Page 48 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

Bishop grabbed my hand, sending a shock of need snapping up my arm and shooting straight to my core.

My breath hitched and I dropped my gaze to my feet, afraid to look him in the eyes, as he tugged me forward, forcing me to hop down closer to him. Heat radiated from him, caressing my senses, urging me to lean into him, take comfort in his touch and in his body.

“I don’t want to do something stupid,” I murmured as he led me around the thicket and down to the river’s rocky shallows.

“But you think you’re going to?” he asked, his voice just as soft, although I was sure Cyrus and Knox could still hear us with their better-than-human hearing.

“I think I’m going to lose my mind and we’ve only just started this journey.” I set my pack on the bank, sagged at the water’s edge, and started scrubbing the snake blood off my hands. “I’m in no condition for anything and yet it’s all I can think about. Hell, we just got attacked by flying snake things. I should be freaking out or something. And if we can’t break the bond with Knox, then losing control now could make a bad situation worse.” And now I was just babbling.

“Knox will understand,” he said, kneeling on the ground beside me and washing his hands as well. He was close, but not as close as I wanted, and yet not far enough away.

“You say that but—" I splashed water on my face, cleaning away the blood.

“No buts,” he said when I came up for air, and he hook his finger under my chin, drawing my gaze up to his.

I fell into his warm brown eyes, every part of me, body, heart, and soul, mesmerized by the bright green flecks in his irises. He was so beautiful and kind, and the warmth I’d felt when he’d held me last night had to mean we had some kind of a connection. Only a mate, family member, or very close friend could affect a shifter’s soul like that, and he was neither a family member nor a close friend.

“Strong heats can require more than one partner to get through,” he said, drawing my attention to his lips and making me wonder how they would feel against mine. “Even if you were happily mated, he’d understand if you needed extra help.”

“But you didn’t kiss me before,” I breathed, leaning toward him, unable to help myself. We’d almost kissed twice now and every time he’d backed away. He had to have a reason for not kissing me and I doubted those reasons had changed.

“You weren’t in heat.” Now it was his turn for his gaze to flicker to my lips, and his wolf darkened his eyes with an intense desire that stole my breath. “Or at least, we didn’t know you were in heat.”

Right. My heat. And once it was over, his reasons would return. He’d told me yesterday he’d have sex with me with no expectations. I’d thought he’d meant it to reassure me that he wouldn’t want a commitment if I didn’t want one, but now I was sure it had been to warn me. We could have sex, but I shouldn’t expect it to mean anything.

Sure, the look in his eyes right now said he wanted me, but I was releasing pheromones like crazy. Once my heat was over, I’d no longer be influencing him and he’d no longer desire me.

And right now, my body didn’t care.

Hell, none of me cared. I needed relief. I was going to lose my mind and he was looking at me like I was desirable even though my clothes were ripped and bloody.

I closed the distance between us before I could second guess myself and pressed my lips against his. He stiffened and the fear that I’d misread the situation twisted in my gut.

Then he groaned softly and cupped the back of my head, gently holding me in place. This kiss was the complete opposite to my dreams where Knox had ferociously dominated me, pulling my hair and devouring my mouth as if he were starving. Bishop’s kiss was tender, reverent.

His tongue teased the seam between my lips, asking permission, and his grip remained soft as if he were waiting for me to come to my senses and pull away. But my senses had vanished the second I’d thought of all three of them shifting into their naked human form, and now the heat in my core was lava.

I opened my lips to him, slipping my tongue into his mouth first, urging him for more.

A rumble rolled out of his throat and he kissed me harder, raking his tongue against mine and devouring my gasp of pleasure as his free hand pushed under my shirt and stroked a searing path up my ribs to my breasts.

My nipples were already tight, my breasts aching, and I arched into his touch no longer upset that this realm didn’t seem to have bras… although now I was regretting not wearing that easy-to-slip-off dress. I could have been naked in an instant and wouldn’t have had to worry about the awkwardness of trying to get my pants off.

The thought sent a flurry of nerves fluttering in my stomach. I was really going to have sex. Here. Now. I?—

“Bishop,” I gasped into his mouth. “I want—” He sucked on my bottom lip and his hand on my breasts dipped to the waistband of my pants. “But I’ve never?—”

He stilled and my nerves froze into fear. Would he stop because I was a virgin?

Shit. I shouldn’t have said anything.

“It’s nothing. I—” I tried to press my lips back to his, but his hand that had been at my waist, slipped back up to my chest and gently held me back.

“No, it’s something,” he said, his voice husky. “Audrey, have you never had sex?”

The word sex shuddered through me. “I still need it.”

He cupped my cheek with his large palm, his hunger softening a little.

“Please, don’t make me beg,” I implored, knowing how desperate I already sounded.

“I won’t. I promise.” His fingers dipped back down to my pants. “But I want you to enjoy it, so we need to go slow.” He flicked the button on my fly. “And we don’t have the time for slow right now, so?—”

I opened my mouth to argue with him even though I knew Cyrus wasn’t going to let us stay here long, but he pushed his hand down the front of my pants, and everything I’d just been thinking vanished.

“I’ll relieve the pressure for now and we’ll revisit this when we have time,” he purred as his fingers teased through my curls and into my arousal.

I nodded, unable to form coherent words, and my hips rocked forward, my body knowing what it wanted even though all my experience had been in my dreams and with my own hands.

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he groaned.

He swept his fingers across my entrance to my clit, and my inner muscles trembled. I’d been on the edge since I’d woken up this morning— Hell, I’d been on the edge for days and it wasn’t going to take Bishop much to make me come.

Embarrassment heated my cheeks. I didn’t want to come the second he touched me, but, God damn it, I was already so close.

He captured my lips again and teased his finger over my clit, twisting the achy, searing need inside me tighter and tighter. My breath turned ragged and my body trembled. I clung to him, my fingers digging into his shoulders, my forehead pressed against his, and then every muscle in my body contracted and stars flashed behind my lids.

A strangled sob escaped my lips, filled with relief and embarrassment and grief. It had happened so fast and wasn’t as powerful as the one from my dreams. I wanted more. I wanted the fantasy. But this was reality and, if I was being honest with myself, the orgasm had still been a lot better than if I’d done it myself, even if it hadn’t completely satisfied my body’s craving.

Still shuddering, I collapsed against him. The warmth of our physical contact swelled around my heart, melting some of my embarrassment and grief.

He wrapped his arms around me and I nuzzled my face into the hollow of his neck, breathing in his fresh green scent. This was where I belonged, where I was safest. I was home.

Except I wasn’t home.

Once this was over, all of this would be gone.

And I had to keep thinking like that. I couldn’t afford to hope. I wouldn’t survive my hope being shattered again. Not by Bishop. Because it was far too easy to fall in love with him.