Savage Possession (Temple of Luna #1) by Moira Rogers

know.”
    But if he weren’t the king?
    His smooth stride faltered, and he skidded
to a halt, all four paws digging into the loamy earth of the forest
floor. Was that what she wanted, for him to be another warrior,
finished with his service and ready to start a family?
    Avani bounded past him, a small pale wolf
who ran with an excited joy impossible to hide. But she slowed as
the rest of the court thundered past, her paws slipping as she
checked her run and turned to watch him.
    He sat and watched her. If she stayed, maybe
they could talk. Maybe they could figure things out.
    She lunged, fast and surprisingly graceful,
and nipped at his shoulder. Then she took off running back the way
they’d come, angling into the deepest part of the woods.
    He followed her, helpless to do anything
else. The call of the moon sang in his blood, demanding he answer
her challenge. Demanding he cement his claim.
    His long strides overtook hers on the bank
of a small creek running through the grounds. He nipped at her
flank and jumped, twisting to land in front of her. Panting, he
waited.
    The full moon still shone bright over head,
but they’d run for hours already. Avani collapsed to the forest
floor as magic swelled, and began to shift. With power thick in the
air already the change flowed over her, leaving her naked and
panting softly on the forest floor, her cheek pillowed on her arm
as she watched him.
    His own change stole over him in a maddening
rush of magic and lust. “Stand up, Avani.”
    He could smell her arousal, knew the rush of
the change and the call of the moon would touch her, too. She
smiled and came slowly to her knees. “I don’t know if my legs will
hold me.”
    Rais dragged her up and held her against
him. “Do you hate the man I’ve become?”
    Her eyes widened. “Of course not.”
    He slid his hand into her hair and urged her
head back. “Then why is my mother trying to find you a mate who
isn’t me?”
    She wet her lips, the gesture nervous. “You
told me not to compromise my decision for you. I have decided I
will never take a mate for love unless it is mutual love. A mating
of practicality would be far preferable to loving you while you
tolerate me because you made a vow in haste and find me
lacking.”
    “ I don’t find you lacking,”
he told her hoarsely, drawing her hips closer to his. “I nearly
challenged my own cousin over you.”
    “ You barely know me,” she
countered even as her body pressed tight to his. “Perhaps it was
unfair to ask you to fall in love with me first. We’re at war, and
there are more important things than my heart at stake.”
    Her full lips called to him, and he shook
his head to clear it. “You don’t think I could love you.”
    “ I don’t know.” She’d
submitted to him gleefully in the bedroom, but he’d never in his
life seen the brittle vulnerability that filled her eyes as she
stared up at him. “Could you?”
    Could he? She was a gentle
soul, kind and thoughtful, and he’d never heard her say a cross
word to anyone but him. “I could, if you let me in. If I let you in.” He touched her face. “If we
both stop fighting it.”
    She closed her eyes. “When you left me, it
wasn’t because I wasn’t...enough?”
    “ No, Avani.” Rais kissed
her forehead, her cheeks. Her mouth. “You gave me so much. Almost
everything.”
    “ Almost?” It was barely
more than a whisper against his lips.
    “ Almost.” He laid his hand
over her heart and caught her mouth again, this time urging it open
to slip his tongue inside. She tasted like wine, and moaned when
his tongue found hers.
    She kissed him hard, hard enough that her
teeth scraped his lower lip before she pulled back with a gasp.
“Tell me what you want.”
    “ I want you for my mate.”
He lifted her into his arms and laid her out on the cool grass.
“I’ll give it all up if that’s what you want. I’ll just be Rais,
and you won’t have to worry about the court.”
    Her eyebrows drew together