🩵 Chapter 11: Heat & Hunger
855 Words
Dani
I didn’t expect to feel this raw the next morning.
It wasn’t the s*x—although, holy hell, my thighs still tingled.
It was everything after.
The way he’d wrapped around me like a shield while we slept. The way he’d pulled me tighter when I stirred, whispering things I couldn’t understand in a voice too deep and reverent to question. The way the bond hummed now, even in silence, like his soul had threaded into mine.
I felt… tethered.
And it scared the s**t out of me.
I padded into his kitchen in one of his shirts—big enough to hang halfway down my thighs—and found him already shirtless at the stove, flipping something in a pan.
His back muscles flexed with every movement.
And damn it, my stomach clenched—not just from hunger, but from need.
He looked over his shoulder and froze when he saw me.
His eyes dropped to my bare legs.
Darkened.
“Morning,” he rasped.
“Hey.”
He didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
Just stared.
Then he was in front of me in three long strides, his hand sliding around the back of my neck as he pulled me into a kiss so deep and slow I forgot the air in my lungs.
“I woke up starving,” he murmured against my lips. “But not for food.”
My thighs clenched again.
But I pushed gently on his chest.
“Wait,” I whispered.
He stopped immediately. His brow furrowed. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Just… I need to think. Process.”
His jaw tightened—but he backed away.
And that restraint? That earned him more points than any o****m ever could.
---
Tyson
She looked like s*x and sunlight in my shirt, and it was killing me not to press her against the counter and take her all over again.
But she asked me to wait.
And I’d give her anything.
Even when my bear was pacing like a rabid animal inside me, snarling at the distance between us.
I didn’t want to spook her. Didn’t want to treat her like she was just a body.
Because she wasn’t.
She was the only thing that had ever pulled me out of the shadows.
She was mine.
And if waiting meant she trusted me a little more tomorrow, I’d wait a lifetime.
---
We ate breakfast mostly in silence.
Not awkward—just quiet.
Heavy.
She smiled at me once. It wasn’t full. But it wasn’t afraid either.
Progress.
She told me she had plans with Taylor and Morgan that afternoon. Girl time. She didn’t say “I’ll see you later,” and I didn’t ask.
I just kissed her hand before she left.
And when the door closed behind her, I turned and punched the kitchen wall.
Not because I was angry.
Because I already missed her.
---
Dani
I should’ve felt calm after leaving.
Instead, my body ached for him the whole walk back to the Pack House. Every step away felt like I was peeling off my own skin.
It was insane.
We barely knew each other.
But the mate bond didn’t care about logic. It didn’t care about caution or history. It just was.
And I was completely unprepared for how much I wanted him. Still. Always.
Even now, walking through the Pack House doors, I could smell him—lingering in the halls, embedded in my skin.
I wasn’t just hungry for him.
I was starving.
---
“Girl,” Morgan said the moment she saw me. “You’re glowing.”
Taylor popped her head around the corner. “I knew it!”
Dylan strutted in behind them, holding a smoothie. “Was there penetration? There better have been penetration. My goddess senses are tingling.”
I groaned. “Can we not do this in public?”
“Why not?” Morgan winked. “This is the Pack House. Everyone gets mated here. It’s practically scented with sex.”
Alia entered with a soft smile and a fresh plate of muffins. “Let’s take this upstairs.”
And just like that, I was dragged into the Luna’s quarters with four gleeful friends, two throw pillows, a pair of silk robes, and zero chance of escaping the interrogation.
---
As we sat in a circle with snacks and fluffy blankets, I realized something:
I wasn’t alone in this.
I wasn’t expected to navigate it by myself.
And slowly, cautiously, I began to speak.
About the mate bond.
About Tyson.
About the s*x—some of the s*x.
They laughed, teased, gave advice.
And at some point, I found myself smiling.
Not just because of them.
But because of him.
He hadn’t pushed.
He hadn’t demanded.
He waited.
And that made me want him even more.
---
Tyson
That night, I stood at my window.
Eyes on the tree line.
Wondering if she was thinking about me, too.
I’d wait as long as she needed.
But I wouldn’t be able to hide the hunger forever.
Because with every passing hour…
My restraint was cracking.
- Writer
