EXTRACT FOR
Tangled In Lies & Feathers
(Arian Wulf)

"There is a woman back home," he says cautiously. "He asked her to marry him and she said no. It's why he's here with us now. He wanted a change in his environment. I suppose he would like a change in everything."



"Is... is it okay for you to tell me this?" she asks. "I think he should be the one to tell me if he wants me to know. It isn't fair to talk about him like this."



"My dear girl," he says calmly. "I am telling you as a warning. Men do stupid things once they've been scorned. I don't want you to be taken advantage of."



"You think," she tilts her head quizzically. "You think he'll try to woo me?" She shakes her head after he continues looking at her all serious. "I doubt he's the kind of man to go after a woman half his age."



He stands to his full height and she is grateful that she is already sitting down. Her legs feel like they've gone weak. "It's sweet of you to trust a man you barely know, but do try to be wary and stop following strangers to their homes," he says all these with a level tone, but he walks towards her with a serious expression and dark eyes that makes her feel like cowering. "Alpha Wolf was right to worry about you," he looms over her, trapping her by resting his hands on either sides of her seat. He looks so dangerous then, but she doesn't feel like she should be running.



She blinks up at him, lips parting slightly. "I can take care of myself," she insists, but there's a tremor in her voice betraying her uncertainty.



"I smelled your scent all over the plantations," he growls low. "Half the town wants to get their hands on you."



It's hard to think when he's so close to her that she can feel his breath again her skin, warm and menacing. Still, there is nothing about his tone that suggest he poses any sort of danger to her.



There is barely an inch between their faces and she's getting a little cross-eyed trying to keep her eyes on his face, but there's nowhere left for her to go. The couch can only sink so deep.



Her hands touch his chest when she brings them up in front of her. She had intended to push him away and put a little distance between them so she can think properly, but she ends up curling her fingers into the lapels of his shirt and tugging him closer. "Are you part of that half?" she doesn't know what possessed her to ask something so narcissistic, but she thinks she would be fine- relieved, in fact, if he said yes.



Instead of answering, he closes the little distance between them. The tips of their noses touch for a second and she thinks he's going to go for another eskimo kiss again, but he does much more than that as his hand finds the back of her her head, tilting her head slightly so he can slot their lips together. It starts of innocently, just a press of lips on lips, and then a soft exhalation from him that makes her part her lips to try and catch his scent, which allows him to dart his tongue in, tasting her deeper.



She makes a noise when his other hand wraps around her back, smoothing across her back where her wings meet her shoulders.



She whimpers when his tongue delves deeper. She's never been kissed like this before. She's never been kissed before. His hands are so large, so strong and powerful as he lifts her up bodily so he doesn't have to bend down so much and she thinks she must be so light to him because he has her all the way to standing and her toes aren't even touching the ground and the only logical place for her hands to be is around his neck.