21. Gray
Gray
The others filter out slowly—Rhett’s hand lingering on Bree’s shoulder, Jace’s backward glance as he closes the door behind him. Wes hesitates in the hallway. Even Stellan pauses, like he’s considering saying something.
But they all leave.
All except her.
I feel Bree’s eyes on me before I even move toward the door. That pull—the one that’s been constant since I first shifted—tightens somewhere deep in my chest.
I don’t look at her.
Can’t.
If I do, I’ll stay. And I can’t stay.
Can’t be there for her like this.
I move toward the door, my steps careful, measured. Controlled. Like if I just keep moving, I can outrun whatever the fuck is happening inside me.
But she follows.
Of course she does.
I make it to my room, the door closing behind me with a soft click. I move deeper into the space, toward the window, staring out at nothing.
You’re fine. You’re back. You’re—
The door opens behind me.
I don’t turn around.
“Gray. ”
Her voice is soft. Careful.
I huff out a breath—the only response I can give in this form—and keep staring out the window.
Footsteps. Closer.
“I’m not leaving.”
I lower my head, ears flattening slightly. She should leave. Should rest. Should stop trying to fix what I don’t think can be fixed.
“You don’t have to turn back if you’re not ready,” she says quietly. “But I need you to hear me.”
I turn my head slightly, just enough to see her in my peripheral vision.
She’s standing a few feet away, arms wrapped around herself like she’s holding something fragile together.
“I know you think this is easier,” she says. “Staying like this. Keeping distance. But Gray…” Her voice cracks slightly. “I need you. Not just the wolf. You.”
I close my eyes.
“When I was in the Void,” she continues, and my ears perk forward despite myself. “When everything felt impossible, when I thought I’d never get out—do you know what kept me going?”
I don’t move.
“It was you.” Her voice is steady now, stronger.
“The way you never backed down. Not once. Not when I pushed you away, not when I was at my worst, not when everyone else would have given up on me. You just… stayed. You were solid when I couldn’t be.
You were steady when everything else was falling apart. ”
Something tightens in my chest .
“That’s who you are, Gray. That’s what I need. Not the perfect version of you. Not the human or the wolf. Just… you. The one who doesn’t give up. The one who stays.”
I turn fully to face her now, and she meets my gaze without flinching.
“You being there for me has nothing to do with what shape you’re in,” she says. “It’s who you are. And that doesn’t change whether you’re standing on two legs or four.”
I shake my head, a low whine escaping my throat.
She doesn’t understand.
I can’t.
“So please,” she whispers, stepping closer. “Come back. Not because you have to. But because I’m asking you to.”
I back away slightly, and pain flashes across her face.
“Gray—”
I can’t. I can’t stay.
She takes another step forward, close enough now that I can feel the warmth radiating off her.
Her voice is a whisper.
“I love you.”
My claws scrape the floorboards, the air thick with her scent—vanilla, fear, want.
The shift slams into me.
No warning. No choice.
One moment I’m standing on four legs, and the next I’m gasping, stumbling forward as my body tears itself back into human form.
It hurts—fuck, it hurts—but I can’t stop it .
I collapse to my knees, hands bracing against the floor, my entire body shaking as the transformation rips through me.
“Gray!”
Bree drops beside me, her hands on my shoulders, steadying me as I struggle to breathe.
“I’ve got you,” she murmurs. “I’ve got you.”
I gasp, my vision blurring as I finally—finally—come back.
My hands.
Human hands.
I stare down at them, trembling, and something breaks inside me.
“I didn’t think…” My voice is raw, barely recognizable. “I didn’t think I could.”
“But you did.” Her hand cups my face, forcing me to look at her. “You came back.”
I shake my head, tears burning at the corners of my eyes. “I don’t know if I can stay.”
“You don’t have to hold it,” she says firmly. “You just have to be here. Right now. That’s all I’m asking.”
I close my eyes, leaning into her touch.
