Page 48 of Alaska Lights

I shake my head, my mind dizzy and groggy with lust for my mate. I’m silently begging Soren not to leave. If I’m left alone, I’m afraid of what I’ll do.

“Talk to him, Alaska. This isn’t doing either of you any good. He is clearly feeling the mate bond. Put each other out of your misery. Give in. There’s nothing to fight.” He squeezes my shoulder, and I fling out of the chair, slamming him against the wall in a blur.

“Don’t.” I hiss through my fangs. “Touch. Me.” The words are a sinister growl.

The drywall crumbles onto the tops of his shoulders, the dust tickling my nose as I inhale. Soren doesn’t fight back. He doesn’t push me away. Instead, he lifts his hands in surrender.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Alaska.”

“Only my mate can touch me,” I growl, pushing him harder against the wall. I hide the rational part of me in the back of my mind. My shoulder burns like hot oil was poured on me because of Soren. I want to scrub his touch off of me.

Soren’s gaze softens in understanding. “I know. I won’t make that mistake again. Okay? I’m sorry.”

I blink away the anger, the sudden onset of rage that had my claws at my best friend’s throat.

“Soren, I’m…I can’t believe I did that.” I let him go, taking a few steps away to give him some space. I lean my elbows on the kitchen island, burying my face in my hands. “He’s making me crazy. I can’t think straight with him so close.”

“That’s the point. You aren’t supposed to think. You’re unmated with your person in your shower, Al. You’re going to be on edge until you finally complete the bond. You need to tell him,” Soren suggests, wiping the drywall crumbles off his shoulders. “Secrets always reveal themselves in ways you don’t want them to if you don’t say them in time.”

“It isn’t fair to him,” I explain. “To be trapped with me. He should have a choice, and he doesn’t.” I plop onto the barstool, my skin still hot and sensitive as I hear Leo drag the cloth down his body.

I want to be the one to bathe him, to marvel at the beauty I get to call mine.

“Alaska, you are his choice. You just have to explain everything to him. I’m going to go help Glenn check the fences after that storm. You might want to tell Leo that there’s no way for him to leave. You can use the radio to call whoever he needs to, but airways are closed, roads are closed, ferry is out of business too because of the rough waters. He’s stuck here.”

Soren smirks.

“Looks like you have no choice but to make this work with him.” Soren grabs his hat from the rack, sets it on his head, and chuckles as he shuts the door behind him.

I’m left alone in the house with my mate.

I gulp. My cock urges me to step into that shower with him. I can’t do that.

Before I can think better of it, I blur down the hall and stand in the bathroom’s doorway. The mirror is fogged with steam, and the air is clouded with humidity.

I’m quiet as I step into my bathroom, inhaling Leo’s scent, which is now mixed with mine. I tilt my head back, close my eyes as if I’m reliving a sweet dream, and inhale the steam. He travels into my lungs, his perfume binding itself to my bloodstream.

He lives in my silence now.

Tilting my head back down, I open my eyes, wishing I could see him through the frosted glass doors. I can only see the movements of his body.

He is right there.

He’s so close that all I have to do is open the shower door to see him. To allow cold air in and make goosebumps pebble across the gorgeous canvas of his body.

I’m still nervous about how to please a body as strong as his. I’m still nervous about touching a body clearly made to be admired and adored. Does he like soft touches or maybe a little rougher? What about kissing him? Would he want to be in control?

Could I give up control for him?

There are too many questions and not enough time to answer them, not in the limited time Lorcan informed me about.

I stare at him, imagining that I can see him through the glass and steam. I’d give anything to be in there with him. To lick the water from his skin, to feel his throat bob under my tongue when I make my way to his lips.

Growling in frustration, I forget where I am for a second, the rumbling sound audible for Leo to hear.

His movements still. “Hello? Is someone here?”

I stand next to the hamper, reaching down for the shirt he used, and with my speed, grab the clothes off the floor that Soren let him borrow. I press myself against the wall next to the bathroom door, safely out of his sight.