“You’re hurt,” I said, my voice rough.
“I’m okay,” she whispered. “Just hold me.”
I should have been calculating, planning, tracking Billy. Ransacking the cabin. Looking for clues to the identity of the sorcerer. But all of that was laughable with her in my arms. Suddenly, the battle, the danger, the stakes, none of it meant anything.
At this moment, there was only her. The scent of her hair so close to my lips. My wolf, who had been raging, was quiet. Focused. We were perfectly aligned. This was where we were supposed to be. Holding her. Protecting her. Reunited.
A part of me knew it was madness, but it was drowned by every sensation in my body.
Savannah looked up at me as she slid her hands to my chest. I could smell her emotions. The fear and panic were gone, replaced by a scent I had never encountered before. I couldn’t quite name it. Rightness. Belonging.
Mine.
Her pupils spread, and her pulse throbbed against my fingertips. Could she, somehow, sense it too?
The lightness of her touch sent heat straight through me, turning my fear for her safety into pulsing desire. All I could think about was kissing her, claiming her, taking her right here under the moon.
I dragged my thumb over her bruised cheek. She winced ever so slightly but bit her lower lip. I could smell her need. Her desire. And I wanted to taste it.
Were we mad? Her eyes told me yes.
But they compelled me, luring me in, lighting a fire that no sanity could extinguish. I slipped one hand to her ass and lifted her. Her body was soft and inviting. She gasped and wrapped her legs around me, pushing her heat against me.
Fuck.
I had to have her. I growled, and my other hand gripped her hair as my mouth claimed hers. She parted her lips so easily, and she tasted divine, like citrus on a warm summer’s day. Her fingers moved over my body, touching and exploring. I ached to feel and lick every inch of her. She kissed me hard, like she was ravenous. Her need only intensified mine, and it took every last ounce of control I had not to rip off her clothes and bury myself in her.
As if sensing my thoughts, she moaned and moved against my hardness. I could almost feel the wet warmth of her body, a drug pulling me onward. I could lose myself in her. Nothing else mattered in the world but this. Her.
Mine.
“Jaxson.” Sam’s voice cut through the night air, drenching my desire like ice water. She stood in the shadows of the trees, flames of shock and fear flickering in her golden eyes. “Are you mad? What are you doing?”
No bullet had ever hit me so hard. It was like an ocean wave slamming into me.
What was I doing?
Guilt, shame, and anger flooded me. I dragged my mouth from Savannah’s and set her down. What had I done?
She’s ours.
No, she wasn’t.
Everything was wrong. The moment had been perfect. But it wasn’t. Tendrils of panic twisted beneath my skin. I had to get control. Savannah was a LaSalle, my pack’s enemy. The people who’d murdered my sister and driven Billy to insanity.
I scrubbed a hand through my hair and stepped toward Sam. She turned her back on me and leaned against a tree. I could smell her despair and confusion.
What had just happened had been like a heat, but far more powerful. Maybe for another of our kind it wouldn’t have mattered, but I was the alpha, and she was a sorceress. A LaSalle. Not one of us.
My wolf surged inside me. She. Is. Ours. I forced him down with a snarl. It wasn’t right.
“Where’s Billy?” Sam asked, her voice pitched flat as she tried to maintain control.
I turned to Savannah. Her lips were swollen from our kiss, and her cheeks were flushed. My chest clenched, and I doused the surge of desire that ripped through me.
“Do you know?” I asked.