Just a Wolf

Amelia

I am utterly enveloped by him. By his arms, by his scent, by the tingling rush of sensation that floods me the moment that he makes contact with me, by his voice whispering “Mate”. I don’t know who he is, or what he looks like, or anything about him except that he is holding me, because I am his, and he is mine.

“Mate,” I whisper back, not turning around yet, just reveling in this one perfect moment in time. I can tell he feels the same, not in any rush to do anything else, simply savoring this incredible sense of completion, this perfect unity with a total stranger.

I raise my hands and stroke the arms that are holding me, I feel his body pressed against my back, I hear him inhaling with delight as his face is buried in my hair.

I do the same, breathing deeply of his fragrance, feeling that I will never be able to breathe normal air again, knowing that without his scent, I would not want to draw air into my lungs. I realize already, before I know one single thing about him, that I cannot live without him. I am already in too deep.

Finally I turn, within his arms, very slowly. He loosens his hold enough to allow this, but does not let me go. My eyes are right around the level of his throat, where I see a formal tie, and I hesitate before lifting them further to actually see his face. I know it is the face I will love, the face I will see every day for the rest of my life, and I want to prolong the moment in which I first glimpse it.

Slowly, gradually, I lift my gaze. I see his rich brown skin, his sharp jawline covered with a slight growth of stubble, his wonderful full lips lifted in a smile, his flat nose, and then his eyes. Oh, his eyes. His dark, gleaming eyes, filled with emotion, staring down at me with intense love and surprise and adoration. I have never seen that expression in eyes before, and it is so right to see it in his. I can lose myself in these eyes, I can stand here for the rest of eternity, held within his arms, held within his gaze.

I don’t know how long we stand here, paralyzed by our bond, clinging to each other, completely oblivious to anything else. But eventually I begin to realize that there are people around us, that there are many voices speaking, that things exist outside of this microcosm of love we have fallen into.

He realizes it too, and his eyes leave mine for the first time, just for a fraction of a second, as he glances around us. He quickly looks back down at me, and says the first words I have heard him speak, other than the most critical one. “We need to talk,” he says quietly.

I nod, and also glance around myself. Oh yeah, right, it’s the Solstice Ball, and we are surrounded by both of our packs, and this is a very public place. “Yes,” I agree, “but not here.”

He nods, and seems to look around to try to find a better place, adorable man. He has no idea where anything is here in our pack house. He’s going to have to let me guide him. “Follow me,” I tell him, and he immediately complies, easily coming along beside me as I take his hand and quickly edge back through a side door to the ballroom. Everyone is talking at once, clustered in a group around Alpha Kanen, the crowd noisily exuberant. I’ve already performed all of my duties for the evening, so I am sure that nobody is going to notice me missing. I’m pretty sure that nobody has given us a second glance since we found each other, and that not a single person sees us leaving.

I smile at him when we get out of the ballroom, away from the noise, and he trustingly follows me outside, around the edge of the huge building, and through the back door to the basement stairs. He doesn’t seem a bit nervous to be taken along this unusual route. We get to the bottom of the stairway, enter the basement hallway, and I open the first door on the left. My door.

His eyes widen when he sees that I have brought him to my bedroom.