Chapter 10
10
HUGHES
H eidi stares at me with the widest eyes I’ve ever seen. They’re beautiful, bright in the dim light of the forest, the silvery atmosphere making them glint. But several feelings are crossing her face at once, clashing and collapsing and making me fear the decision I’ve made.
Because I wanted to show her. I needed her to see the real me. Heidi and I are not a fling. We’re not passing. I want her forever, and I’ve wanted her ever since I was a babe. Yes, I’m way older than her, and I don’t have a fixed place or buckets of money, though I’m fine the way I am. I’m not the kind of man parents would like to be introduced to.
But there is nothing to be done, is there? Nature has made it this way. Has made me for her, and her for me, and there’s no fighting it. Like a hurricane, you can only get ready for when it approaches. You can’t stop it.
Heidi’s mouth drops open and her lips mouth soundless words. She’s dressed in the cutest pair of pajamas, blue with foxes all over it. The fox she’s painted all over her house. It’s me. Another sign nature has pushed us together. Somehow, she’s been waiting for me this entire time. She’s known me forever.
“It’s okay, baby,” I call for her, my voice low and centered. Yes, it’s a lot for her to digest and I need to take every step right. Reaching out, I show her my palms. “It’s me. It’s all right. It’s just me.”
Step by step, I approach her. Slowly. Giving her time to absorb it all.
Heidi curls her hands at her sides. “You’re the silver fox.”
“I am.”
“How? I mean... How is this possible?” Her voice trembles, but there’s a glint in her eyes that tells me she’s not afraid. She’s not running from me. “You can’t be a fox. A fox and a human at the same time.”
I nod, standing two feet from her. “I am a shifter, Heidi. We’re part human, part a kind of animal. I’m a fox.”
She licks her lips, her shoulders relaxing. “I wouldn’t think that was possible if I hadn’t seen it.” Her eyes meet mine with fierce realization. “I’ve dreamed of you. Countless times.”
I don’t stop my mouth from stretching into a smile. “Shifters have intended mates. We don’t know how it works, just know we do.”
“Mates?”
“Someone out there who is perfect for you.” Cupping her elbows, I bring her closer to my body, my forehead pressing to hers. “There’s this call for you to find her. A tug when you meet her. And nothing can stop you from wanting her.”
Her eyelids flutter, her fingers gripping my hips. “That’s me?”
I nod. “That’s you. My mate. That’s why I’ve been doing everything in my power to stay close to you. That’s why I wanted to ask you out right off the bat, and why I spent days searching the city for a trail of your smell. And that’s why I rent the place next to you, so I could woo you into wanting me.”
A tiny gasp escapes her. “Is that why I’ve dreamed of you?”
Pecking the corner of her lip, I fold my arms around her. “Yes. Because we’re meant to be. Be mine, Heidi. Say you’ll be mine.”
She bobs her head several times, clutching herself to me. “I will. Of course I will.”
Taking her face in my hands, I kiss her. Long. Thoroughly. I taste my mate, the promise of days to come on the tip of her tongue. Soon, the kiss grows heated. Too heated. Flaming hot as I stroke her back down to the curve of her full ass. Gripping her ass-cheeks, I pull her to me, until my hard cock is pressed to her lower belly.
Heidi moans into the kiss, her fingers adventuring down my body to brush along my hardness. Lust courses through my veins and I’m parched for her again. Ready to take her. Over and over until I memorize every curve of her body.
Reaching a hand to the front of her pants, I slide my fingers into her panties, parting her dewy folds to find her warm center. Heidi groans into the kiss, moving into my hand. She’s soaking already, the scent of her arousal wafting up to me, making my mouth water. I stroke along her sweet clit, drawing long murmurs from within her.
“Listen, baby,” I say into her hair as she digs her nails into the flesh of my biceps. “I’m dying to fuck this pretty cunt again, but you’ve just lost your virginity. We have to let you rest.”
She grunts in frustration, pulling back to meet my eyes. “I don’t want to, but I think you’re right.”
I nod. “There’s something else I need to do. I want to mark you as my mate.”
“Mark me?” Her eyelids flutter, her attention half-gone. I’m still stroking her center, rubbing her clit in that way she grows breathless. “What for?”
“So other shifters won’t approach you. It’s a bite to the neck. Stings a little, but it’ll heal soon enough and only shifters can see it.”
She bites her lower lip. “If that’s what it takes to be with you, I want it.”
Kissing her again, I devour these plump lips until her hips move into my hand in sharp circles. Heidi’s moans are muffled by my mouth, so I break the kiss to press my lips down her neck. To the place my mark is going to be. The place my mark is about to be.
Unlocking my jaw, I bite her. Skating my fingers over her bundle of nerves, I let my fox rise to the surface, my teeth turning to fangs. Then I sink them into her shoulder.
Heidi gasps, but in a second the pain turns to blinding pleasure. Her forehead puckering, she slams her eyes shut and her moves grow erratic. Her moans pitch even higher and she breaks, dropping off the edge of a huge orgasm as I lick along the trickling blood, sealing the wound. I hold her tight against me as her knees buckle, as her legs tremble. She releases a shuddering breath and her weight gives off.
I pick her up in my arms, her head dropping to my shoulder. Striding back to the house, I kiss her temple several times as she catches her breath.
Locking gazes, Heidi smiles at me. “That was... intense.”
I open a grin. “Good. Let’s do it again.”
She nods, giggling. Reaching a hand to her shoulder, she pats the place I bit her. It’s going to be bruised for some time but nothing terrible. “Is that it? We’re joined forever?”
“We are.” I kiss her, the solemnity of the moment making my heart swell. “My mate.”
She smiles, the most beautiful smile in the world. “My mate.”