Chapter 10: The Night Before

The cabin stood where the two territories met, on a bend of the river.

A rusted bridge lay on one side of it and nothing but pines on the other.

Rosalind had never been inside it.

She had seen the smoke from its chimney for twelve years and never asked whose it was.

It was Hamish's, and he had left the door unlocked.

The Blood Moon Gathering was tomorrow.

Every Alpha in the mountains would be in Echo Hall by noon.

She had a speech in her sleeve that Jessamy had written for her.

She stood in his doorway at ten at night, in her coat, with her heart going like a drum.

He was at the stove with his sleeves pushed up, and he turned around slowly.

He didn't say anything clever.

He just set the kettle down.

"You said you'd wait," she said.

"I did."

"I'm done with waiting for one night."

He crossed the room and stopped an inch from her.

"I won't ask you for a thing, Rosalind," he said, low. "Not tonight. Not after."

"I'll ask," she said. "I'm asking for everything."

His breath left him in a rush.

She took his face in her hands and kissed him.

It was nothing like the ridge.

There was no rock at her back and no thought of law.

He kissed her, and her coat hit the floor.

His shirt came off over his head.

She put her palms flat on his chest and felt his heart slamming against them.

He was broad and scarred and warm, with a dusting of sandy hair that thickened toward his belt.

She had not looked at a man in twenty years.

She looked now.

"Rosalind." His voice was gravel. "Tell me where."

"The bed."

He lifted her and carried her through the dark room.

The mattress was wide and the quilt smelled of pine.

He laid her down, and his mouth found her collarbone.

Then it found her breast through her blouse, and the soft skin under her ribs.

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