Chapter Thirty-Nine
Calista
I woke up warm. Almost uncomfortably so.
For one disorienting heartbeat, I thought I was back in Hollowcrest, tangled in nets and blankets near Ma’s hearth while the sea wind rattled the shutters.
The heat around me was too steady, too alive, and the air smelled like cedar and something faintly sharp.
I shifted… and felt him.
Everest’s arm was looped around my waist, heavy and unyielding.
His forearm was pinned snug across my stomach as if he’d decided sometime in the night that I was not allowed to drift even an inch away.
His legs were tangled with mine. His breath warmed the back of my neck, slow and deep, the kind of sleep brought on by true exhaustion.
Also, he was no longer covered in fur.
He was naked. And fully back in Fae form.
The realization hit with a rush of heat so intense it made my face burn. I froze, every muscle going taut, listening for the storm outside and finding only quiet.
The wind had softened to a gentle hush, and the hut no longer shook like it might crack in half. Through the small, frost-clouded window, pale light filtered in. It was morning, and we’d survived.
For now, at least.
And Everest, pressed against my back, all hard muscle, warmth and bare skin, held me like he never intended to let go.
My throat went dry.
I took a careful breath and tried to inch forward, slow enough not to wake him. My damned ankle twinged, and I swallowed down a hiss. I shifted again, easing the pressure off it, sliding my shoulders a fraction away from the cage of his arm.
Everest made a sound low in his chest and tightened his hold. I peered over my shoulder, but he wasn’t awake. He was just… claiming.
His forearm cinched closer. His hand flexed at my stomach as if confirming I was still there. His thigh pressed in behind mine, and the movement dragged his hard body against me in a way that made my pulse slam.
Oh. Heat pooled low in my belly, fast and traitorous. And then I felt it, unmistakable even through my tunic which had apparently ridden up during the night.
His arousal. Hard, warm and heavy against the curve of my hip.
My breath caught again, and my heart started thundering so loudly I was sure it would wake the dead, let alone the male behind me. I tried to stay still. Tried to pretend my body wasn’t responding like a starving thing offered warmth.
Wait a minute. Hadn’t this been exactly what I wanted? I’d been so angry with Everest last night because he refused to act on this thing that was clearly growing between us. And yet now, in the light of day, I just…
Trystan’s mocking voice echoed across my mind, then glimpses of that cruel smile. You don’t even know which male you’re begging to save you.
Savage… Why did I still feel something for him? Was it just obligation? The vow I’d promised? Even I couldn’t quite explain it.
Everest shifted, face dipping closer to my neck. A slow inhale, and then his nostrils flared against my skin. I felt it like a touch.
Oh, Selraya.
His entire body went tense, awake in an instant even if his eyes hadn’t opened yet. The change was sharp, sudden. Then his voice, rough with sleep and something darker. “Calista.” My name landed low, intimate, and so dangerous.
I swallowed hard. “Morning.”
He didn’t answer. He only inhaled again, deeper, like he was tasting the air, like he was tasting me.
“Stop doing that,” I blurted, mortified. After last night, I couldn’t smell good.
His arm tightened once more, and his mouth brushed the bare edge of my shoulder. It wasn’t quite a kiss, just contact with the promise of one.
I shivered from the faint touch.
Everest’s eyes finally opened behind me. I didn’t have to see them to know. I felt the focus, the sudden piercing attention, the restraint cracking like ice under too much weight.
He moved before I could think, rolling us in one controlled motion. I gasped. By the time I blinked, he’d pinned me beneath him on the floorboards as if the bed had never mattered at all. One hand braced beside my head and his other slid to my jaw, tilting my face up.
His wild gaze cut into mine. It was the same look he’d had in the hut before he fled into the storm. The same hunger. The same war with himself.
His nostrils flared again, and I realized he was still scenting me, reading my traitorous body like a map. Moons curses, I hated to imagine what he’d discover.
“Everest—” I started, but the word dissolved as his mouth crashed down on mine.
The kiss was long and hard and relentless, all the restraint he’d been holding slammed into my lips like a confession.
His tongue swept in. His teeth grazed, not gentle, or careful, as if he’d decided softness was a lie neither of us could afford anymore.
I gripped his shoulders without thinking, nails digging into his skin, and he made a low sound that turned my bones liquid.
Gods, I wanted this. I wanted him.
His hips shifted, dragging his arousal against me, and my breath broke.
The heat between my thighs sharpened, insistent and aching.
