I exhaled a sharp breath, my body tense, because all I wanted to do was pull her onto my lap and hold her tightly, to bury my face in the crook of her neck and inhale deeply. “Ah, lass.”
She gave me a sweet, small smile, and as our gazes continued to stay locked, I felt myself start to lean forward and saw she did the same. Gods, would she let me taste her?
“We just met,” she whispered when we were only a hairsbreadth away, sharing the same oxygen, the air around us crackling with all kinds of intensity.
“Aye, lass.” My voice was a deep rumble as I lowered myself to her mouth. She worried her bottom lip with her straight, white teeth, and I heard her breath hitch, saw the way her pulse was beating rapidly against the base of her throat.
“I’ve never even been alone with a male outside my family.” Her voice was low, sensual.
My cock jerked.
“So even thinking the things I am…” She trailed off, and I groaned, because gods help me, I was thinking all kinds of filthy fucking things, and the very idea that she was too had my Lycan growling in pleasure.
“Larkin,” I groaned, and lifted my hand to curl it gently around her throat, my thumb right over her pulse.
“What are you doing?” Her eyes became hooded, and she moved in a fraction more.
“Feeling how much I affect ye.” Her pulse beat wildly under the pad of my thumb, and before I knew what was happening, I had my mouth pressed to hers.
She gasped, and I knew I should have eased back, been gentle, but the first taste of her had all the primal desire and need coursing through me. I snaked one hand around to the back of her neck so I could grip her nape.
And then I held her still so she could take the kiss. So that she could feel every ounce of male need I had for her. Only for her.
Her moan was the sweetest fucking sound I’d ever heard. The only thing that could ever top it was my name being moaned from her lips as she came around my cock.
That had a harsh and guttural groan leaving me, and when her lips parted because of that, I plunged my tongue inside. I explored every inch of her mouth, memorizing her heat, the sweet taste of her wetness, the silky feel of her tongue against mine.
So fooking good. Better than I could have ever imagined.
I’d moved onto my knees, really crowding her now. I had my bigger body leaned forward, all but wrapping myself around her as I pulled her forward. When her chest pressed against mine and I felt the swells of her breasts and the hard points of her nipples, my cock jerked, and I snarled against her mouth. I had to calm down, had to take this moment slow.
But she placed her hands on my shoulders, dug her nails against my muscles, and kissed me back harder, as if she were just as desperate for this as I was.
But I was the one to break the kiss and, gods, was that the hardest thing I’d ever done thus far in my life. I stared down at her, my wee mate with her closed eyes and red, swollen lips from my kisses, leaning forward even more as if she needed my mouth back on her. And I was so close to giving it to her.
She’d get everything I had to give until I was nothing but a husk of a male. But even then, I’d be the happiest, feel the most pride that my mate was taken care of and sated. She blinked open her eyes and stared up at me with a hazy expression. A slight smile curled her lips, and I watched as the most gorgeous shade of pink tinged her cheeks when she blushed for me.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me.” Her voice was still breathy, and the fact that I smelled my scent on her drove me mad with the need to take her mouth once more. “I don’t even know you, yet here I am, sharing my first kiss with a stranger.” She stared at me with her beautiful blue eyes and a look of almost wonder on her face. “And I don’t want to stop.” Her cheeks reddened even more, and I groaned anew at how gorgeous she was.
“We are no’ strangers, sweetheart. We may have never met, but our hearts and souls know each other intimately, irrevocably. They know that we belong together. Ye are mine, and I am yers.”
I slid my hand from her throat up to cup the side of her face and stroked my thumb along her cheek, marveling at how warm and soft she was.
“But I should no’ have done that.” Saying the words was like acid in my mouth. “I want tae cherish and take my time with ye. I promise I will be on my best behavior from this point on, lass.” Her smile was shy, and I nearly groaned in pleasure at how pretty my mate was. “Mine,” I growled and was about to lean in and kiss her again, breaking the vow I just made because I couldn’t help myself, when I felt a prickling on the back of my neck. My skin tightened in awareness, and all arousal fled as I became ultra-aware of our surroundings.
My ears pricked, and my wolf stilled as we both listened, scented, and took in every minute detail around us.
“Do you feel that?” Larkin asked and placed her hand over mine, which was still cupping her face.
“Aye, lass.”
We weren’t alone.
“Odhran—”
I was up so fast, my hands gripping her shoulders as I pushed her behind me, keeping one of my thick arms around her waist as I scanned the surroundings. I started speaking in Gaelic, urgent, hard words telling her she’d be okay, that I’d slaughter anyone who came close. I shook my head to clear it when I realized she couldn’t understand, then repeated myself in English.
We stood still for long moments, my wolf rising up, my senses razor-sharp as my beast took control.