Wolfsong (Green Creek 1)

“Yeah.” But even that didn’t sound long enough.

“Ox?”

“Yeah?”

His eyes searched mine. Then, “Can I kiss you?”

It was said so shyly, so hesitantly, that I ached with it. “You want to?” I asked quietly.

He nodded once, a little jerk of his head.

“I guess that’s all right,” I said.

“I’m not your first.”

“No.”

“And you’re not mine.”

“No,” I said, jaw tense.

“But you’re the only one that matters. So, it’s like it’s the first. For the both of us.”

I kissed him then. I couldn’t not after that.

He gave a grunt of surprise when our lips touched, a little exhalation of air that was almost like a sigh. It was chaste, barely there. His lips were slightly parted and his eyes were open and on me, and I thought maybe they were endless. He brushed his nose against mine and tightened his fingers around my own. I reached up and cupped his cheek, fingers over his ear and holding him in place.

He flared within me, bursting and warm.

It was bittersweet, strong and heady.

I pulled away first.

He shuddered and pressed his forehead to mine.

He said, “I will come back for you.”

I believed he would try.

I FOUGHT it. For as long as I could.

But everything caught up to me. Thomas. My mother. Joe becoming the Alpha. The funerals. The fire. Joe’s decision.

Everything.

I tried to stay awake.

I screamed at myself that he’d be gone the moment my eyes closed.

He whispered, “Sleep, Ox.”

I whispered back, “But you’ll be gone.”

The smile he gave me curved sadly. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I can come home.”

My eyes drooped. I forced them open again.

“I’ll miss you,” I said. “Every day.”