Sorcha's Wolf by Billi Jean

mouth though, she shrugged.
    “Whatever, think what you want, but you might want to ask yourself why on Earth I’d get hot for a man who’s done nothing but insult, hurt and threaten me since I met him.”
    With a growl, he jumped off her and reached for her hand, bringing her to her feet abruptly. Her legs almost gave out. Lust still trembled through her body, a body that was not so on board with her bravado as she was. But it seemed to work on Alex.
    “Fine, witch. You tell yourself that,” he said, breathing heavily against her throat, “but your postman didn’t get you moaning like that, did he?”
    Whoa . She wanted to moan at how sexy that was, but forced herself to laugh, somewhat shakily and say, “Ha, you’ve obviously not seen him. Beefcake .”
    He snorted and she thought for a moment he might actually laugh, but he shook his head and stalked off, throwing over his shoulder that she’d better get ready, they were moving out.
    She glanced at the moonless sky. “What? I just got up and—”
    “If you don’t want to relieve this stress, then I suggest you move your pretty little ass.”
    She froze. Pretty little ass, huh? That was new. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t relieving his stress . He was her mate, damn it.
    Several different spells for harming a man’s manhood came to mind, but without her magic all the knowledge in the world wasn’t going to help.
    The wolf had best watch out because when it was time for her next nasty dose, she was giving him a spell that would make him itch for something all right, and it wouldn’t be for any kind of release!
    She turned away from watching him gather their things—correction, his things—and headed to where she could hear a stream bubbling along, not caring one bit if he liked it or not. She heard him following her as soon as she knelt and washed her hands and face off. She ignored him and watched as her hands trembled. She tried to make them stop, but after a few moments, she fisted them to stop the shaking.
    The pain she’d endured had caused this. That and the memories she’d worked to forget.
    When the pain had struck, she’d felt as if her insides were burning, slowly grilling over a fire she couldn’t see. The agony had been so horrible she’d begged for it to stop. Only no one had heard her.
    No one that is, except for the angry wolf towering over her.
    “Enough. You’re clean. We need to move.”
    He didn’t wait for her to get to her feet, but bent and gripped her arm, pulling her up effortlessly. Not that she struggled. He’d saved her life. Well, he’d also endangered it, but still, after she tossed him, he could have left her. Or worse, simply kept the antidote from her.
    “Why did you come back for me?” Her voice sounded rough.
    At first, he didn’t answer and she assumed he wouldn’t. He surprised her when he muttered, “I didn’t come back for you—I went after you when you shoved me off the mountain.”
    Did he sound pissed off at that? No. For some reason he sounded like he admired her, as if she’d amazed him.
    “Come.” He turned and simply expected her to follow. She did, too tired and freaked to protest. He handed her a packaged sandwich—turkey and cheese—and tossed water on the fire, stomping it with his big boots until it died out. She missed the warmth immediately.
    “Eat that, we need to move, we’ll be late if we don’t hurry.”
    Was he talking to her? She blinked and puzzled out what he’d said. No insult, no threat, nothing but simply talking to her. What happened here? Something had, something that felt like an easing between them. Why?
    She cautiously cleared her throat then said, “Late?”
    “Aye, late for my revenge.”
    Ah, go figure . “Ah, your revenge. Against this Zith person.”
    Alex merely kept going, as usual, she thought, back to ignoring her. She unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite, chewing it quickly and swallowing. Her stomach felt so empty she thought she could