.

"You won't lose me. If you let me in, I'll stay there." Hunter's words were a firm promise and he lifted me into his lap as easily as if I were a pine cone. I didn't miss the way my partner was shielding my skin from the rough debris on the forest floor even though I was the one who wore clothes while he didn't.

Yes, his chivalry was alluring. But it didn't quite knock me off the mental trail I'd been following even as I lowered my arm to trace a forefinger across the rope-like muscles that spanned his arm from shoulder to fingertip.

"But I have a pack to take care of," I elaborated. "And you said yourself that you don't understand packs."

There it was—the real roadblock that had been standing in our way this entire time. Even as the words left my mouth, I felt abruptly chilled, sweat evaporating from damp fabric clinging to my skin as an errant breeze drifted down through the canopy to ruffle my hair. I leaned far enough back in Hunter's arms so I could make out his eyes and I held my breath as I waited for his reply.

"I'll learn packs," Hunter rumbled easily. "They're important to you, so they're important to me."

His firm hands cupped my butt, rocking me gently forward until his hard length of manhood rubbed against my cleft. The seam of my pants pressed inward to chafe with exquisite agony against my most sensitive spot and I gasped out an "Oh!" of surprise.

For some unknown amount of time, I lost my train of thought as Hunter led us in an excruciating dance, all slow movement and sparks of tangled nerves and bodies. But he wasn't quite done with his promises yet.

"For you, I'll be nice to Ginger," Hunter murmured, his voice becoming huskier by the moment. "I'll bond with Cinnamon and Glen. And I'll free Lia if it's the last thing I do." His lips drifted down to taste and suck at my salty neck, the prickle of his beard sending me into a frenzy.

"Hunter..." I gasped, demanded. I was abruptly done with words and ready for his lips to become otherwise engaged. My exploring fingers turned into claws drawing him closer and I attempted to merge my mate's body with my own.

"You're right," Hunter concluded. "Now's not the time to talk about our pack."

Then I was abruptly shirtless, a breeze replacing my companion's questing fingers as the forest air encircled my exposed skin. I barely had time to shiver, though, before Hunter had pulled me back closer to his body, his hands sending frissons of pleasure across my sensitive belly as they hunted for the snap of my jeans. I wanted to go there. But I pushed his fingers aside while murmuring a gentle rejection. "Not so fast, big guy."

Hunter had put me in the driver's seat here atop his body, and I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity. Placing hands on his rock-hard shoulders to steady myself, I rotated my clad hips in slow circles atop his erection. Then I hummed with pleasure as the friction kindled swirling eddies of pleasure deep within my core. I half expected my partner to flip me over onto my back and take the lead there and then. But, instead, he merely tilted up my chin so our gazes united once more. The uber- alpha's pupils were now so dilated with desire that his pale retinas were nearly non-existent, and I could have sworn I saw his wolf reflected in the dark depths within.

He swallowed me into a deep, bruising kiss. And only after we were both thoroughly breathless did he release my mouth long enough to whisper: "You're the boss. Do your worst."

Still, the bloodling's fingers continued to trail feather-light pathways across the exposed skin of my arms, my collarbone, my neck as if he couldn't quite bear to relinquish control. Goose bumps rose on my forearms as I struggled to focus on anything other than the needy ache that rose in my center in response to Hunter's caress.

But then my mate suited actions to words, leaning back on his elbows so I was given free rein to explore his body just as I'd requested. He was marvelous. All hard ridges and craggy folds, the power of his wolf nearly seeping out the seams to mesh with his human form.

I ran a tentative hand across my partner's muscular chest, abruptly unsure about what to do with this wolf who I'd apparently tamed. What to do with this power that Hunter had so easily granted me.

And then my own inner beast was there beside me. We fit, she whispered, pressing our splayed hands onto Hunter's chest to brace ourselves as we twisted and twined against him. Slowly, gently, my animal half guided me into a soft bump and grind until my passion was stoked back up to the boiling point and I was once again inflamed with desire. Soon, I was mewling needy little whimpers that had nothing to do with my inner wolf and had everything to do with the basest extreme of my own human nature.

It was only when jeans slid down off my body, one leg releasing then the other, that I realized my wolf was long gone and it was only Hunter and me dancing once more. My mate's fingers left trails of fire shimmering down my thighs, across my hips, eddying in circles around my breasts. And in response I reached forward with hungry hands, guiding Hunter's cock toward my slick opening.

"Shh, not quite yet." The uber-alpha had been willing to let me do as I pleased before. But now that the moment of truth was nigh, he didn't quite trust that I was adequately aroused. Instead, clever fingers slipped into my soft slit, gently teasing velvety skin as fingertips tested, tweaked, turned.

I writhed beneath his hand, quivering with need. Then foil tore and a condom encircled his throbbing shaft. Hunter had come prepared for more than simple sword fighting this morning.

I thought my partner, my mate, was less moved than I by this moment of exquisite joining. But then I heard his gasp turn into a moan as I slid down over his hard length, my center achingly sensitive and at the same time yearning to be filled. His mouth plundered mine and I gasped against his lips as our bodies and souls united.

"You...are...my...pack," he ground out as firm fingers bit into my buttocks. Then, he was pounding, pushing, feasting, sucking.

Our legs wound together as we rolled, and I hardly noticed the sharp leaf tips biting into my bare skin. It was impossible to tell who was leading and who was following now as each body engulfed the other.

Sassafras and sweat. Wolf and human. We met. We merged.

We exploded.