I stayed in place for a few seconds as the anguish of her leaving my side for even a second abated. She was so breathtaking, that I couldn’t imagine allowing her out of my grip, but it was only a few hours until we’d be alone.
I’d have the chance to practice more self-control than I ever had in all my lives.
Even in Grace’s presence, Allie’s safety had never been more in question.
But she deserved the agonizing bending of will I’d have to exercise with her.
* * * *
During the wedding reception rituals, we ate, laughed, and were finally called to the middle of the small crowd beside the gazebo.
It was the first dance.
And the last if I had wrongly placed my faith back home.
I was 98 percent sure I hadn’t.
Only 100 percent was good enough where Allie was concerned. But we didn’t have that luxury. We didn’t have time to put the two most brilliant witchy minds I knew together with the world’s most renowned exorcists and demonologists. It was us against Grace.
Us against fate.
Allie stepped up to me with her gown gathered in one hand and a worried look on her face. “I’m not from a family who ever held much value in ballroom dancing.”
Gathering her up, I placed her on the toes of my shoes. I leaned down. “Don’t worry. I was.”
I took the first few steps as she looked at the people around us. “They’re going to notice. I’m too heavy. You’ll topple over.”
“I’ve picked up feedbags heavier than you.” I kissed her cheek.
She pulled back with a stricken look. “That wasn’t a very romantic thing to say.”
“You want to survive this evening? I’m going to have to keep my thoughts pretty barnyard.” I spun her around, causing her dress to fan out.
“Keep them to yourself then, please.” She relaxed and rested against me.
I held her close and finished out the dance with Allie floating in my embrace as if she’d been fitted for my body.
As we wrapped up the reception party, Allie stood in a group with the women near the houses at the pond. They burst into laughter from time to time, causing Allie to send me mortified looks. Older women didn’t have filters when it came to bedroom talk. With the curse of extra sensitive hearing, I’d been privy to all the tips they’d given her about how to handle me that evening.
Allie nodded graciously, but her cheeks remained crimson as she stood in the women’s presence.
While fortuitously eavesdropping, I’d had to choke down laughter at the most inappropriate times during the men’s conversation. They were patting each other on the backs about the dike they’d added to the island to preserve the land mass and discussing how how warming had done a number on the ocean levels over the last few years.
Laughter wouldn’t have fit into that banter very well.
“Guys, I hate to bow out so early, but this suit is itching so bad I’m going to have to find a change of clothes. I hope you’ll excuse me. It was a wonderful wedding, Ricardo. I’m going to head over and thank Nelvi for all her hard work.”
“I’m honored you included my family. May your union be blessed,” Ricardo said.
I shook hands with all the men and left them to rescue my wife.
As I approached, Allie finally went to Nelvi and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for such a wonderful ceremony. I couldn’t have planned it better myself.”
Nelvi put a plump hand on both our cheeks. Her eyes filled with tears. “I wish you both the best. You deserve a long happy life together. Now, go. Quit pretending you’re having a glorious time out here with us old fuddy duds. I know where you both want to be.”
Allie took my hand and gave it a little jerk as Ricardo joined us. “Hurry before they bring out some sort of fertility blanket or something even more horrendous; although, at this point, I’m not sure if they could embarrass me anymore than they already have. You should have heard it. I was horrified.”
To move the departure along, I plopped a kiss on Nelvi’s plump cheek. “Thank you. I want you to know I am glad you both were here. You’ve been the parents I never had.” I pulled Allie to my side. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind too terribly much, we’re going to excuse ourselves.”
“Have a wonderful evening. If you need anything, you know where we are,” Nelvi said.
Ricardo draped his arm around Nelvi and gave me a wink.
* * * *
Without words, Allie and I walked hand in hand to Pym Point. Using her other hand, she pulled the hem of her long silk skirts off the ground. The dress was old and heavy and appeared tricky to navigate in. A million butterflies’ wings brushed the inside of my stomach as I stared at her radiant skin. She had this classic, yet modern beauty, one that makeup would only blemish, but today she glowed like a sky full of stars on a moonless night.
I shook my head. Her beauty was simply impossible.
How could it all exist in one person?
How could I have gotten so lucky?
The smile I felt on my cheeks fell away when I realized how badly I would devastate her. How her inner beauty might change if I sacrificed myself for her and all that she loved.
She tugged my hand. “I know that look. You’re not upset about Ricardo and Nelvi’s somewhat peculiar mating advice. What’s wrong?”
I found the smile again. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Everything is perfect. You’re perfect.”
She shook her head. “I’m a wreck. You must not be listening to me very closely.”
She was right.
I hadn’t been. “What could you possibly be worried about?”
She tilted her head and gave me a look of disdain. “Seriously. You have to ask.”
“Oh. You’re thinking about…later.” I tore my gaze from her and stared down at the pebbles on the walk. She didn’t realize that there was absolutely nothing she could do to blemish this evening. Hell, she virtually had no need to do anything but lie there. I didn’t need tricks and cooing to get me heated to the point of ecstasy. I was the one with the weight of making the evening perfect.
