He trembled beneath me, a delicious shiver that strengthened our physical connection.
“I feel the shaking,” I said, flattening a palm over his thundering pulse. His control was so thin, barely there. “You need to focus on me, Fenris. Feel me.”
The scent of his lust clouded the air, and I purred with satisfaction as my hips brushed his. He groaned beneath me, and his hands returned to grip my hips in an attempt to still my movement.
He, the one with so little control, thought to control me?
A sultry laugh escaped me.
“We have to leave, kitten,” Fenris pleaded. “It’s not safe for you here.”
“The world’s destruction is nothing compared to the weight of my hunger for you.” I slowly leaned and ran my tongue along his sternum. “Give yourself to me.”
“I already have. Do you feel this? Us? We belong together, Eliana. I’m yours, and you’re mine.”
The feel of his obvious devotion and proof of his earnest claim pressed against my shorts. Yet, the words penetrated the hunger riding me, and I jerked back from him.
“No!” I leapt from the bed.
Fenris was so lost to lust that he couldn’t react fast enough to catch me. But he still tried.
With a whine, he twisted, his hand outstretched to catch my tank top. His fingers barely brushed my back as I bolted for the door.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think straight. I only knew that I needed to get away before something truly terrible happened.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I burst from the cabin. Cold pierced my bare feet and exposed limbs, but I didn’t stop. I listened to the overwhelming need to put as much space as possible between me and Fenris. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop a second time if I didn’t.
“Eliana, don’t run!” Fenris bellowed behind me.
The terror at what I’d almost done prevented me from understanding his warning until an ominous tingle danced along the back of my neck.
Skidding to a halt in the snow, I slowly turned. The dim moonlight reflected off the white blanketing the ground, giving just enough light to discern trees. However, the rasp of my ragged breathing prevented me from hearing anything. I didn’t need to hear, though, to know I wasn’t alone.
My breathing calmed, and I straightened.
“I’m not running. I won’t run. Show yourself.”
The snow stung my feet, but I held my ground.
A low growl echoed from the darkness around me. The crunch of snow sounded straight ahead, calling my attention to the dark shape that moved between the trunks. The closer it stalked, the clearer it became. The low profile. The dark fur. The familiar, beautiful brown eyes.
Fenris paused a mere three meters away, and his wolf form began to shimmer until he stood naked and barely in control of himself. The scent of his lustful need rolled off of him.
“Will you run for me?” His words were filled with warning and promise.
Keeping my gaze locked on his face, I thought of the instances where I’d felt like I was being watched over the past week, and the clues I’d been missing clicked into place. All the time we’d been spending together. His constant presence and need to comfort me. The way he’d kept trying to get me to agree to feed on him. I’d attributed everything to the pressure his father had been putting on him to find a mate and Fenris’s desperation to escape that pressure.
How could I have been so blind?
Fenris’s reassurances that he was immune to my pull had been nothing more than artful lies. While he might have had more resistance than Eugene, he was now just as much under my thrall, thanks to Adira’s meddling.
“Unconditional honesty, Eliana,” Fenris said, sounding nothing like himself.
“No. I’m not going to run for you, Fenris. This isn’t you.”
He growled his frustration and heaved a deep breath before stalking a step toward me.
I retreated the same distance.
“Fenris, if you ever want me to talk to you again, I need you to go back to the cabin for my jacket and shoes. Please. I’m cold. You don’t want me to be cold, do you?”
He stopped moving, and his need-filled gaze flicked to my feet. Another growl escaped him, and he ran his hand through his hair.
“No. I don’t.” He glanced over his shoulder. Behind him, there was nothing but darkness and trees.
I’d made it a fair distance from the cabin. That meant my car was close. Hopefully.
Fenris’s gaze pinned me.
“Are you going to run away, Eliana?”
“How can I when my toes are two seconds from freezing off?”
“Let me carry you.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m using today’s ‘Fenris, stop pushing me’ card. I think I’ve been pushed enough for one day, don’t you?”
His scrutiny was no less piercing than the cold.
“Do you think one of my kind can get frostbite?” I asked.
“We’re not done, Eliana. Leaving when I turn my back won’t change that.”
His form shimmered. In his fur, he gave me one last look then trotted back the way he’d come.
With a shaky exhale, I hurried in the direction of my car. It was only once I saw it ahead that I realized I had no keys or phone.
“Crap on a cracker, why can’t anything go right for me?”
It didn’t matter that I wouldn’t be able to start the car. I needed to get out of the snow so I could warm my feet and so I could think of a way to get out of there.
A backup plan wasn’t necessary, though. All my things were already in the passenger seat with my car keys waiting on top of the pile.
As I started the car, I lifted my gaze and searched the illuminated trees for Fenris. Nothing moved, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. Nervous that he would interpret my hesitation as an invitation, I left.
The air flowing from the vents gradually warmed as did my hands and feet. However, my phone didn’t vibrate with any incoming messages on the drive to the Quills’. I should have been relieved, but after Fenris’s display in the woods, his silence concerned me. Fenris wasn’t the silent type.
After parking in the Quills’ garage, I grabbed my things and quietly let myself into the kitchen. A murmur of raised voices was coming from the second floor. I glanced at the grandfather clock in the dining room in confusion. It was almost eleven. Why would—
Like a switch flicked on in my head, I remembered everything that had happened just before I’d almost fed from Fenris. There’d been an earthquake.
I fumbled for my phone and found several messages that must have come after I left the cabin.
Mom: Please let me know you’re okay as soon as you wake up and see this.
Megan: Council called Oanen in a panic because Adira heard that I’m coming home soon and Uttira just had an earthquake. We’re in NY as planned. Chasing leads isn’t going as planned. Call me tomorrow.
Eugene: The girls and I are in the closet. Just in case you need to search for after-quake bodies.
Although I felt pity for them and wished I could send Eugene a reply that would make them feel safe, I wasn’t sure any of us were. At least they were together. Fears were easier to face with help.