by Ranae Rose
He was huge, but his bulk didn’t slow him down. He wasn’t slow in his human form either, but never would’ve been able to race through the forest this way, dodging only the largest of obstacles and flattening all others in his path. Was this what it felt like to race to protect one’s mate? He’d done a lot of defending in the past but the urgency had never felt quite this potent, not even when he’d helped Jack and the rest of the Half Moon pack rescue Mandy when she’d been kidnapped.
Each breath seared his lungs as he flattened saplings and leapt over boulders. If there really was a danger to bears lurking in the mountains, he was a sizeable, noisy target in his current form, but it didn’t matter. He felt buoyed by the importance of his mission, invincible because he had to be in order to protect Violet.
When he found her, he almost trampled her. Stretched flat on a rock that hung over his favorite fishing stream, he didn’t see her until he was almost on top of her. He skidded to a violent halt, his claws tearing up the earth and sending it flying along with a spray of pebbles and colorful, papery leaves.
Violet’s eyes went wide and she curled in on herself, protecting her vital organs by instinct as she threw up a hand in protest and toppled over the edge of the rock, her mouth open in a silent scream.
A sound of regret tore its way out of Ronnie’s chest as he lunged forward, too late to help. By the time he landed on the edge of the rock, he was a man again and gripped its edge with an ink-stained hand as he threw his other arm out into open space, reaching for her. “Violet!”
A wolf stared up at him from the stream, chocolate brown and shoulder-deep in running water. Even in her lupine form, her blue eyes were clearly recognizable and there was no mistaking the sweater that clung to her body, torn along most of its seams.
For a moment, he simply stared, eyes locked with hers. She was a beautiful wolf but he couldn’t take her hand and lift her out of the water in this form.
“Change,” he said, speaking loudly enough that his voice rumbled clearly over the sound of the stream. “I’ll lift you out.”
She glanced first at the rocky little overhang he was stretched across, then at the steep, muddy bank on the other side of the stream. Apparently, he was the most appealing option. In the blink of an eye, she became a woman again.
When she extended a hand, reaching for him, he took it and hoisted her up onto the rock. She was light as a feather, even in her dripping clothes – or what was left of them, anyway.
Her sweater was loose enough that it hadn’t been completely destroyed during her transformation, but it had torn along most of its seams and now clung to her – just barely – displaying generous views of milky flesh and what looked like the tattered remains of a camisole. Her jeans had fared even worse and floated down the stream in a cluster of dark-blue denim ribbons as she gasped and looked up at him with wide, blue eyes.
Until that moment, he hadn’t spared a thought for his nudity.
Water glistened and fell from her lips in tiny drops as their gazes locked and he was suddenly aware of being naked in a way he’d never been before. It wasn’t just a state of being or simple lack of clothing; it was a temptation, a glorious absence of physical barriers between himself and her. The deep ache of desperate desire that had been driving his racing heart and surging through his veins, urging him to find her, finally made its way to his cock. He reached out and laid his hands on her shoulders, gripping her slender arms as a shiver wracked them. He was done waiting – he had to know, now, whether she really was the one.
He pressed his mouth to hers, too eager to hold back. Her lips were soft and warm beneath the superficial chill her submersion had left them with and she smelled as crisp and clean as a mountain spring, the floral notes of her shampoo sweet highlights in her scent. As she parted her lips, his heart surged ahead and he pressed his tongue inside, past her teeth, in search of one thing – a taste of honey. Just a taste of honey, and she would be his forever.
A Taste of Honey is available at major ebook retailers everywhere.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Description
Praise for Lonely Alpha
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Other Books by the Author
About the Author
A Taste of Honey Excerpt