The pebbles crunched under our feet, every step closer to the house, closer to being completely alone with her. “Above and beyond my worries about shifting, I can’t say I’m not a little nervous.”
“You’re nervous?” She sounded genuinely shocked. “I thought guys just instantly knew what to do.”
“I’m sure I can figure it out, but I’m just worried I’ve been building you up for disappointment.” I took a deep breath.
The trees closed in on us and the path seemed smaller. Either my collar had constricted around my neck, or I’d suddenly gotten a case of claustrophobia. A fine time to want to strip off my clothes in a panic. That needed to happen in a series of planned movements. Not in a heated moment.
Control.
I had been in control.
I would stay in control.
“After the time you kissed me on the hood of the car at the house, I was almost positive that you were skilled.” Allie played with the beaded embroidery on the gathers of her gown.
“Primitive instinct.” Deep breath. Just breathe.
“Wow.” Allie dropped the gather, and beads pelted onto the gravel.
We stared, motionless, then burst into laughter.
“Oops.” She turned in the walkway. With the orange sun setting on the purple horizon, a ray of gold made her skin even darker against the white gown.
“Sorry I ruined that moment with a death threat. I would never be rough with you on purpose. I swear it.”
“Dying wasn’t so bad. Living without you would be worse.” The orange glowed on Allie’s hair and made her soft, stubborn, pouty lips even redder. She stood on her tiptoes. “Don’t ever leave me again. Please.”
The warmth of her mouth caught me off guard.
I thought I’d done well to stay in control. Now that it was okay to be alone without chap
erones, without the constraints of my ancient morals hovering over me, the world fell away.
She was everything and everything was her.
I existed no more.
A little groan escaped me as her fingers slipped up into my hair and dug in.
My blood heated from simmering to boiling as she deepened the kiss.
Claws began to protrude. Out of anger as much as frustration, I slammed back against the wall beside the door.
Allie stayed a safe few feet away. “I’m sorry. I just… I want to be close to you. I could be under your skin, and it wouldn’t be enough.”
“It’s”—I took a deep breath—okay.”
“We’ll start small. It doesn’t all have to happen tonight. We have forever.” Holding my face, Allie forced me to look at her. Would she see the lie just under my pained gaze?
“We never know how long we truly have. That’s why I don’t want to waste a moment.”
“A moment with you is never wasted. Now come inside and let’s change out of these clothes.” Allie tugged me inside.
With the blinds all pulled and the curtains drawn, the cottage was midnight black. Allie didn’t bother to turn on the lights as she led me to the bedroom.
I pulled away from her and fumbled for the light switch. Where was it? Dammit. “We need lights. You have no idea where my mind goes when I’m alone with you in the dark.”
She flipped the light on from the other side of the door and turned her back to me. Over her shoulder, she gave me an innocent glance. She batted her eyelashes once and bit her lip. “Unlace me?”
My breath got caught.
Oh. My. God.
How would I ever make it through this?
Shaking, I pulled the beginning of the lace and continued downward. As the dress peeled off her, a white lacey bra and garter contrasted against her tanned skin.
I lifted my head to the ceiling and took a few cleansing, steadying breaths. With a final deep breath, I gazed on her.
The dress slipped to the floor. Allie reached for my hand and used me to give her balance. She stepped out of the circle of silk. After letting go, she took her heels off and tossed them toward the closet.
Her look of trepidation found mine. She bit her lip.
I had to have looked like a spotlighted deer. I’d never seen her more beautiful.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I’ll get dressed.”
I reached for Allie and lifted her against me. “You’ll do no such thing.”
With a whimper, she jerked me down and her mouth opened to me like a rose bud to the summer sun. Pure bliss exploded in every cell of my body.
Not sure from where the will came, I pulled back. It was time to show her what I’d been doing during all that time away.
She gave me a confused, fearful look, but I quelled it.
“Undress me.” I stared down into Allie’s surprised eyes. “If I begin to shake, and you see the line of my body flicker, step away and get as far away as you can. Is that clear?”
Nibbling the inside of her lip, Allie nodded. With silk fingertips, she traced my jawline and found the knot on my tie. The sensual way she took her time sliding my tie out of my collar and taking buttons out of each hole sent my insides to even deeper turmoil, but it also gave me a chance to react if anything went wrong.
At the head of the bed, my shirt landed on the floor beside my tie. Before I could stop her, Allie’s lips began a hungry descent over my chest. He tastes like salted caramel. And his heartbeat slamming against my lips is the most exciting thing I’ve ever felt. I’m going for his belt. I can’t wait.
I jerked.
Not because of the touch, but because she must’ve forgotten her thoughts weren’t only her own. I shared them with her.
She closed her eyes and wilted, backing up. “I’m moving too fast.”
I tilted her chin. “I know you can’t help it, but try to keep your thoughts to a minimum.”
Allie gasped and turned from me. “This is one of those times I wish you could turn that off.”
“It’s okay. I love hearing you, knowing what you want, but your touch and the thoughts are a little too much to take at one time.” Pulling her back to me, I pressed my lips to her forehead and rested there for a second. After the shuddering dissipated, I brought her hand back to my belt. “Go ahead.”