Everest kissed me like he meant to forget everything.
Like he meant to burn the law to ash for one breath of satisfaction.
All the careful restraint of the night before vanished.
My body rose to meet his without permission, and he groaned into my mouth.
His hand tangled in the hair at my nape, fisting it to angle my head.
He deepened the kiss, all raw power and devastating heat.
I moved against his hard length, that delicious ache spreading to the tips of my frost-bitten toes.
“Everest,” I moaned, unable to restrain myself.
Then as if the sound had broken something, he stopped.
He pulled back fast enough that my lips tingled with the loss. His forehead pressed to mine, his breathing harsh, his eyes squeezed shut like he was trying to wrestle his mind back under control.
“Just once,” he rasped.
The words hit like a punch and a promise at the same time. Before I could respond, he tore himself away. He rolled off me and stood up with a rough, violent motion as if distance was the only thing keeping him from doing something neither of us could ever undo.
I lay there, stunned, breathless with the taste of him still on my tongue and my pulse a frantic drum.
The firelight caught along the hard planes of his shoulders and the sharp line of his spine as he moved toward the stove, skin still flushed from where I’d touched him. From where I’d wanted so much more.
My gaze dropped before I could stop it. Lower. To the immense size of him.
He stilled. Completely.
“Calista,” he said quietly, without turning. Not quite a warning. But close enough that my pulse jumped anyway.
“Yes?” The word was nothing but a breathless whisper.
“You should stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
He let out a slow exhale that sounded almost like a growl. Then he turned, eyes finding mine immediately. Like he’d known exactly where I was looking. “Like you want me to come back.”
Heat rushed through me so fast it felt like falling. “You know I do.” The words slipped free before I could catch them.
His jaw flexed. For a moment neither of us moved. Then something unreadable flashed across those brilliant irises.
“Fuck it.”
He crossed the space between us in two strides and dropped back down beside me with enough force that the floorboards shifted beneath us. One hand braced near my shoulder. The other caught my hip before I could react, fingers spreading there like he needed the contact just to stay upright.
He bent over me again, mouth finding mine with the same hunger as before but deeper now, rougher, like he’d stopped pretending he could keep this gentle.
“Say my name like that again,” he growled against my mouth.
“Everest.”
That was all it took. His control snapped. His hand slid from my hip to the small of my back and pulled me closer until there was no space left between us at all.
I arched into him without thinking. His arousal pressed against my center, and something wild lit up inside me.
My legs curled around his bare hips, and moons, the way he fit so perfectly against me.
He made a low sound against my lips that felt like it answered something in me I hadn’t known how to name.
His mouth moved along my jaw, slower now, deliberate, like he was memorizing instead of losing control. His breath was hot against my throat, tongue dragging across my flesh. I shivered as his teeth grazed the sensitive skin just beneath my ear.
“Calista,” he murmured, almost to himself. “You have no idea what you do to me.” His mouth found the swell of my breast over the tunic, and my breath rushed out. Gently, he brushed kisses across my pebbled flesh, watching as goose bumps raced down my exposed skin.
My fingers slid into his hair, tightening instinctively. He froze at the contact, not quite pulling away, just keeping very still. He held himself there for an endless moment as if the next choice might ruin us both.
“You shouldn’t do that,” he said roughly.
“Why?”
“Because I won’t stop.”
The words sent heat spiraling straight through me. “Then don’t,” I whispered.
His nostrils flared again, then his tongue jutted out dragging across his bottom lip. “I—I’m not sure I can control myself… but gods, I need to taste you just once.”
“Taste?” I swallowed hard.
His gaze dropped to my mouth again, then lower, to the apex of my thighs. He looked like he was deciding whether he could survive it. Then that smile turned feral, a wicked gleam flickering in his eye. “Feast…”
Oh, Selraya save me.
His hand tightened at my waist. Then as if a decision had been made, he nodded once and crawled down the length of my body, fitting himself between my thighs. His hands were at the laces of my leathers, and fiery need blossomed in my core.
“Just one taste…” he murmured, those blazing azure eyes locked on mine. “May I?”
I should have said no. That would have been the sensible thing. The safe thing.
Instead, my head tipped in a helpless nod, anticipation racing through me so fast it felt like my blood had caught fire. He was right. It could only be once. This was all we would ever have.
That smile turned slow and wicked as he pushed my leathers aside with impatient hands, like he had imagined this too many times to pretend restraint now.
“This morning,” he said softly, voice rough with want, “I feast, little wolf.”