A love temple.
I turned from the altar, my heart still racing from the run, searching for the stairwell. Instead, I found a ladder leaning against an open trapdoor. Human voices echoed on the street, and I rushed to the ladder, scurrying up it. I pulled the folding accordion steps up behind me and gently closed the latch, sealing the second floor. Crouching under the steep, angled beams, I moved to the center where I could stand. I paced toward the front, eyes scanning for Grae.
“Here, little fox,” he whispered.
I stepped into a dusty cupboard where Grae peered out the oval window, his back against the far wall, ensuring no one could see him from the street. I tucked in against the other side so the moonlight didn’t hit me as I watched the vacant square.
“Did you shut the trapdoor?” Grae murmured.
“Obviously,” I said, giving him a look, and he had the grace to look embarrassed at the dumb question.
I looked around the room. Baskets lined the walls, filled with candles, dried lavender, and incenses used in their human ceremonies. Affixed above the doorway was a bronzed piece of art—four naked bodies intertwined, though the way they were carved, it was difficult to tell what sex they were.
“That was a nice touch, the inn thing,” Grae murmured, keeping his voice low even though the Silver Wolves were far out of earshot now. “I’m impressed.”
“I didn’t want them to go searching the wagon or start looking for the others,” I whispered, looking back at the shelves. “Of course you picked a love temple to hide in.”
Grae tipped his head toward the charcoal sketch nailed to the shelf. “The Goddess of Love and Carnal Desires,” he murmured.
The simple drawing depicted the Goddess with a swollen belly and large breasts, one hand on her womb, one lifted to the sky. I wondered if one of the human acolytes had drawn it, something they could look upon with fondness as they worked in the temple.
“Carnal desires,” I huffed, looking back out the window. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For driving a wedge between you and your pack.” I folded my arms, leaning further into the rough wall. “Aiden seemed like your friend and I—”
“This was a long time coming.” Grae crossed his arms in a mirror to my posture. “I wish I had stood up to my father sooner, but I was afraid of what he might do . . .” His hooded eyes regarded me, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold his stare. “But seeing as you’re determined to put yourself in danger anyway,” he said. “There’s nothing holding me back anymore.”
I considered those words. He was holding back for me and my safety. There was more there, but something told me I shouldn’t push it any further. Not just yet.
His eyes lingered on my face, heat filling them, and the memories of that moment in the pub pulsed through me—how just the feeling of his hand on my knee had made me melt like candle wax. Grae released his arms, balling his hands into fists as he broke our gaze.
I let out a frustrated sigh. The cloying scent of incense and lavender tugged on my desire, probably designed to do exactly that, making me overcome again that building need. The Goddess of Carnal Desires was taunting me.
“What?” Grae asked as I released yet another loud breath.
“Nothing,” I said, glancing back at his stunning, sharp features. “It just looked for a second there like you wanted to kiss me.”
His eyes were the color of distant fires in the dark night sky, the brown more like a hint of the deepest red. “I had more wicked things on my mind.”
“Oh?” I panted, feeling that sweet dizziness cloud my thoughts. “And what made you not act on them?”
“I was thinking.” His voice was a predatory growl. “I was wondering how much of me is a man and how much a beast.”
“Is that so?”
“Careful,” he warned, dimples disappearing as his lips parted. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“What if I want to?” I didn’t sound like myself anymore. A siren’s song laced my words, determined to beckon his lips to mine.
“Calla—”
“What if I want you to stop acting like a man and start acting like a beast?”
My words unleashed him. He prowled toward me, his hand wrapping under my jaw as he shoved me against the wall. Before I could gasp, his lips crashed into mine, his chest pinning me in place. My groaning yes was muffled against his lips as his tongue dipped into my mouth in a hot, feverish kiss. His mouth was craving and wild as he plundered my own, his body molding into mine from shoulders to knees so tightly I didn’t know where he ended and I began. The muscles in my core fluttered, desperate, as I ground into him, aching for more friction, for more of him.