Scent of Salvation

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sorin hadn’t meant to say anything. The intense storm of emotions Susan had stirred wanted to swallow him whole. He needed to find a place to think, to figure out how to convince his pack to accept her. As he moved away, she whispered his name. It sighed over his body, caressing all the raw edges of his confusion.

She pulled at his neck, tugging him down beside her. Drowsy with exertion, she didn’t have much strength, but her arms might as well have been made of stone. Laying her head on his chest, she moved into his embrace.

He didn’t want to pull away. Her warmth spread over him like a thick blanket of refuge. Staring down at the dark hair fanned over his shoulder and spilling onto the blanket, he was grateful for every moment she spent with him.

What was he supposed to do? He’d never slept alone with a female before. When he used to take lovers, before becoming alpha, he’d leave after sex. Had never felt relaxed enough to stay. Susan was different. He pressed his face into her hair. In many ways.

Wrapping his arms around her, it surprised him how comfortable she fit against his body. He closed his eyes, swallowing as he recalled how her pussy clenched around his cock. Goddess, the sex had been powerful. Nothing he’d experienced so far could compare, and he wanted more. He let her sleep, though.

She was such a caring creature. Honest to the point of being blunt and so secretly sensual. She owned him. He didn’t need a collar and chain to follow her.

What if the portal door opened again? He hugged her tight. Would she leave him? If the pack didn’t depend on him for safety, he’d follow her home. He’d become a stray for her. A strange change had started in him the day they met. He accepted her as his mate. The soul-seizing connection between them made it plain, but she wasn’t a shifter. How did humans bond?

His species tended to fall in love fast. Attraction couldn’t be hidden—the scent was too strong. Eventually a shifter found a lover who matched in more than physical attraction, something deeper that kept them together. They’d give each other a permanent mark and allow their scents to seep under the surface. If a couple slept together long enough, they smelled similar.

He’d like that. Never had he considered anything like this with another female. After killing his father in challenge, everything changed. The Apisi had needed his strength to recover from the repeated abuses they’d suffered. All his energy and thoughts had been focused on them. Somewhere along those first months, he shut down his heart.

Susan was the key that had freed it.

Susan languished against Sorin in silence. Short of an emergency, she never wanted to move again. The hard muscle under her cheek cried of strength yet his thick arms held her tenderly, soothing all her fears. She’d never achieved this level of peace.

Sorin hadn’t stirred since resting his chin on her head but she knew he didn’t sleep. She listened to his heart race and sensed the tension in his muscles.

Running away had been a mistake. She’d almost died and never would have known him in such an intimate way. How she wished things could be different though. That she could be a shifter and be his true alpha mate. Or him a human and they could find a way back to Earth.

In Sorin’s alpha way, he expected everyone in the pack to do as he said and accept her differences. The pack might try but time would show her weaknesses. Her ancestors endured such conditions but not to a ripe old age.

Too bad she couldn’t survive on love alone.