Chapter 7
Just like last night, Emmett doesn’t come back for a long time.
But this time, I remember what he said and decide to sleep in his bed.
I climb under the covers and stare up at the ceiling in the dark.
Outside, the rain has finally stopped, but I can still hear water dripping gently from the edges of the roof onto the wet ground below.
I play through everything that happened in my head again. Emmett turning into his wolf self. Trying to communicate with him. The way he smelled me between my legs.
I turn over and look out the window, halfway hoping Emmett will be out there looking back. But he isn’t.
I’m not sure what to do. But I know I can’t leave him. Not now. Not ever.
I gasp awake when the bedroom door creaks. I sit up quick and look over at Emmett. He’s closing the bedroom door behind him.
“Is it okay if I join you?” He stands by the door, hands balled into fists and his clothes dirty.
“Yes,” I whisper, pulling back the covers on the bed.
While I wait, he unbuttons his shirt and slips it off. His pants go next, leaving him in just his boxer briefs in the dark. He walks slowly over to the bed and gets in beside me. As soon as the blanket is pulled up, he turns his back to me.
I know what he’s doing. The same thing he did before, when he ran. He’s trying to protect me, maybe also to protect himself. But I won’t let him shut himself away. Not anymore.
“Emmett.” I run my fingertips down his back, listen to him breathe slowly. His muscles tense under my fingers, and he turns to look at me over his shoulder.
Neither of us says a word. He flips over, settling his body over mine, and takes my mouth with his. I groan into his mouth as all of him presses into me. I’m still just in his sweatpants, and with him just in his underwear, I can feel him quickly getting hard between my legs.
His mouth moves from mine to my jaw and then down to my neck as I run my hands along his back.
“I need you,” I whisper into the dark. “I—I still love you.”
He pushes up onto his elbows, his glowing eyes finding mine. “I love you, too. I do. But I can’t—”
“I’m not afraid of you, Emmett. I don’t care what you are.”
“It’s not just that. I…” He sighs, setting his forehead against my collarbone for a second before lifting it again.
“I can’t seem to get turned on without shifting.
I can’t get angry or hurt or impatient or anything else, but at least with those things, I’m not likely to be on top of you.
Or inside you. Or… It doesn’t matter. But we can’t be intimate. At all.”
I reach my hands up and frame his face. “What is it like for you in there? You’re still aware of everything? You communicated with me.”
He nods. “I’m still me in every way but my body. I mean, some of my instincts are a little different. I don’t exactly have the urge to sit and read a book when I’m a wolf. And I haven’t figured out quite how to make my mouth form actual words. But I’m conscious and aware.”
“And horny.”
His brow furrows. “What?”
“Earlier, when you shifted, your dick was—”
He pushes up onto his knees. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
I sit up, like I’m trying somehow to stay close to him. “You didn’t. It was… I don’t know, interesting, I guess. Do you… have the urge to mate, when you’re like that?”
His eyes glow brighter, so bright that if I didn’t already know what he was, this would be the dead giveaway. “Yes,” he growls. “It makes me want to mate.”
I hum. “Then maybe you should.” I reach down and unbutton the top few buttons on the flannel I’m wearing. “Maybe it’s time to lean in, Emmett.”
His eyes fall to my hands, and when I tug the flannel open, he growls low in his chest. “Brynne,” he says, like a warning.
“Emmett,” I say back. An invitation. I’m surprised by my lack of hesitation. I’ve always been comfortable with my sexuality, and if there was anyone I could fully be myself with in bed, it was Emmett.
But now I’m basically asking him to fuck me… as a wolf. And I have no idea whether or not I’m crossing a line.
Emmett bares his teeth at me, and I watch as they get sharper. “You better be sure, Brynne.”
I bite my lip to hold back a smile. “I’m sure.”
His eyes glow once, brighter than ever. “Then you better run.”