Chapter Sixty

“Do you know what this place is?” Ryder asked, once they have made it into the grotto, turning around so his gaze was now on her, instead of the wonder before him.

Like the first time she had found it, the beauty of the place stole her breath away, as she fixed her gaze on the natural pool of water in front of her.

She watched in awe, as water trickled down from one of the huge rock carvings, falling into the steaming pool.

“No, I don’t,” she responded to his question, without taking her gaze off of the wonder before them. “But,” she began to say, as she trained her gaze on him, a teasing smile on her face. “I have an idea you are going to mansplain it to me anyway.”

Ryder smiled ruefully, before he tugged her towards the towering structures that surrounded the hot spring.

“This is a sacred place for my people, the ones you call the islanders. My ancestors built it back in the day,” he said, as they came to a stop in front of one of the stone carvings, which featured a man and a woman. Even though they were stone replicas, Saffron could see just how defined their characteristics were.

She raised her hand and ran it over the sharp angle of the man’s jaw, before she shifted it back to the eyes of the woman at his side.

“These are Ysa and Locan,” he said as he stepped up behind her, his hands shifting to her waist, as he gripped her in a possessive hold. “They are believed to be the first settlers upon this island, breathing life and prosperity onto it, through their union and their children’s union.”

“Children’s union, huh?” she teased, her gaze shifting towards the other stone carvings that depicted men and women in various stages of passion-filled positions. “Your ancestors must have been really into…” she trailed off, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

“Into what?” Ryder teased, his lips brushing against her cheek as he spoke, the low timbre of his voice sending goosebumps all over her skin.

“You know a secret of mine,” she said, swiftly changing the subject, as she turned around to face him. “Now, tell me one of yours.”

Ryder’s expression was contemplative, as he gazed down at her, his pointer finger drawing circles over the waistband of her pants.

He squeezed her waist once, before he drew back, his hand going over his shirt and tugging it off over his head, in one swift motion.

When his hands fell over his paints to unzip it, Saffron knew that she couldn’t watch any longer.

“Wait!” she yelled, using one of her hands to cover her flaming red face, while she waved at him with the other to stop. “What do you think you’re doing? We haven’t reached that stage in our relationship!”

Ryder paused, a grin splitting up his face, as he registered what she had said.

“So, we are in a relationship?” He teased, as he stalked towards her. When he reached her side, he engulfed the hand she was using to cover her face with his large palm, before he shifted it away, so that it now fell between them, dangling dangerously close to his erection.

“Well… I…” Saffron swallowed, heat rising up on her face once again, as she averted her gaze.

Seconds passed, with no words exchanged between them again, as she tried to formulate back a response to him, which didn’t have her looking more stupid than she already did.

Why had she said that?

She could feel the weight of his gaze on her, and when she couldn’t take it any longer, she glanced back at him, finding him staring down intently at her.

Swallowing, she held his gaze for a few seconds, seconds that felt like a lifetime had passed, as the tension between them pulled taut, leaving no doubt about the truth of what was going on between them.

The heat that blazed in his eyes was an exact replica of the one that blazed in hers too. And beyond the potent desire that swirled between them, there was a tenderness which she had never felt towards anyone, or had anyone feel it towards her. It was intoxicating, and it made her want to curl up into him, and hide away from the rest of the world for as long as she lived.

He cupped her chin with his right hand, when she moved to turn her gaze away, his thumb running over her jaw, before it settled over her bottom lip.

“You want to know my secret?” he asked softly, his gaze fixing on her lips.

When she nodded, he put an inch of distance between them, his hand falling away from her lips, and dropping over the zipper of his trousers.

He began to unzip it slowly, his gaze fixed on hers, as he dared her to watch what he was doing. Dazedly, her eyes fell below his waist, watching the way his finger worked down the zipper.

She swallowed thickly, when he kicked off his booths to the side, before sliding off his trousers down his thighs, leaving him clad in only a black boxer brief that left nothing to the imagination.

Saffron somehow convinced herself not to look beyond the band of his boxer brief, as he stood proudly in front of her, his gaze going over her shoulder.

She followed the line of his sight, and what she saw had her cheeks heating up more.

It was a stone carving of a male and a female, in a passionate embrace, the female’s legs wrapped around the male’s waist, her back arched due to ecstasy, the fringes of her hair barely covering her breasts.

There was a strange rippling in the air that had her gaze snapping back to Ryder. But what she saw had her backing up a step, because in Ryder’s place stood a giant wolf that looked at her with brown eyes that were blazing with heat and passion, making her weak-kneed, even as fear gripped her heart.

His ripped boxer brief laid on the forest ground behind him, as he stalked towards her on all fours, before he transformed back into his human form, a resigned expression on his face, as he parted his lips to speak.

“You are a werewolf just like me, and I think that you are my mate.”