My creeping was slow, silently placing one bare foot in front of another, the ground prickly – soft undergrowth, but there were sticks, stones and other unknowns. I thought briefly of shifting to wolf again. I knew I was faster in my other form, but I wanted to focus, and while my wolf could be the queen of focus at times, if a rabbit bounded past I was screwed. I was scanning as fast as my eyes could process images, my nose elevated as if that would help with the detection of enemy.
Outside the door of the cabin the landscape was overgrown, tangled, ancient. Forest, but unlike any I’d seen before. I catalogued the scene: trees, vines, bushy undergrowth and large, probably poisonous, pink flowers, the kind that drooped over and had some sort of sticky dew rolling out of their center. They lured their prey in with beauty and then killed them.
Where the hell am I? This place was one giant plate of freak-me-the-hell-out.
The growling started again, louder than before, coming from the left, sort of through the vines and on the other side of the round cabin. There was no clear path for me to take, blocked in a cage of greenery so tightly interwoven that I had no idea how to get through. Shifting my hands into claws, I started to rake across vines in the direction of the growl.
It took me a while, but I managed to force a path, the vegetation scratching my exposed arms, but I barely noticed. A flash of black and blue caught my eyes and my heart rate both sped and calmed at the sight. I knew those scales. Braxton was close. But, judging by the vinery around that scaled leg, he was pretty tangled in the vegetation.
I let my claws fade away and whispered in his direction, keeping my tone low and soothing. “Shift back, Brax, you’re too large to fit through this dense undergrowth.”
The growling cut off, and I knew he was working to calm himself. I could sense a minute variation in the air. Usually it was very distinct when a shifter pulled energy to change, but the air here felt so dense with power it dulled everything else. Still, I knew when he was shifting back. And sure enough, within seconds the scales had disappeared. Then I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. Braxton.
“Jessa babe … are you okay?”
He was trying to be calm, but the undercurrents of stress strained his voice. The forest rustled as he plowed through to where I stood. Unlike me, he seemed to be cutting a path no problem. His face appeared in a small gap and he wasted no time tearing a larger entrance. It felt as if we’d been apart years rather than mere moments. As more of him was visible, I saw he was wearing just a pair of low slung jeans. He must have removed his pants before shifting earlier. They’d never have survived the change to dragon.
My mouth went a little dry as I drank in the sight of him. Damn, those pants … they were really low, I could see each defined muscle of his two-hundred pack and that delicious “V” which men were blessed with as a tool to tempt women. The pathway to the goods, a pathway I’d like to lick my way along…
Wait, what? Down, hormones, down.
Braxton finally destroyed the last of the vines, and before I could blink he slammed into me with the force of three hundred pounds of muscled dragon man. His arms wrapped around me and lifted me off the ground. There wasn’t much room here so we ended up planted against a large, gnarled trunk, his hands roaming over me. Not in a feel-me-up way, more of a check for injuries and make sure all limbs were accounted for. Of course, someone forgot to tell my hormones that those large, bronzed hands caressing my bare limbs were just checking for injuries.
My hips arched up as his hands crossed over my thighs, the heat of his palms intense through the ragged tears. I almost moaned but swallowed the sound down. What the fuck was Braxton doing to me? I was about to self-combust.
I wasn’t sure when it happened, but the line I’d drawn in the sand with all the Compasses … well, it was blurring between Braxton and I. Very, very blurry. I was starting to think our friendship pact was going to be tested very soon. Like in the next five seconds.
Braxton had been so focused on examining me for injuries, making sure I was safe, that he’d missed my rapid breathing, dilated pupils, accelerated heartbeat, and that distinctive scent of arousal.
I knew the exact moment he realized. He stilled, his pupils stopped darting across my face, and something dark and dangerous rose in his eyes. Low growls started in his chest, enough to rock us both, a predator in his gaze, built on instinct evolved over the last million years. Both animal and supernatural instinct.
His full lips parted. I could almost taste the scent of him on my tongue, and not only was it his usual combination of spice and heat, but also arousal. Holy shit. Braxton wanted me, in a way I’d never felt from him before.
My eyelids fluttered down, lashes tickling my cheeks. A relief to block him out, but the pulsation of energy between us was too tantalizing. I couldn’t keep my eyes shut.
Unable to pull away, I was almost a hundred and fifty percent certain I was about to burst into flames. My skin was surely an eruption of scarlet, the hot pumping of my blood a roar in my ears. Kiss me, I silently begged.
I’d never wanted anything more in my life. More than want, needed. If he didn’t move his ass, I was going to take what was mine.
Braxton leaned into me, and just as those delicious, morsels-of-sin lips were about to close the final millimeters between us, he stopped. Mere inches from me.
“There is something moving out there,” he said, husky tones brushing over me. “It’s close enough that I don’t think we should be staying still right now.”