Page 83 of A Wolfe in the Woods

My hands gripped the stone, my body trembling beneath his, and something opened in me—something deeper than hunger.

“Use me,” I whispered, the words spilling out before I could stop them. “Take what you need…what you want. I’m yours, Jonathan. I’m yours.”

And just like that, his rhythm shifted—as if on command. Each thrust grew harder, deeper, and more relentless. I could barely hang on as I was being pounded mercilessly. My mind frayed, unraveling under the blinding heat of his slick frame. I felt his body shudder, his cock pulsing hot like magma. He gasped into my shoulder, low and guttural. Jonathan’s release hit like a storm.

He pulled out at the last second, one hand gripping my waist, the other bracing as he spilled his hot come across my back in heavy, pulsing waves.

A groan tore from him—low, guttural, undone.

He stayed there, his heat against me, breath ragged on my neck, his body trembling with the aftershock.

I didn’t move. Couldn’t.

Above me, the stars blurred. The night itself felt alive, as if the whole forest held its breath and this half-man, half-wolf was making me hold mine.

I didn’t know if I’d reached the stars again—but he had. And gods, that was enough. More than enough.

At the edge of the world, being taken like that had felt…divine.

CHAPTER 22

JONATHAN

She was curled against me, her breath warm at my neck, her skin pressed to mine, fitting into me perfectly. Her bare leg was slung over my hip, her chest against my ribs, one arm pinned beneath mine while the other rested across my stomach. I lay on my back, body half-turned into hers, as if even in sleep we couldn’t help but reach for the other.

That terrified me more than anything else tonight. The danger, the chase, even the thing that had called out in the woods…none of it shook me like the feel of her arm draped across my ribs. Like the way she fit so naturally in the space I’d never meant to leave open.

The sky above Cryer’s Point had gone deep and silver, stars burning low, the kind of night that made you believe the world had edges worth falling over. Far below the cliffs, the dark sea shimmered with faint phosphorescent light, each slow roll of the tide stirring blue-green sparks across the surface of the water. My heart hadn’t fully slowed yet, and I wasn’t sure if it was because we’d run for our lives…or because I’d finally given in to something I’d been running from for longer. Maybe both. I didn’t want to ponder it.

But I couldn’t stop myself from cataloging every detail.

The way her hair clung to her temples with sweat. The bruises blooming faintly now across her thighs where some small branches had whipped her and where I had been less than gentle during sex. The soft curve of her bottom lip, swollen and red, from my bites. The rise and fall of her chest. Each sign a reminder that this was real.

I’d almost tasted death tonight. Then I’d tasted life. Both with her in my arms.

And now came the part I feared most.

Shame settled in. Quiet like fog. It clung to me. It burrowed into my bones as I lay there, skin to skin with the one person I wasn’t sure I should have touched. Yes, I’d finally told her. Been honest, after I’d been dishonest. But this part of me that she had glimpsed tonight, the part I spent half my life trying to bury…nothing could prepare a person for that. The reality of it. Especially a human.

She shifted slightly, her thigh sliding more snugly between mine as if drawn deeper into the heat of my body. Her arm moved, her fingers settling against my chest. It was just a small movement, but it sent a pulse of panic through me.

She’dseenme.

Like that.

The claws, the teeth, the weight of what I really was. She’d seen the shift. Not just the change—but the thing beneath it. The monster I fought tooth and bone to keep from the surface. The one I had control of sometimes but not others.

Was she pretending it hadn’t happened? Was she hoping it hadn’t?

Or worse, was she lying here because she didn’t know how to leave?

I turned my head slightly enough to see her face in the moonlight. She looked peaceful and tired. Her lashes flicked once, then again, and I realized she wasn’t asleep.

So, I asked the question. Quietly and carefully, as if I was about to touch a live wire.

“Did I scare you?”

The silence after was a canyon, deep and endless. I could hear everything in it. The rustle of leaves. The distant trickle of water against rock. My own breath turning shallow.