Chapter 203: Crave for her

Still jiggling, Elena lowered her hands and let the lizard go. It scampered across the patio and dove into one of the hedges at the base of the stone wall around us.

"We were you scared of the lizard?" she asked.

"Of course not," I scoffed, curling my fingers around the knot on my tie to straighten it out. The corner of my mouth was still curled up, hearing the breathy laughter coming from her sweet lips.

There was something about that sound, it brushed against the edges of my control. My senses, sharper than they should ever be around a human, picked up the faint rhythm of her heartbeat and the soft rush of her blood. It called to something primal in me.

"You're home early today. I'm making soup for dinner." She braced her hands on her knees to get up. Without a second thought, I swooped down, wrapped my arms under her arms, and lifted her up.

The movement was effortless. Too effortless. I had to remind myself to slow down, to mask the unnatural strength that hummed beneath my skin.

"I saw the soup," I said as soon as she was upright and against my chest. Her small hands braced my shoulders as she gaped up at me with a hint of pink growing on her cheeks.

"You're doing too much, Elena. You should be resting." I brushed back a stray strand of her golden hair behind her ear, enjoying the softness of her skin when I traced my fingers along her jaw. The wolf in me stirred at her nearness, her warmth, her scent, the way her breath trembled when she looked at me. She was shivering against me, and I wondered if it was because of the chilly nip in the air or something else entirely.

"Oh! It has been two weeks since the accident, Andrey. I can't sit around all day. I will go crazy," she argued, pressing her face into my chest.

When she nuzzled up to me like this, I wanted to give her the world. My instincts rumbled with approval, mine to protect, mine to care for. The word mine echoed in the depths of me, where the wolf waited, patient but restless.

The accident. That’s what she called it. Elena refused to refer to it as anything else and she didn’t really talk about it much since the night we came back to my place.

It was the night my former assistant, Harriet, shoved Elena down a flight of marble stairs in a fit of jealousy. All because Harriet and I had fooled around in the pack in the past and she believed there was more to our working relationship than there really was. More than there ever would have been between us.

When Elena came into my life and we signed our illicit contract, I knew there would be no one else but her. Everything that happened that night was my fault, and the guilt was weighing me down no matter how sincerely Elena told me it wasn’t.

I promised Elena that she was mine, and while she was mine, I would take care of her. That night, seeing her fall and the bruises on her perfect skin, I knew I had failed her. How could she look at me the way she did now? Her big blue eyes were like a clear ocean I could drown in, and there was something akin to adoration in that gaze.

The deeper I fell into her stare, the more I could feel the thrum of my wolf pressing against the inside of my skin. That endless hunger. That need for her, the only human who somehow quieted the beast in me.

Her fall had scared me, and I could admit that to myself. If those stairs had been any taller or she had fallen the wrong way... I might have lost her. That opened a dark pit in my chest, and I needed to stay away from those thoughts and the ones that would follow if I lingered on them too long.

A heavy exhale left me as I caressed my hands up and down her back, grounding myself in the familiar rhythm of her breathing. “I don’t want you to go crazy, Elena, but if you want to go to the ballet, then you need to focus on your recovery.”

Despite the ballet, I was getting so used to coming home to her presence every day that I wouldn’t mind if she never went back. It was selfish to want to keep her, but my hunger for her had yet to be sated. Each little taste was addictive and kept me coming back for more.

"I know and I do," Elena tilted her head back to look into my eyes, batting those long dark lashes at me and sending me head over heels. "The doctor said my ankle wasn't as bad as they first thought. Guess I have strong bones."

Her laugh that followed was forced, and I knew why. She did miss the dance studio and the stage.

It made the local news when the Prima ballerina of New York City was pushed down a flight of marble stairs at an event and her spot was given to her understudy. Surprisingly, Elena Hayes smiled through it all. Nevertheless, I could see the shadows that followed behind her back.

All she wanted was to dance, and thanks to me that was temporarily taken from her.

"That's good to hear. You’ll be back on the stage as the Swan Queen in no time." I poked the tip of her nose, enjoying the adorable way she scrunched up her face at me. The scent of her laughter filled the air, intoxicating and warm. My wolf stirred again, low and pleased.

"I must insist you take it easy. Chasing lizards and moving around on your feet to make dinner won’t help you heal any faster."

"But you’re not here to carry me all day, Andrey," she cooed. The tone changed in her voice as she smirked up at me, and it made me do a double take. I felt her shift, tightening her arms around my ribs. I caught sight of her luscious full lip as she tugged it between her teeth.

That small movement sent a flash of heat through me. My instincts sharpened, my pulse synced with hers for a beat too long, and I had to draw in a deep breath to keep the wolf silent.

"You know I would too, baby. Don’t you?" I asked, hearing the rasp in my voice as it lowered to meet her energy. A growl nearly slipped into the words, but I swallowed it down.

She slightly nodded in response. My hand went under her chin and her breath hitched. Using my pointer finger, I lifted up her face and lowered mine to meet her. Closing the distance, I captured her lips before she could say anything else.

First kissing her top, then bottom lip. I opened my mouth and she matched my movement. I slid my tongue along her lip, feeling her breath quicken against my mouth when I teased the tip of her tongue with mine.

Then I closed my lips over hers, our tongues tangling as we savored the taste of each other after being apart all day.

The scent of her skin filled me, sweet, human, and maddening. Beneath it, I could feel my wolf rumbling low in contentment, claiming her in silence. She would never know what she did to me, how she tamed the beast that had once only known blood and command.

And in that moment, under the soft evening air, she was the only calm my wolf ever craved.