Juniper
Outside, the cool air was like a slap in the face.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself.
It didn’t help. A squirming snake had nested in my stomach.
I’d given up so much to be with Anders. I’d thought it was my chance to have a normal life, to stay in Idlewild and take care of my grandparents. Instead, it had ruined my life.
Putting a hand to my mouth, I stepped off the porch as a horrifying thought occurred to me.
If Anders hadn’t found me and given me another option, would I have left Levi?
He’d said Naphele’s name, yes, but if Anders and his offer weren’t at the back of my mind, would I have been so quick to leave?
Would I have been more likely to talk it out with Levi?
I wanted to vomit, but instead, I shifted and ran into the forest. If I could have, I’d have run to the ocean.
Putting hundreds and hundreds of miles between me and everything that had happened sounded like a great idea.
How soon could I get there by running? A month?
Two? But even if I did that, all of this would still be waiting for me.
You couldn’t outrun your fate, and you definitely couldn’t outrun bad decisions.
I let my wolf take control, and we ran, legs pumping fast, scenery flashing by.
We ran like that for what felt like over an hour.
Instead of relaxing my mind, all I could do was stew on what an idiot I was.
This was not how this was supposed to go.
I should be wearing a gorgeous dress, smiling, dancing, and eating with my friends and family, not running away after finding my mate fucking someone else.
What did I do now? Would Anders banish me? Maybe not. He wouldn’t want news of his betrayal getting out. Then again, I couldn’t stay in the same town as him, could I? God, why was this happening to me?
Skidding to a stop, I threw my head back and released a droning mournful howl toward the blue sky.
When I was done, I lowered my head and blinked in surprise at my location.
Padding forward, I stepped out onto the stone outcropping of the overlook.
My wolf had led me here without me even knowing it.
The forest spread out below, and I could make out the curls of smoke from Hidden Grove’s chimneys, and in the far distance, the crisscrossing paved roads of Idlewild.
Sitting back on my haunches, I lost myself in the view.
Before, this place had felt wrong, like it belonged to someone else.
Now? Now, it felt like home. A pleasant, quiet spot to meditate on what I was going to do with my disaster of a life.
Even though I felt peaceful here, Naphele was still casting a shadow over my life.
How could someone so long gone still hold so much power over someone a hundred years later?
“Interesting spot to run off to.”
The sound of Levi’s voice should have startled me, but I’d been expecting him. I was sure he would have tracked from Anders’s house. Turning toward him, I gave him the closest thing to a grin a wolf’s mouth was capable of, then shifted.
“Hey,” I said.
We looked at each other for a drawn-out moment, neither of us able to verbalize what we wanted to say. A dam broke inside me, one built out of repressed emotions, hopes, and needs. Feelings flooded my mind, and I understood completely what I wanted.
“I came to make sure you were okay,” Levi said hesitantly. He took a single step back. “Do you want to be alone?”
“No,” I said, reaching out to him. “Stay.”
Levi froze, glancing from my hand to my eyes. “Do you mean it?” he whispered.
“I do.”
Instead of softening, his eyes became hard, almost cold. “I’m not going to have sex with you for revenge or to get back at Anders.”
I gasped in horror. “Please. No, that’s not what this is.” My face felt hot, and my eyes burned. “This isn’t retaliation. Do you think I’m that kind of person?”
The hardness in his eyes faded as he shook his head. “No. I know you’re not. I’m sorry.”
Hearing him apologize to me hurt. I closed my eyes as the weight of everything crashed down on me. I’d left him, not the other way around. I should be the one apologizing. All I wanted was to feel his arms around me. I hadn’t felt safe or comforted since the last time he’d held me.
“I want you, Levi,” I said, at last opening my eyes to look at him. “I want you because you’re the only person I’ve ever wanted. All the way back to that night in the woods when you first kissed me. I think that was when you became wedged in my mind and my heart. I…I didn’t realize it until now.”
Levi took a step toward me, eyes locked on me, a hungry, hopeful expression on his face.
“If you’re being serious,” he said, “then say it. Say it and mean it.”
Sucking in a trembling breath, I nodded. “I need you,” I said, almost moaning the words. I’d never spoken anything that was so true. “I’ve never needed anything more.”
A triumphant glimmer sparked in his eyes, and he pulled me into his arms so fast that I barely saw him move.
He kissed me hard until my head spun. This was what life should be like.
This. In the few seconds he had me, I was able to forget everything else.
Anders, the ceremony, Eugenia, Naphele… all of it vanished in the blink of an eye.
Overcome with desire and need, I reached down, yanking at his belt.
As I unbuckled it with trembling fingers, heat pooled between my legs.
I had to have him. Here, in the open. I didn’t care if anyone came across us.
I couldn’t wait until we were back in Idlewild or Hidden Grove.
I wanted to give myself to him and allow all my worries to vanish while he was inside me.
Levi broke the kiss, panting for breath. “Are you sure?”
In answer, I growled low in my throat and kissed him again as I slid my hand into his pants and wrapped my fingers around his cock. Levi grunted with pleasure as I gently squeezed him.
His hands roamed up my body, caressing my breasts through my shirt, fingertips dragging deliciously across my nipples before slipping between the buttons and grasping the fabric.