“I thought if I couldn’t stay like this, I couldn’t be what you needed.”
“You’re wrong.” She pulls me closer, her forehead pressing against mine. “What I need is you. All of you. The parts that are easy and the parts that are hard. The human and the wolf. All of it.”
“Bree—”
“You were there for me in the Void,” she says, her voice breaking. “You were there for me every single day before it. And you’ll be there for me after. That’s who you are, Gray. That’s what I count on. Not your form. You.”
Something inside me cracks wide open.
“I love you,” I manage, my voice breaking on the words.
“I know.” She smiles through her tears. “I love you too. Always.”
Before I can second-guess myself, my mouth crashes into hers.
The kiss isn’t gentle or careful.
It’s desperate and raw and everything I’ve been holding back since the moment I came back from the Void.
She gasps against my lips, her hands sliding up my bare chest, pulling me closer. I roll us, caging her beneath me, one hand braced beside her head while the other slides into her hair.
“Gray—”
I kiss her again, swallowing whatever she was going to say. My body presses into hers, and the wolf inside me—the one that’s been restless and unmoored for days—finally stops clawing at my ribs.
This.
This is what I needed.
Not control. Not distance.
Her.
She arches into me, her thigh sliding between mine, and I shift closer, pressing against the smooth inside of her thigh. I groan into her mouth—low and primal. My hand fists in her hair, not rough but possessive, angling her head so I can claim her mouth. My tongue slides against hers, tasting her.
“I need you,” I growl against her lips, my voice thick with need. “Bree, I— ”
“Then take me.” Her words are breathless, shaky, but her green eyes are blazing up at me. “I’m here. I’m yours.”
Something snaps inside me.
I kiss her again, harder this time, my hand sliding down her side to grip her hip.
She’s soft and warm beneath me. I can feel the wolf rising, demanding I claim her, mark her, make her mine.
Her hands slide down my bare chest, tracing every slope of muscle like she’s memorizing me.
Her touch lights me up, and I shudder, my cock throbbing against her thigh.
“Your turn,” I murmur, my fingers finding the hem of her leather top. She lifts her arms, letting me remove it, and when I see her—her skin pale and perfect, her chest rising and falling with every breath, her scars telling stories I know by heart—I have to close my eyes for a second.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I breathe, my voice raw.
Her laugh is soft, disbelieving. “Gray—”
“You are.” I don’t give her a chance to argue. I lean down, my lips brushing her collarbone before lowering to her breast. My mouth closes over her, and she arches into me. I groan at the taste of her.
I take my time, licking and teasing until she’s writhing beneath me, her fingers tangled in my hair, tugging like she’s desperate for more.
“Gray, please—”
“I know,” I growl, kissing my way down her stomach, my hands sliding to her leather pants. “Let me taste you first.”
Her breath catches. “You don’t have to—”
“I want to.” I look up at her, holding her gaze as my fingers hook under the fabric. “I need to. Please. ”
She nods, lifting her hips, and I strip her bare in one careful motion, tossing her clothes aside. And then she’s there—bare and open and perfect, glistening for me.
I settle between her thighs, my hands gripping her hips as I lean in. The first taste of her makes me groan—she’s sweet and I can’t get enough.
My tongue slides through her folds, slow and deliberate, circling her clit before dipping lower. Her breath stutters, a broken sound that shoots straight through me, and her thighs tremble on either side of my head.
“Gray—oh god—”
I do it again, slower, savoring every sound she makes. When I close my lips around her clit and suck, her hips buck off the bed.
“Fuck,” she gasps, her hands fisting in my hair. “Don’t stop—please don’t stop—”
I don’t plan to.
I work her with my mouth and tongue, learning what makes her moan, what makes her shake. When I slide two fingers inside her, her body bows, a sound caught somewhere between plea and praise, her walls clenching around me.
“That’s it, love,” I murmur against her. “Let me feel you.”
