Read A Wolfish Tryst at Christmas for Free Online

For however
long they had together.
    Elizabeth stirred and a gentle sigh
escaped. Blake immediately moved off her, rolling onto his side.
She snuggled against him, her cheek on his hairy chest and one hand
resting on his flat stomach. “Is it always like this?”
    He held her tight and pressed a kiss
into her hair. “The sensations you experienced will be the same,
but I won’t mark you the next time.” He leaned into her and licked
her wound, tracing it with his tongue. “It will heal by this time
tomorrow due to the special wolfish enzymes in my
blood.”
    “ Oh.” Unaccountable
disappointment built in her chest.
    “ Why does this sadden
you?”
    “ I thought it might be a
part of you I could see and remember while you were gone. Will you
transform into your animal for me?”
    “ Not tonight. And
certainly not before we’re married. The mark is enough for
now.”
    “ Oh.” She levered up on
one elbow. “What does the bite mean?”
    Blake smiled. The lines of exhaustion
and stress in his expression fled. As he stroked the side of her
face, tingles danced over her skin. “It means that you belong to
me. That my wolf recognizes you as its mate and claims you as his.
You’re mine, Lizzie.”
    Her vision blurred with tears. “I’m
glad you did that. It makes me feel needed and cherished. I can
scarcely believe what we’ve done tonight.” No man had ever cared so
much for her. Some might think what he’d done to her as odd or even
brutal, but she thought it special. How would she survive without
him now that she’d known such wonder in his arms?
    “ I… I wouldn’t mind
experiencing that mark again, and I definitely want to have—” she
lowered her voice to a whisper even though he and she were the only
ones in the room. “—relations with you again.”
    His chuckle sent delight through her
body. “I’ll bear that in mind.”
    “ Blake…” Time flew too
fast. He’d soon leave and she’d barely gotten reacquainted with
him. Panic replaced the flutters in her stomach.
    He brushed the pad of his thumb along
her quivering bottom lip. “I will come home. I promise.”
    Some of the anxiety left at his touch.
“I know you will, and I’ll be waiting for you.” She could do no
less. He was her world. “I just wish—” She stopped her thought. He
didn’t need to hear her selfish complaint.
    “ Lizzie?” He caught a tear
on her cheek and wiped it away.
    “ Yes?” She tucked her
emotions deep at the back of her mind. There would be time enough
to dwell on them later, when she was alone. For him she needed to
be strong.
    “ I love you.” He covered
her lips with his, moving gently, as if it were his way of saying
goodbye without words—as if he couldn’t say the words. When he
allowed her to breathe, he said, “That will never change, no matter
how much distance separates us or how much time passes before we
see each other again.”
    Elizabeth pressed a kiss to his chest
then rubbed her cheek over his skin, wanting to remember what he
smelled like. Her body hummed with happiness. “I love you too.” She
settled against his side and wrapped her arms around him. “Never
forget what we mean to each other, Blake.”
    “ I won’t. You’re in my
heart, my soul, and I’m in yours.”
    “ Will you stay here at the
house for a bit?” She glanced at the window. Snow drifted down in
fat flakes and made lacy patterns on the walls with the moonlight.
The perfect picture of a Christmas Eve night. Emotion clogged her
throat. At least she’d gotten to share this time with
him.
    “ For a little while. I
don’t need to depart Corydon for an hour or so.” Blake left her
long enough to pull a knitted afghan over them. He took her left
hand in his, a forefinger stroking her ring finger. “I’ll put my
ring on your finger before I go.”
    “ Oh Blake.” She hugged him
tighter. How lucky was she to share such intimate moments with
him?
    “ As soon as I return,
we’ll be married. I refuse to wait