With a single quick tug, he yanked my shirt open.
Buttons flew away into the forest. Levi growled, the sound reverberating through me, and with a few fast movements, he had my bra and shirt completely off.
The cool air kissed my breasts, making my nipples ache as they tightened.
Levi pulled away from our kiss to bend low, taking my left nipple in his mouth.
The sudden change from cold to hot made me gasp.
He devoured me, moving from one breast to the other and back again, his tongue swirling, teeth grazing.
Heat pulsed through my core, and I pressed my thighs together, desperate for some friction against my clit.
Sensing my need, Levi unbuttoned and unzipped my pants as he greedily sucked on my nipple. When he slipped two fingers inside me, I cried out.
Levi trailed kisses up my breast to my neck, his tongue flicking over the soft skin behind my ear as he curled his fingers inside me at just the right spot while his palm pressed against my clit.
“Oh, fuck yes,” I moaned, grinding against his hand.
“I’m going to make you come before I fuck you,” he whispered against my ear.
A delighted smile spread across my lips, and I answered him with a pleased groan as his fingers moved faster.
To give him more room to work, I shoved my pants down to my knees, the cold air sending goosebumps over my thighs and stomach, but I barely felt it.
There was a roaring fire raging within me that kept me warm.
Digging my fingers into his hair, I held him to my chest as he moved his hand faster. God, it felt so good. A steady pressure built inside me, and still he didn’t stop or slow. He’d crafted a perfect rhythm to send me crashing over the edge.
Finally, when my legs began to shake in anticipation of the onrushing orgasm, he reached down with a free hand and rubbed my clit while the other hand fucked me. I spasmed, jerking against him and crying out.
“I’m coming.” Pleasure rocked through me, and I slumped against him as my legs stopped functioning.
Slowly, he pulled his fingers out of me. Still shivering from the aftershocks, I watched him put his fingers in his mouth and suck them clean. I’d never seen anything so erotic in my life, and it had a fresh wave of desire flooding through me.
“God, I love the way you taste,” Levi whispered.
Dropping to my knees, I dragged his pants down. His cock sprang free, thick and throbbing, a bead of precum glistening on the tip. I licked it off, reveling in the salty, warmth of it on my tongue. When Levi moaned, I took him into my mouth, swirling my tongue along the underside of his cock.
“I missed you so much,” Levi said, his voice overflowing lust, longing, and heartfelt emotion. I’d never heard a sentence so full of truth in my life.
Butterflies swirled in my stomach. I’d left him for what seemed like a good reason, but I’d been wrong.
This was the man I loved, the only man I could spend my life with.
Knowing how much I meant to him made everything else easier to process.
I had my person. A man who would love me, take care of me, and respect me.
Now I could show him how much that meant to me.
Stroking his length with both hands, I worked at the head of his massive cock, flicking my tongue around and sucking at him until my cheeks hollowed out. His heartbeat pulsed through his flesh, and I could feel it against my tongue and cheeks. My wolf howled in delight as we pleasured him.
Just as I was really getting into it, Levi pulled free of me and turned me around. He bent me over, facing out toward the valley beyond.
“Please,” I whimpered. “Fuck me, Levi.” I glanced back over my shoulder at him, watching as he stroked himself. “Don’t be gentle. We can do gentle later.”
Eyes half-lidded with lust, he growled, a wicked grin playing over his lips.
He spread me open and thrust inside, burying deep inside me.
A moan tore from my throat at the sensation of being so completely full.
One of his hands wound in my hair, tugging and pulling my head back, and a moment later he began to ride me.
This was what I needed. To be taken by the man I loved, to make love and be fucked senseless until every problem vanished. He slammed into me, my body accepting him as if I’d been made specifically for his cock, and I loved it.
“Harder,” I cried, and he obliged, his thighs slapping against me as he fucked me faster, deeper, harder. It had a loving roughness to it that made me melt.
Levi let go of my hair and gripped my hips, pulling me back against himself each time he thrust forward.
Another orgasm built within me, a surging heat and pressure deep in my pelvis and pussy.
With each thrust forward, his balls slapped gently against my clit, making each movement that much more exquisite.
“Fuck,” Levi hissed. “I’m gonna come soon.”
I reached between my legs and rubbed my clit. Levi, chasing his own release, fucked me even faster, his fingers digging into my skin.
Levi released a roar of pleasure. His fingers clenched on me, his cock throbbing as he filled me with his cum.
A thunderbolt of electric ecstasy exploded between my legs as he continued fucking me.
My own orgasm shattered me so hard that I fell forward.
Levi followed me, still thrusting but slower.
I clamped a hand to my mouth as wave after wave of pleasure rocked me to my core, my skin sizzled with it, my vision blurred, and I shook beneath him as if I was having a seizure.
Rolling to the side, still nestled within me, Levi pulled me close, pressing my back to his chest. He stroked my skin in soft circles as he planted kisses on my shoulder and the back of my neck.
Our pants and underwear, still around our ankles, but it didn’t matter.
We were together, and all I could do was bask in the glory of that.
Though, as the afterglow faded, I wondered if this could really work.
How would it? Nuzzling back against him, enjoying the heat of his body, I tried not to think about bad things, but the sex had only held off the questions, not erased them completely.