I pump my fingers slow and deep, curling them to hit that spot that makes her cry out while my tongue flicks her clit. She’s close—I can feel it in the way her thighs shake, the way her breathing turns ragged.
“Gray—I’m—”
“Come for me, Bree,” I growl against her. “I want to taste it.”
She shatters .
Her orgasm crashes through her, and I hold her down as she thrashes, my mouth working her through it until she’s gasping, oversensitive, pulling at my hair.
Only then do I pull back, pressing one last kiss to her inner thigh before crawling back up her body.
She looks wrecked. Beautiful. Mine.
“Holy shit,” she breathes.
I grin, kissing her so she can taste herself on my lips. “We’re not done.”
Her eyes widen slightly, her gaze dropping between us. I’m already hard—have been since the moment I shifted back—and now there’s nothing between us. Her hand slides down my stomach, wrapping around my cock, and I groan.
“Fuck, Bree—”
She strokes me once, twice, her thumb swiping over the head where pre-cum beads. “I want you inside me.”
I nearly lose it right there.
“Tell me you want this,” I manage, my voice rough as I settle between her thighs, the head of my cock brushing against her entrance. “Tell me you want me.”
“I want you.” Her hands slide up my back, pulling me closer. “I need you. Please.”
I push inside slowly, and we both groan at the sensation.
She’s so tight. So wet. So perfect.
I have to close my eyes, fighting for control as I sink deeper. When I’m fully seated, I pause, giving her time to adjust, her walls fluttering around me.
“Okay?” I manage, my voice rough .
“Yes.” She rolls her hips, and I see stars. “Move. Please.”
I pull back slowly, then thrust back in, deeper this time. She gasps, her nails digging into my shoulders.
“Like that?” I ask, doing it again.
“Yes—fuck, yes—”
I set a rhythm, slow and deep, watching her face as I take her. Every expression. Every moan. Every time her eyes flutter closed in pleasure.
But when she wraps her legs around my waist and pulls me even deeper, something shifts.
The control I’ve been clinging to fractures.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I manage, my voice rough, every muscle locked tight.
“You won’t.” Her hands slide up to cup my face, forcing me to meet her eyes. “I want this. I want you. All of you.”
My thrusts grow harder. Faster. Deeper.
She meets me stroke for stroke, her body arching into mine, taking everything I give her. There’s a knock at the door, but I don’t care. All I care about is her—the way she feels wrapped around me, the way she’s saying my name.
“Gray—right there—oh god—”
I shift the angle slightly, hitting that spot inside her that makes her cry out, and her walls clench around me.
“Fuck,” I grit out, my hand sliding between us to find her clit. “You feel so good, love. So perfect.”
I circle her clit with my thumb as I move harder, and she falls apart .
Her orgasm slams into her, and she screams my name, her entire body shaking as she comes. The sight of her—lost in pleasure, trusting me completely—sends me over the edge.
I follow her with a growl, burying myself as deep as I can go, filling her with everything I have.
For a long moment, neither of us moves.
We just breathe.
Sweat cools between us. Her heartbeat steadies against mine.
Eventually, I pull out carefully, collapsing beside her and pulling her into my arms. She comes willingly, draping herself across my chest, both of us still trembling from the aftershocks.
“Holy shit,” she whispers again.
I huff out a laugh, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Yeah.”
“That was…” She trails off, lifting her head to look at me.
“Explosive?” I offer, the corner of my mouth twitching.
She laughs, the sound light and free. “That’s one word for it.”
I brush a strand of hair behind her ear, my thumb tracing the line of her jaw. “I meant what I said. About trying. About being here.”
“I know.” She leans into my touch. “And I meant what I said too. I love you, Gray. All of you.”
“I love you too.” The words come easier now, like saying them once opened something I didn’t know was locked. “Always.”
She smiles, pressing a kiss to my chest before settling back against me.
The wolf in me finally rests, quiet beneath her touch.
Content.
Because I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.