Page 17 of Snarl First, Kiss Later (Alpha’s Prophecy #2)

SEVENTEEN

AVA

T he kiss still lingered on Ava’s lips, warm and dizzying, like the memory of heat after fire. Her breath hitched as Silas leaned back just enough to look at her—barely a few inches away, his hands still resting on either side of her hips where he’d anchored her against the old potting table.

He didn’t move farther. Didn’t say anything, either.

The greenhouse was quiet except for the soft hum of rain tapping the glass above them and the occasional creak of wood. Vines curled behind his head like a crown, dew clinging to the leaves. His gray eyes searched hers, guarded and open all at once.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice low and gravel-scraped.

Ava nodded, though she didn’t let go of his shirt. “Yeah. Are you?”

He didn’t answer right away. His fingers twitched against her waist like he wasn’t sure if he should stay or bolt. Then he stepped back a little, dragging a breath through his teeth. “I shouldn’t have?—”

She cut him off with a look. “Don’t.”

His brows furrowed. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t do the whole ‘shouldn’t have kissed you’ dance. You did. I kissed you back. We’re here now. Just... own it.”

Silas looked away.

Ava pushed off the table and crossed her arms. “You’re going to say something like ‘you don’t know what you’re choosing,’ aren’t you?”

He glanced at her sideways. “I’ve got too much history, Ava.”

“And I don’t?” she snapped. “I’ve got loss, and ghosts, and scars too, Silas. We both do.”

“You weren’t the one who stood beside Roman when he ordered executions,” he growled.

“No, I was the one holding her dad’s jacket when the world burned around her,” she shot back, pointing to herself. “None of us come out clean. But we’re still here.”

He moved toward her like he didn’t quite believe he was allowed. His hand came up, hesitated in the air, then brushed a strand of wet hair off her cheek.

Ava’s voice lowered. “ I just need you to show up. That’s all.”

“I’m not good at this,” he admitted, voice rougher now. “Feeling anything. Letting someone in. Every time I’ve tried, it ends with someone bleeding.”

She caught his wrist, fingers gentle but firm. “Then don’t try. Just… be with me. Right now.”

The rain picked up again, rattling the greenhouse like a warning or a dare. But neither of them moved.

“You’re stubborn,” he muttered.

“You’re worse.”

A smile tugged at his mouth. Not the tight, half-curled smirk she was used to. This one reached his eyes. And then it faltered.

“I keep thinking you’re too good for me,” he said quietly.

Ava snorted. “You clearly don’t know me very well.”

That broke a wall they’d both tried to patch up too many times. He leaned in, slowly, and this time when he kissed her, it was different. Slower. Deeper. Not rushed, not uncertain.

Her fingers curled into his jacket, anchoring herself as the warmth of him spread through her. His hands found her waist again, pulling her against him like he finally let himself want it.

They parted just enough to breathe, foreheads brushing.

“I hate how much I want this,” he confessed.

Ava closed her eyes. “I hate how much I already do.”

The greenhouse seemed to fall away, the rest of the court a world apart. He kissed her again, and again, until the heat built between them, steady and unrelenting. Her jacket dropped to the floor with a thud. His followed. Their breath was the only thing louder than the rain.

Still, there was hesitation in his touch. A tremble in the way he held her.

She pulled back just slightly. “Silas.”

He looked at her, lips parted, eyes stormy. “Yeah?”

“You don’t have to be afraid of breaking something that’s already been broken.”

He blinked. Swallowed hard. “And if I don’t know how to put it back together?”

“Then we figure it out,” she whispered.

The air between them shifted — heavier, hungrier. This time when she kissed him, he didn’t pull away.

Ava’s back pressed into the cool edge of the potting table as Silas deepened the kiss, his hands cradling her face like he needed to memorize her.

Her lips parted for him, soft and wet, and the heat behind it bloomed like fire in dry grass.

Years of silence and want exploded all at once — every touch a confession they’d both kept buried too long.

Her fingers fumbled at the hem of his shirt, dragging it up over his head.

The fabric stuck to his damp skin before peeling away, baring the lean muscles of his torso.

He was all ridged strength — his tan skin marked with the brutal scar down his back and the faded notches of old fights he never talked about.

“You’re staring,” he murmured, voice husky.

“You’re beautiful,” she breathed, touching the scar like a secret she’d earned.

He caught her hand and kissed her palm, then her wrist, and then lower — trailing his mouth down the inside of her arm, slow and reverent.

Her leather jacket hit the floor with a thunk. His followed, wet and forgotten. The soft rain outside tapped like a heartbeat against the glass panes as the heat inside the greenhouse thickened.

