Page 62 of Hungry Like the Wolf

“You said it wasn’t forever. It doesn’t have to be forever.”

“Nothing is,” Rose said, sitting up and groaning as she stretched, rolling her shoulders. “Learned that in yoga. But bites complicate things. They tie you. They link you forever. You’ll always have a connection to one another. You’ll always be able to find each other, always be able to know how the other one is feeling.”

“How would he know how I’m feeling?”

“The bite is a bond. He won’t be able to read your mind or anything, but he’ll have a barometer for your emotions. When you’re upset, he’ll feel it. When you’re happy, he’ll feel that, too. And you’ll always know where the other one is in the world. That’s why this place is so important. These wolves, these people, they come here to get away. It’s remote as hell, which is a deterrent on its own, but JJ is one of the most dominant wolves I’ve ever met, whether he likes to admit it or not. And with him as Alpha of this pack, a wolf would have to think twice about coming here to cause trouble for a former mate.”

Nadja was quiet, her mind reeling. She had always assumed that mating was like marriage, an arrangement agreed upon by both parties. Bites, she’d thought, were symbolic, like kissing a bride at the altar or exchanging rings. And, in a way, they were. But they were magic, too. Ancient magic, woven into the very fabric of life. Bonding and binding and permanent.

“I’m on your side, girlie. I think Robbie is about the best kind of man I’ve ever met and think he’d be a good mate to you, if that’s what you want. But only if that’s what you want.”

“What if I don’t know what I want?”

Rose took Nadja’s hand in hers, lacing their fingers together and squeezing.

“Unfortunately, love bug, you don’t have much time to figure that out. The full moon is in three days. They’ll expect bites under that full moon to bond you. If you don’t plan to stay, you’d best be gone by then.”

“But Robbie?—”

“Will be fine. I told you that. If you’re gone, he’ll be an abandoned wolf. His character speaks for itself. I’ll raise the motion at council the next day to let him stay, JJ will second it, and the votes will go in his favor because nobody wants to go back to eating JJ’s excuse for cooking ever again. But if you’re here, that changes things. They’ll expect you to make good on that promise, or you’ll both be out.”

Nadja chewed on her bottom lip.

“I’ll help you, either way, no matter what you decide.”

Nadja dropped her forehead to her bent knee and closed her eyes, imagining how devastated Robbie would look if she left. But no more devastated than he would look if she just disappeared into thin air, if he’d bit her and then she got taken back to hell and he felt the agony of her absence but could never find her.

Rose squeezed her hand again. “You’ve got a little bit of time.”

“Three days,” Nadja said with a snort.

“Whole worlds have been changed in three minutes, my love, let alone three days,” Rose said. “It happens all the time.”

CHAPTER 27

The morning of the full moon, Robbie woke to a mouthful of Nadja’s hair and the sensation of electricity sparking beneath his skin. Today was the day everything changed. He would shift for the first time. He would join the pack. Maybe they would join the pack.

Nadja was so beautiful in the bleary light that filtered through the curtains. She was beautiful all the time, but in the blossoming dawn, her hair fanned around her, her lips parted in sleep, she made him wish that he was any kind of photographer or painter, someone who could capture beauty and preserve it forever.

Her hand rested on top of her pillow, just in front of her face. He’d borrowed that hot pink nail polish from JJ’s nieces to paint his nails, and Nadja had asked him to paint hers to match. She’d been quiet as they sat at the kitchen table, him holding her hand gently in his as he swept the brush down each nail with care, but she was often quiet. Thoughtful. He liked that about her. But she’d smiled and teased him, and he’d smiled back. It had been so nice, so… domestic in a way that he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He hadn’t realized how much he’d longed for that sort of comfort.

When he’d moved in with Callum, it had almost felt like a home. Almost. But this, coming home to Nadja every night, painting her nails in the yellow glow of the overhead light, brushing their teeth side by side and then climbing into bed, her wearing socks and one of his T-shirts, had felt homey in a way that nothing had in a very long time. If ever.

He kissed her neck, and she shifted in her sleep. As he dragged his lips softly up the slope of her shoulder, he remembered what JJ had said to him on that second run together, when he’d asked about mates.

“You hope they’re kind to you, that they help, that they don’t go out of the way to make your life harder. You hope they’re stable and take care of themselves, that they want to take care of you. You hope they’re good and generous and caring and every other thing a person might be in a perfect world.”

Nadja hummed a sigh as he sucked gently on the skin at the top of her shoulder.

“But then there’s the kind of mates everyone dreams about. The kind that exists on a whole different level. Every single thing about them is meant just for you. You’re like those puzzle blocks that slot together perfectly. You shore up each other’s weak spots and shine light on the strong spots. You are perfect for one another on a cellular level.”

Nadja’s arm reached behind, and Robbie closed his eyes when her fingers rubbed against the growing hair on the back of his head. She stretched her body sleepily, pressing her ass into the cradle of his hip before straightening her body, stretching, thrusting her breasts forward and reaching her toes down toward the footboard. He reached down and pulled her top leg up, her knee bent, opening her to him.

It would have been so easy to thrust into her, to ask her if he could and then to slip into her waiting warmth. But he didn’t want to skip the good stuff to get to the other good stuff. He skimmed his fingers along the back of her thigh before trailing them over the crest of her hip and toward her center.

“Good morning,” she said, her voice hoarse from sleep.

“Good morning, precious,” he said, kissing her neck. “Is this okay?”