I shivered from that realization, and although I’d seen many pack members change into their animals, had seen them fight in aggression and for supremacy with each other, this felt… different at every turn.
He still didn’t answer, and I took that moment to just examine him, to see if I could tell just by looking at Tucker how to gauge the situation.
Although he looked as normal as the other males in the pack on any given day, with his massively tall body, his broad shoulders, and his muscular arms and chest, there was still something off about him.
All the males in the Black Wolf Pack were built almost the same in height and weight, with subtle variations between them. All over six and a half feet tall, heavy, defined muscles, and testosterone that went on for days to the point they acted more like cavemen than civilized shifters.
But I noticed subtle things—changes—with Tucker. He kept clenching and relaxing his hands that hung at his sides. His head was downcast slightly, his eyes trained right on me. I could see his elongated canines, as if his wolf was right there at the surface.
I could tell he was breathing harder by the movement of his chest rising and falling. Instinctively, I took a step back, something telling me this was not the Tucker I’d become accustomed to within the pack. The male I knew was easygoing when need be, and stoic on most other occasions.
This Tucker was slightly unhinged.
But even thinking this, feeling and knowing it, I wasn’t afraid of him but of the situation and how the emotions suddenly slammed around in my body. I felt like I was burning up, and beads of sweat dotted my brow. My hands shook, this heat filling my veins at such a monumental pace I was sucking in gasps of air to try to combat the dizzying feeling moving through my head.
And then Tucker took another step closer, and one more. I was rooted to the spot, wanting him to come even closer. Needing him to take me in his arms and do whatever he wanted to me.
God... whatever he wanted.
“Tucker?” I whispered again, but it was husky in tone, needy, and very clearly arousal-laced.
There was this low rumble that surrounded me, and the longer I stood there, the louder it became. It was then I realized it was coming from him, the male now standing right in front of me.
His eyes positively glowed, and I exhaled slowly, realizing I’d been holding my breath this entire time.
That monumental shift grew, the same sensation I’d felt the moment I turned nineteen. It was that connection in my brain and body that told me exactly why I seemed to light up whenever I even thought about Tucker.
My body was waking up, because it knew who and what this male was to me.
“My mate,” Tucker growled, and then he curled his hand around my nape, jerked me forward, and slammed his mouth down on mine.
4
Tucker
My mate.
She was sweet and soft and absolutely fucking perfect.
And as I kissed her, stroked her lips with my tongue—loving how she gasped from my touch—I knew coming here had been the right move.
I knew following her home, stalking her, and saying fuck going slow had been what I was supposed to do.
She was mine, and I was hers, and this was meant to happen.
I felt her hands on my chest and groaned at how good her touch felt. I was spiraling out of control, my desire so feverish I was burning up from it.
I tightened my hands on her hips and pulled her against my body even more, hearing a shocked sound leave her at no doubt the feeling of my rock-hard cock against her belly. I purred low in pleasure at that, my shaft jerking behind the zipper of my jeans.
I started moving her backward, the startled sound coming from her getting eaten up by my lips and tongue. Her back pressed against the front door, and I deepened the kiss as much as I could, frantic and lost in the sensation of her, in the feel of her. Her flavor made me crazed and had my inner animal pacing with pent-up desire.
The vivid images in my mind showed me what to do. Or maybe it was my own selfish desires wanting to devour her like the big bad wolf I was.
“Tell me, Mia. Tell me you feel this powerful connection, the mating pulling us irrevocably together. Admit it’s stripping away your very sanity until you’re left with a bone-deep need just for me. Only for me.”
She moaned softly, her breathing picking up, the scent of her arousal saturating the air between us. I was growing drunk off of it, dizzy from the sweetest aroma I’d ever had the pleasure of scenting.