When Amira laid down a wild card and changed the color to green, Morlie peered at her through squinted eyes.She pulled another card—yellow eight.“You planned that.”
Amira laughed.“Yes.I planned not to make it yellow.But I also hope Lovel doesn’t have any green cards.”
Lovel stuck her tongue out at Amira as she confirmed what was in her hand when she drew a card.
When they went around the table again, Morlie was finally about to place her yellow eight on top of Amira’s discarded green eight and change the odds back in her favor.
“I wonder how much longer Bleddyn will be,” Lovel questioned as she plucked.
Morlie wasn’t sure if the she-wolf asked because she was gaining more cards than giving up or if she missed her mate.Either way, Morlie had the same question and desire to see Chanin but was glad she didn’t have to say it.
“He’s either shielded his thoughts or perhaps too far away for us to pick up.”Amira absently rubbed her stomach as she frowned.
“Should we be worried?”Morlie peered out the window.It was late now.The sun had set a while ago.Since there weren’t many lights beyond the porch, she couldn’t see much in the darkness.
If these two women’s vision was like Chanin’s when he had walked them through the pitch-black woods, they could see a lot more than her if they looked out.Since both Amira and Lovel questioned their return, she doubted they had seen anything.
“Uno!”Morlie finally called out again during her next turn.
“Again—” Amira began but stopped and turned toward the door.
Morlie glanced in the same direction.She had not heard any steps coming up the porch.
However, a moment later, she heard the rumble of male voices a few seconds before the door opened.
Then her gaze alighted on Chanin as his tall, lean, muscled frame filled the door.His blue eyes found her’s in the room and locked on.
“Mates.”Bleddyn entered next.
She didn’t pay the Beta any attention, nor Bleddyn’s two mates, who rose to their feet and went to greet him.Morlie couldn’t focus away from the one man who arrested all her attention.Still seated, she let her gaze travel from his handsome face to his bare chest and rugged jeans.She gasped.
“Are you hurt?”She tossed down her card and scrambled to her feet as she realized something that resembled blood covered Chanin’s body.
Instinctively, she reached out to ensure he was all right, but he grasped her wrists and stopped her.
“I’m fine.It’s not mine,” Chanin reassured her.
A cool sensation washed over her, relief.Morlie couldn’t stop taking in the sight of all the blood and dirt now that she was right before him.“What happened?Whose is—?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.I want to take you home.”Chanin’s big hands flexed around her wrist, making her feel fragile.Not because he was hurting her but because she was very aware of his strength and size compared to her.
He didn’t so much as frighten her.Neither did she believe he would do her harm, but maybe it was after the day she had, and being surrounded by the might of the Lupines made her aware of her mortality.Humans may have controlled the earth for centuries, but it was clear to Morlie in the last few weeks that it was because the preternatural world allowed it—humans were the weaker vessels.
The heat in his gaze caused her heart to race, and the same heat she had felt earlier at the thought of him returned twice as intense.“Home?”
“Yes.We have unfinished business, Morlie.”
The tension and need swirling around them zipped and crackled with sexual energy.Even though Morlie's only experience in that area was the moments she spent with Chanin, which felt like a lifetime ago, her body understood what was building between them.It was responding to him in ways that made her dizzy with desire.
She could only nod as small tremors built in her core and spread outward.
He released one hand and linked his fingers through her other.Chanin turned and walked out the open door.She let him tug her along.
“Shouldn’t we tell them—?”
“No.”His voice was rough and dark as the night sky around them.
It caused her mind to envision naughty, wicked things.Such things as Chanin’s strong hands touching and cupping her body or his tongue gliding over her skin and between her legs.Her sex bloomed, and wetness began to spread onto her inner thighs.
