Mated To The Alpha: A Standalone Wolf Shifter Romance, стр. 22
She looked around, noticing a pile of what looked to be animal furs in the middle of the living room sized space, and every hair on her arms and neck suddenly stood at full attention.
She recognized this place. She knew this place somehow, deep in her bones. Her brain tried to figure out how, as her body just reacted instinctively to what it already knew.
She placed it suddenly. This was the cave with the furs she had seen in her visions. The place where she'd had flashes of herself and Elam locked in a passionate embrace. And more.
A sudden noise behind her, toward the cave's opening, made her heart jump into her throat and her pulse dance wildly in her veins.
She didn't know what, but something was headed in here to join her.
She looked for an escape route, but the way she had come seemed to be the only way in. Or out.
She turned to face the place where the cave closed in to become a tunnel, the dead branch held like a baseball player holds a bat, waiting on a pitch to cross home plate so she could swing hard at whatever was headed her way.
The beautiful auburn red of Elam's wolf form filled the tunnel.
She let the breath she hadn't realized she was holding escape in a heavy sigh, but still remained ready to defend herself.
The wolf's eyes met hers, and if she wasn't mistaken, his gaze held quite a bit of humor as he looked her over, standing there on the defense.
The wolf took a few more steps, clearing the lower ceiling of the tunnel and stepping into the taller cave space before shifting smoothly into the man she'd hoped he was.
Her eyes ran up and down his naked, now human form, appreciation warring with irritation at having been so obviously followed here.
"You shouldn't be here."
"You shouldn't have followed me."
"I didn't follow you. I scented you. You're leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for any wolf to scent. You are coming into heat. It's only a matter of days before..."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Elam sighed, and then spoke again.
"You smell fucking amazing. Like summer. And cinnamon rolls. And bacon. And sex."
He punctuated each statement with a step toward her, drawing closer, his eyes locked on hers.
She backed up a step, instinctively putting space between her and the predatory gaze he pinned her with.
His eyes were focused, determined, and dark with need.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and her suddenly wild, hammering heartbeat. That was a mistake.
The intoxicating scent of him flooded her nose, her brain, with heat. She smelled sweat. Not the stinky, gym socks kind of sweat, but the clean, masculine, outdoorsy kind of sweat. The kind that, when mixed with the smell of wood smoke, and sexy male, and desire, raced straight through a woman's defenses, settling not in her bones, but between her thighs.
She blew a breath out harshly, through her nose, trying to clear her brain of the scent of him.
She pulled her eyes from his, trying not to fall into their depths. She looked everywhere but his eyes, glancing, seeking anything else to concentrate on besides the erotic pull of his primal stare.
Also a mistake, she thought shortly.
Her eyes followed every hard plane of his body, taking in the tight curves of muscle in his biceps, grazing the chiseled lines of his wide chest, and pausing for a few heartbeats on his nipples, which for some reason, she had a sudden urge to flick with the very tip of her tongue.
Her eyes were pulled lower, over the washboard abs, and pointed ever south by the trail of dark hair that ended in a thick nest, surrounding the base of an even thicker, fully erect cock.
She stared eye to eye with the first cock pointed at her that she had ever seen in real life. She'd seen a few cocks around the village, and quite a few sets of breasts as well, since all of the shifters were very comfortable naked, but the cocks had either not been standing at attention, or the ones that had been, hadn't been this close up and aimed directly at her.
She looked it over in fascination, only pulling her eyes from it when it jerked toward her during her examination.
She met Elam's eyes again, finally, wishing like hell she wasn't slowly growing an ever brightening shade of red.
She tried to buy some time, with words.
"What do you mean that I smell like...all those things? And that I'm coming into heat?"
"This is your first cycle here, among others like you. We talked about this. Your hormones are changing, the scent of other wolves is altering your cycle. Remember?"
"Yes."
"You've been irritated. Your patience is thin, you've been restless, yes? Something constantly wearing on you?"
"You've just described everyone in the entire pack, every day, since the challenge."
He laughed at that, agreeing with her with an acknowledging smirk.
"But there is more, with you. Your sense of smell is heightened. I saw you scent me, just now. And those smells I mentioned- cinnamon, and sex. Females in heat have a similar scent, to each other, but also a very distinct scent, to themselves. I followed the scent of your arousal. It is stronger now, both because of the enclosed space of the cave, but also because of my nearness. You want me."
"I want you?" She tried to say it sarcastically, mockingly, but it came out with a needy sigh at the end.
A confirmation instead of a question. An invitation instead of a rebuff.
She watched the reaction to her words in his eyes. His pupils widened, his heated gaze somehow shone even brighter.
She noticed other signs as well. His nostrils flared, as he drew the scent of her in deeper, and his jaw clenched as if he was biting back the words he really wanted to