Star Cursed (Zodiac Wolves #2)(35)

I tossed the shirt to the side after I was fairly certain there wasn’t any dirt in the wound, and then glanced up at Kaden. His eyes were dark on mine, unreadable, and I held his gaze as I slowly lowered myself onto my knees. Kaden’s nostrils flared, and he looked away sharply. Being this close to him, bare as the day he was born, made my senses go wild, along with my wolf. Kaden's smell filled my nose, and it didn’t escape my notice that I was naked too, or that the last time we’d been in this state was when I'd gone into heat.

I closed my eyes and focused. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted by how hot Kaden was, or how much I wanted him. When I was I was fairly sure I had myself under control I opened my eyes and didn’t glance back up at Kaden again. I could feel the heavy weight of his gaze on me anyway, prickling at the top of my head, as I lowered my mouth to his hip.

I started at the bottom of the wound and licked the area right below it. Kaden’s muscles rippled under my tongue, reacting to the touch almost instantly, and I heard him suck in a sharp breath. I chased his flinching skin, pressing my tongue flat against it. It was salty, the tang of iron overriding any natural taste I might have gotten had he not been bleeding, but not unpleasant. I wasn’t sure how exactly to do this, and the last time it had been done to me, I’d been too distracted to remember the exact motions Kaden had used.

Almost immediately, the wound seemed to close up beneath my tongue, and I continued my work, slowly but surely healing the entire area. When his breathing became more labored, I looked up to find Kaden’s head tipped back, exposing the long line of his bare throat, and his hands balled up into fists at his sides. The muscles in his forearms stood in stark relief from how tightly he was holding himself back, but he couldn't stop his cock from hardening and growing. It was so close to my tongue, which now traced lazy circles across Kaden's hip, that I debated taking a detour. I'd never sucked anyone's cock before, but I desperately wanted to try it with him.

When Kaden's wound was healed, I pulled back and gazed up at him, waiting to see if he would stop me. Lust clouded his eyes, and I smelled his need in the air, mixing with the scent of my own. My hands rested on his thighs, feeling the strength in them. When I swallowed, his eyes tracked the movement of my throat, and he drew in a sharp breath. It thrilled me, knowing he wanted me even when I wasn't in heat, and with the last sparks of adrenaline running through my blood, I felt completely wild. I began to lick my way up along his hip, then higher, tracing the hard planes and valleys of his abs, unable to stop now that I'd started. He'd never let me touch him like this before, not even when I was in heat. Just when I was about to circle one of his nipples with my tongue, he grabbed my arms and yanked me to my feet.

“As much as I like you kneeling in front of me, this is not the time for that," he said. "We need to get out of here."

I nodded, knowing he was right, and licked my lips, tasting him on them. "I told you I'd be the one healing you someday," I said, my voice breathless.

"You did a good job, especially for your first time." He inspected his hip. "I never should have doubted you."

I pressed my hand to his chest, staring into his eyes, my blood hot as it raced through my veins. "No, you shouldn't have."

We weren't just talking about the healing now, and we both knew it. Kaden met my gaze with a smolder of his own, his chest rising and falling as if he'd just run a mile. Then he yanked me against him, pressing our naked bodies together, and kissed me, hard. The shock of his lips on mine quickly gave way to pleasure and need, and I let out a little whimper as he opened my mouth wider and slid his tongue across mine. His kiss was rough and demanding, and I melted against his body, my hands sliding along his thick neck, feeling his hard cock wedge between my thighs.

My body answered, remembering his smell, the weight of his body against mine, and the unimaginable pleasure we'd shared between us. One of my legs lifted to wrap around him, getting his cock closer to where I needed him. Kaden’s hands tightened around my shoulders and I gasped, thinking he might take me right there against the wreckage of our car, with the bodies of our enemies at our feet. We were still high from our victory and the thrill of battle, the lust for blood and sex urging us on. I wanted nothing more than to feel Kaden’s cock inside me, to reassure myself that he was still alive and that he was mine.

But then his hands shifted position and he shoved me back. "Ayla, we can't do this."

"You're right, we should at least go into the trees so no one will see us if they drive past." I couldn't think why else he would stop this when we both obviously wanted it so much. My nipples were hard in the cool night air, straining toward Kaden, along with every other inch of me too, and he definitely noticed.

"No." He looked away and raked a hand through his hair. "You're still mated to someone else. It doesn't matter that he's your brother—you're still not mine."

His words were like a sharp blow to my stomach. I actually stepped back, so hurt by them, and it took me a second to realize why—because in my head, Kaden was mine, and I was his, even without a mate bond between us. But why would I expect him to feel the same? Especially when I technically belonged to someone else?

Kaden leaned into the car and rooted around inside until he emerged with some clothes. I watched as he threw on pants and a t-shirt in quick succession. Then he turned back to the car to find his shoes, which he dragged out of the wreckage.