Resisting The Alpha (Werebear Shifter Romance) (The Crane Curse) by Liliana Rhodes Page B

Slowly she began removing folded pieces of paper, a sad smile on her face.
    "What's in there?" Erich asked as he crouched down beside her.
    "Old poems and stories, some drawings. I used to write all the time."
    "Why did you hide them?"
    "One of the nuns found them when I was younger and said they were disgusting and that I should be punished for writing such filth. I was in the eighth grade then and wrote a story about a girl getting her first kiss. After that I hid everything I wrote." She pulled out a drawing of a house and showed it to him. "I was doodling this when I first met Abel. Its one of the Victorians down in Cape May. When he saw my drawing he said he'd buy it for me one day."
    "Did he?"
    She nodded. "It was a gift one year just before the coyote took over for good. He wanted to move in there, but I couldn't. I couldn't leave Leeds."
    "Why not? I'm sure you would've loved it there."
    She shook her head sadly. "Its messed up but I kept hoping she'd come back for me. Even when I was in my twenties, I kept hoping to meet my mother, even now in my thirties..."
    She smiled softly at him feeling like a fool. "What grown woman is attached to a mother she never knew?" she said as she put everything back in the box and carried it out into the hall.
    "I'm sorry," Erich said quietly as he followed her. "I can't imagine how that must have been for you."
    "Maybe I was better off. But deep down all I ever really wanted was a family. Abel became my family, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't his fault, he did everything he could do but I still missed that ideal I created in my head of what a family should be."
    "Have you ever looked for them?"
    "That's what's funny. In all these years I tried to find some kind of records that showed who she was, but the hospital she left me in didn't have anything. The social workers had enough information to let her know when they were removing her rights, but they couldn't give that information to me. I never even knew her name. All I ever had from her was this stupid pendant." She showed him the crane and shrugged, then looked out a window. "Come with me. I just need to see one more thing."
    She climbed out the window and onto a nearby fire escape up to the roof and carefully made her way to the widow's walk. Wrapping her arms around herself she looked out at the quiet town.
    "I used to hide out up here. It was the only place I could get some privacy."
    The wind blew her skirt around and she shivered from the cold. Erich wrapped his arms around her and she pushed him away.
    "You're cold," he said as he tightened his grip around her waist.
    She gave in and leaned against him as she thought about her past and how no matter how far she got from it, it was always right there in front of her. Sighing she let the weight of her body rest against Erich's. He was such a large muscular man, yet whenever he touched her he was gentle. Feeling his hulking frame pressed against her, keeping her warm made her mind wander.
    The wind whipped Erich's hair so it fell across his forehead. Reaching up, Faith pushed his hair back and felt his thick hair between her fingers. His face came down and nuzzled into her neck. His lips felt warm on her skin and sent goosebumps all over her body.
    Without realizing it her skirt slowly lifted, and a cool breeze against her legs reminded her of how much colder it got on the roof than below. Erich's fingers warmed her as they moved up her thigh. His hands so large and strong, yet tender that her body ached from his softest caress. It had been a long time since a man touched her and he felt so different, so much stronger than what she was used to.
    As his fingers slid up her inner thigh she spread her legs hoping for more. Her breath caught as he rubbed the edge of her panties and she silently begged him to push them aside. Slowly she felt the air rush past the warmth of her womanhood as his fingers slipped into the silky fabric. She wanted more, needed it. She could no longer