After she had the belt unbuckled, Allie unbuttoned my pants and slid them down enough to bare my hips. Then she just stared at me. Her simmering gaze traveled down the length of me; then she reached out.
“Stop.” I grabbed her hand. Through clenched teeth and a taut jaw, I spoke. “My God…”
The fact that I can’t touch him without him having an uncontrollable urge to change to something more than human is probably even hotter than it would be if he were standing here completely undressed. But being undressed is nice too. Him standing there with no shirt, his pants draped over his hips and hanging open. I don’t think I can wait—
“Allie! You are not cooperating.” I turned from the only woman I had ever seen that could have set the Victoria’s Secret Runway on fire and burned it to the ground.
“Oh, it’s okay for you to have an animalistic reaction to me, but I can’t appreciate the fact that you have a sculpted, chiseled physique? That sounds like our first double standard.” Allie turned me back around with a surprisingly strong tug at my belt.
“You think it’s funny, but it feels like I’m being shot full of morphine every time you touch me.” I pulled her to me. “And If I don’t kiss you, I will rip right down the middle.”
I breathed through the kiss, my heated breath raging against her. I traced my tongue down her jawline as I explored every curve. My pulse beat a tribal dance on my chest and sent a dizzy rush from my temple to my feet.
“Cole.” Her eyes wide, Allie shoved me back.
Muscles in my chest twitched, and my bones grated and burned. Black hair stabbed through my skin, and my knuckles crunched as claws began to form.
“Step back.” I ducked my chin to my chest.
As instructed, Allie crossed the room and stood with the bed as an obstacle between us.
Vivid images of Allie from the first moment I took in her impossible beauty until now flashed on the backdrop of my eyelids. My heart slowed and the burn simmered from feeling as if my joints had been incinerated to a stinging prickle.
I opened my eyes. The hair on my arms withdrew, thinned, and faded to its natural color.
“That was amazing.” Allie’s soft voice neared me, tickling my senses.
I held a hand up in protest. “Don’t speak or move. Not yet.”
“You won’t hurt me. I know you won’t.” Allie took my hand and pulled me toward the bed, taking me down with her.
In a panic, I grabbed her hands, pinned them above her head, interlacing our fingers in a tight grip.
In an attempt to lash me with ecstasy and agony simultaneously, she arched her body. “Make love to me.”
Clenching her hands so tightly she winced, I searched until I found that place I had denied for so long. The animal’s need to incapacitate its prey and the male urge to dominate the woman I loved tugged on different threads of my soul. But were they so different?
Tightening every muscle and tendon in my body, I was sure my blood veins would burst. I held on, groping for sanity. I groaned under the pull to be one with the animal and the need to be one with her.
It was then that I realized the animal had a place. A place inside me.
An even deeper secret place. The place where the bad in Colby Kinsley had existed.
Where his needs mattered too.
The animal ceased thrashing when he discovered he could share dominance with me. Instead of shoving him to the back of my mind, where illicit reactions and explicit thoughts were born and cultivated, I joined him there.
We were the predator.
Allie was our prey.
Her tanned arms, the mounds of her breast barely concealed by the white negligee, the curve of her hip, and the way her leg curved around mine and pressed me deeper against her. I trembled, but not as a means to conceal my darkest nature.
At the headboard where our hands were linked, my human skin remained.
It was time.
Releasing my grip on Allie, I caressed the soft curve of her jaw.
Allie gazed on me with wonder. “Please don’t stop touching me.”
Jolts of electric heat traveled the length of me. And my hand was only on her cheek.
“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” My chest crushed with adoration, and my body quaked not with a monster shoving its way out, but with trepidation that I would do something wrong. Normal worries. Finally.
Allie’s eyes smoldered with need. Her chest heaved faster and her subtle curves drew me deeper into a burn.
Threatening a change, the animal singed my joints. I had to fulfill his needs too. I dipped my head and inhaled the intoxicating pheromones her skin gave off as adrenaline saturated blood pumped through the pulsing artery curving down her neck. Every moist particle of that aroma sent shivers of excitement through me and heightened my awareness. My mouth watered in anticipation of the unparalleled taste of her skin on my tongue.
As my mouth made its way to her earlobe, the animal ached to tear into her, but I moved down to sample the scented curve of her neck, teasing his feral hunger.
And at times he had been known to play with his food.
A little moan caught in Allie’s throat.
An instinctive shiver seeped through me. My mouth fully enclosed on the tender skin of her throat, teeth aching to tear, but my tongue was satisfied with just a taste.
The touch of her skin awakened every molecule of my being. Shuddering under my skin caused the air around me to pulsate. I paused, closing my eyes, bargaining with the monster. You have had the rest of my life. Let me have her if only just this once.
A wild look overtook Allie’s gaze, making me her slave. Her heated lips worked with mine, until our tongues revealed the sensation of being one.
Her hair spread across the pillow as her eyes searched and seduced simultaneously. Tension from the most basic need worked inside my stomach, but there was no need to hurry. We had the rest of our lives, and if simply kissing her would awaken such primal need, it was going to take more than one to satisfy me.
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