Nalini Singh - Caressed by Ice

Her face filled with tenderness. “I was afraid you wouldn’t…that you’d get freaked out at seeing me as a wolf. Then you told me I was perfect, that I had no ‘errors.’” The last word was a tease.

He was incredibly glad his response had reassured her, even though he’d misunderstood the reason for her worry. “You are.” He held her with one arm and ran the other over her thigh to curve around her bottom. “And you’re naked.”

Her eyes went huge. “My clothes!” She looked around as if expecting them to reappear by magic, though the shift process had disintegrated them. “What am I going to do?”

He felt his lips twitch.

She hit his shoulder with one small fist. “This is not funny!”

“I think you look delectable naked.” He kissed her chin. “Of course, I’d have to kill anyone else who dared put their eyes on you.”

“I can’t walk through the den like this!” she wailed.

He’d noticed that—no matter how blasé they were about nudity otherwise, the wolves followed strict rules in the den about being clothed. The pups were the single exception. “For such a smart wolf,” he murmured against her lips, “you’re betraying a distinct lack of logic.”

“Logic?” She scowled but kissed him back.

“Mmm.” He squeezed her bottom. “Shift. Wear your fur.” That was acceptable behavior. Soldiers often lost access to clothing and had to return in animal form.

Her mouth fell open. “Oh.” A sigh whispered through her whole body. “I’m going to have to get used to this all over again.”

“You’re welcome to forget the clothing anytime you like.”

“Thanks. But you don’t get a vote—you lust after my body.” Her teeth nipped at his lower lip. “Why do you think it came back now?”

“Maybe it was time—you were ready for it.”

She gave him a sweet kiss. “I think you helped with that. Made me understand that my soul hadn’t been destroyed by that monster. That I survived in every way.”

He didn’t agree. She was the one who’d fought to reclaim her life. “Your courage amazes me.”

“And your love makes me whole.” She made her confession without shame.

He wanted so much to say it back but the words stuck in the fading grip of Silence. He’d never be easy saying love words.

Her lips brushed his. “I know, baby. I can feel you loving me deep inside.”

Judd figured he must’ve done something right along the way. How else could a rebel Arrow have earned the right to call this amazing woman his own? Even if it was a mistake, too damn bad. He was never giving her up.

In the psychic plane of the LaurenNet, a wave of love traveled in every direction, emanating from a bond that was not Psy but changeling, a bond that tied an assassin to a wolf, a bond that was…unbreakable.