Weregirl Read Online Free PDF Page B

Seven
     
    The dojo is already closed, as I knew it would be. I keep moving, circling around to the side and the fire escape climbing to the third floor. I climb gently but quickly, avoiding the squeaks in the old metal stairs, the familiar places where the treads might protest my ascent. My fingers already seek the key in my back pocket, the key Sage gave me long ago, after our first night together. The night air is fresh here, though filled with the smells of civilization, unlike my quite forest home. My nose quivers at the mix of aromas carried to me on the evening breeze. It takes me but a moment in a low crouch to undo the padlock on the narrow door at the top and slip silently inside.
    It’s dark, but my eyes adjust the moment I pass into the lightless room, the wolf in me seeing clearly after a blink or two. I hear and smell him before my eyes settle on the bed in the corner of the room, old memory and habit leading me forward into a ray of moonlight falling through the single window.
    Sage sleeps, the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest even, peaceful. Faint green light casts odd shadows across his cheek from the steady glare of his alarm clock. One of his arms lies over his head on the pillow, bare skin of his torso exposed, one foot dangling outside the covers. The smell of him fills the room, flooding my senses, making it hard to breathe, to focus. So delicious, a perfect match for mine.
    I almost hate to wake him, to deliver this terrible news I’ve brought to shatter his hopes for us. The coward in me longs to creep out the door and be gone from this place, while my wolf begs me to instead slip under the covers beside him, lay my head on his chest, listen to the steady beat of his faithful heart.
    But I can’t. I’ve made my decision. Why didn’t I turn him away long ago? Because I feel for him as he feels for me. I smell it on him even now, wonder if he dreams of me as the aftertaste of his emotions flavors his scent.
    The words won’t come, my body held frozen as I hover there, enjoying the moment, drawing him to me with my eyes even if I can’t with my arms. My mouth is dry, heart beating oddly, off kilter as though pleading with me to reconsider. My wolf whines softly, wanting things to be different, logic and practicality forgotten as I stand and watch him sleep.
    I have to go. That’s it, then, the only choice. I’ll just leave. Maybe send him a letter, apologizing for being so cowardly as to end things long distance. But the more seconds that tick by, the more I know it will be impossible for me to let him go if he wakes.
    He does, just as I’m about to turn, to run away from the longing of my soul. I feel him stir, knowing I’m too late, now truly unable to leave. Sage’s eyes open, his muscular chest rising and stopping as he holds his breath at the sight of me. A smile breaks across his face, hands rising, body leaning toward me, beckoning for me to join him.
    I have to flee. I can’t allow my need to win over my duty.
    “Charlie.” I hate that nickname, but his voice makes it a caress. My will crumbles and I can’t stop myself. I’m tumbling onto the bed, on top of him, my mouth locking with savage desire on his, the heat of his bare skin under my hungry hands.
    Hands that know exactly what I need. And Sage is more than happy to comply.
    ***
    His fingertips trace the line of my side over my bare skin, across my arm and up to my shoulder. I can’t open my eyes, refuse to look at him, to be caught in his endless, devouring gaze. If I can only just hold still and wait for him to sleep, I will slip away and never, ever return.
    How deceitful I am to myself. My wolf growls her disapproval while my mind churns and my body aches for more of Sage.
    “Charlotte.” He knows something is wrong, his scent altering to worry, anxiety as his hand falls to my cheek. “Look at me.”
    He had to ask that of me! I finally open my eyes, letting my gaze settle on his muscular shoulder.
    “Love,”