“You feel like home,” she whispered as he ran his palms beneath her shirt, skin to skin. Her breath hitched when his thumbs grazed her nipples through the fabric. “God, Silas…”

“You’re shaking,” he said against her collarbone, lips grazing her skin. “Tell me what you need.”

“You. Now.” She unfastened her cargo pants with trembling fingers. “I’ve waited too damn long.”

A growl rolled low in his chest, wolf just beneath the surface.

He helped her strip them away, tugging boots off, dragging her pants down her legs with a reverence that bordered on worship.

Ava stood before him in nothing but her bra and panties, pale skin flushed, a storm brewing in her green eyes.

“You’re not afraid of me?” he asked, gaze drinking her in.

“No,” she said, fierce and breathless. “I’m afraid of not having this.”

She reached for him, pulling him in, her mouth meeting his again — teeth, lips, need.

Silas pressed her back against the potting table, kissing her like he needed to devour her, hands finding the clasp of her bra and slipping it free. The second it fell, his hands replaced it — palms full of her breasts, thumbs brushing sensitive peaks, drawing a soft moan from her lips.

“Fuck,” she whispered, arching into his touch. “I feel like I’m burning.”

“You are,” he rasped. “You’re fire and thorns and everything I don’t deserve.”

She silenced him with another kiss, dragging her hands down the front of his jeans, finding him hard and straining against the fabric. She gave him a squeeze that made him groan low in his throat.

“Off,” she ordered.

He didn’t need more than that. He stripped out of his jeans and boxers in a rush of motion, his cock thick and flushed, the sight of it making her thighs press together instinctively.

He was beautiful — raw and wild, with that buzzed hair damp from the rain, golden flecks flaring in his gray eyes like lightning behind stormclouds.

Ava sat back on the table, spreading her legs, her panties soaked and clinging to her. He reached for them, but paused, looking up at her.

“Last chance to run,” he warned, voice gravel and need.

“I’m not the one who’s afraid,” she whispered, pulling him closer by the waistband.

He hooked his fingers into her panties and dragged them down, slow and reverent. Her pussy glistened for him — swollen, needy. He stared like he’d never seen anything more sacred.

“You’re already so wet,” he murmured, dragging his fingers through her folds. She gasped when he slid one finger inside her, curling it just so. “Fuck, Ava… this pussy’s perfect.”

Her head fell back, a soft cry escaping her lips as he worked her open with two fingers, thumb brushing her clit in slow, rhythmic strokes. She clenched around him, hips rocking into his hand.

“Silas… please…” Her voice was cracked glass.

“You want me inside you?”

“God, yes. ”

He lined himself up, rubbing the head of his cock through her slick folds, teasing her entrance, groaning at the way she bucked toward him.

“Look at me,” he growled.

She did, storm-green eyes wide and dark with need. Then he pushed in.

She gasped, nails digging into his back as he filled her inch by inch, stretching her until her breath caught. He was thick, long, the intrusion deliciously overwhelming.

“Shit,” she breathed, clutching his shoulders. “You feel… so deep.”

“You’re so fucking tight,” he growled, jaw clenched as he held himself still, letting her adjust. “Tell me if it’s too much.”

“It’s not enough.”

That undid him.

He thrust into her, slow but firm, and her head rolled back as a moan tore from her lips. His hands gripped her thighs, holding her open for him, the table beneath them creaking as he drove into her again.

And again.

Her cries echoed off the glass — sharp and needy — as the pleasure built fast, spiraling with every thrust. He hit that perfect spot inside her, over and over, hips rolling like he knew her body better than she did.

She came hard the first time, clenching around him with a broken sob.

“Silas—oh fuck— don’t stop .”

“I’m not fucking stopping,” he growled, eyes wild. “You’re mine, Ava. This— this —is mine.”

He fucked her through it, never slowing, cock slick with her release, the pressure building again almost immediately. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deeper, losing herself in him completely.

Her second climax was more brutal with her hips jerking, nails raking his back. “I can’t—fuck, I’m coming again?—”

“Good,” he rasped, sweat dripping down his temple. “Give it to me. I want to feel you fall apart.”

She shattered beneath him, hips bucking, crying out his name.

That pushed him over.

With a growl deep enough to rattle the glass, he came inside her, grinding his hips into hers as he spilled every last drop, his cock pulsing, body trembling from the intensity.

They clung to each other, breathless, spent.

Eventually, he lowered her to the ground, their clothes a haphazard pile beside them. Candles flickered in forgotten corners, the scent of rain and soil thick in the air. His hand found her hip again, anchoring them together.

Ava traced the scar on his back, gentle.

“I see you,” she whispered.

Silas stirred, half-asleep, eyes barely open. “You should sleep.”

“I will. Just… stay here a little longer.”

His arm tightened around her, wolf protective even in rest.

And this time, he didn’t argue.