Page 22 of The Wolf’s Appetite (The Lycans #8)

AISLING

I stood at the threshold of his room, gripping the doorframe so tightly my knuckles turned white and ached.

Lennox had come back from the meeting and immediately stripped down. Now he wore nothing but a pair of black combat pants. His bare torso clenched and relaxed with the slightest movements.

He moved like a man preparing for battle… because that’s exactly what he was doing.

The massive walk-in closet had been left wide open, and the inside looked more like an armory than a place to store clothes. Rifles lined the back wall. Tactical vests, Kevlar, and blades were strapped to racks.

A digital keypad blinked red on the built-in safe before he punched in a code and opened it to reveal something far more lethal. Something I’d never even seen before and for sure couldn’t name.

And I just stood back watching, letting him prepare because the tension was high and the air was thick with all the danger that was approaching.

He reached for a dark tactical shirt, and I was transfixed at the sight of his sinew and I was transfixed by the sight of his sinew rolling under his skin and the flex of his muscles.

Scars crisscrossed his skin—some old, some newer—and every one of them told a story I hadn’t yet heard. He slid on the shirt, then a vest, and finally clipped on the custom set of knives across his waist and in a shoulder harness with the precision of someone who had done this too many times.

My mouth was dry, but I couldn’t stop watching him.

He looked like the devil getting ready to collect souls.

“I’m terrified,” I whispered the words out loud.

Lennox glanced at me, pausing as he reached for one of his guns. His jaw flexed, but he didn’t speak right away. Just stared at me like he was memorizing the moment.

“Aye,” he finally said. His voice was gravel. “I am, too.”

I was shocked he admitted that. Otherworld males always appeared strong, unbreakable.

“But I’m more afraid of what will happen if I donna do this. I have tae protect not only my kind and family but, most of all, ye.”

My heart beat double-time.

“We need answers. We need tae find out who the hell is controlling the Therabus. And I have tae do anything and everything in my power to fix things.”

A part of me wanted to tell him he didn’t need to be the one to fix anything, that sometimes life went a certain way that was out of our control. But I knew Lennox needed to have this situation within his grasp. He needed to feel in control.

I stepped into the room, bare feet grounded on the hardwood floor, heart pounding against my ribs. “Lennox…” I trailed off, my throat tight. “What if?—”

He turned sharply and dropped the gun onto the dresser with a clatter, closing the space between us in two strides. His large hands cupped my face, and he looked at me like I was his entire world and he was afraid if he looked away I’d disappear.

“Donna do that,” he growled, voice thick. “Donna look at me like I’m already gone.”

I blinked up at him, breath hitching, tears streaming down my cheeks before I even knew I was crying.

“I am afraid that’s what will happen. I’m terrified once ye leave, it’ll be the last time because we donna kno’ what’s waiting out there.”

His eyes flicked over my face—my lips, my cheekbones, my jaw. Then he kissed me.

It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t sweet. It was heat and desperation, hunger laced with fear. Like he needed to burn this into his memory in case he never got another chance.

His tongue swept into my mouth, rough and possessive, and I moaned as my hands fisted in the material of his shirt. The gear strapped to him clinked together as he backed me up, his body hard against my softness.

My back hit the stone wall as his hands gripped my hips tightly, like he didn’t trust himself not to let go.

His mouth tore from mine only to trail down the curve of my neck, teeth grazing the mark he’d given me. I gasped, my head falling back against the wall.

“I canna leave like this,” he murmured against my skin. “Not without reminding ye who the fuck ye belong tae.”

“Lennox—” I started, but he caught my mouth again, silencing me with another brutal kiss that made my knees tremble.

Then he grabbed the back of my thighs and lifted me effortlessly, pinning me against the wall. I cried out, my legs wrapping around his waist, the hard bulge of his massive cock grinding against my center as he held me there.

He was the one in control. He needed this… needed to know I was here with him and this was real. So I clung to him, breathless, aching, and overwhelmed in the best way.

When he was done mouth-fucking me, he rested his forehead against mine, his voice ragged as he groaned, “I should be leaving.”

“But ye’re no’ going tae,” I whispered, digging my fingers into his shoulders. “No’ until ye make me feel alive again. No’ until I feel ye pushing deep in my body and claiming me all over again.”

He growled low and deep in his chest, then rocked his hips against me again, slow and hard enough to make my breath catch.

“I’ll take ye against this wall,” he muttered darkly, “fully geared up and armed tae the teeth.”

I was wet. Gods, I was so wet for him.

“I’ll mark ye all over again so every inch of ye aches for me while I’m gone.” And then his mouth crashed against mine. And I let him.

Because at that moment, nothing else mattered.