Lily reached up to touch Simon's face, and he flinched.
"Don't touch me," he growled.
Yet she persisted. Her hand cupped his cheek. Her thumb brushed across his bottom lip. And Simon gave up control. He allowed the beast to take over.
The pain of the transformation was miniscule compared to the pain in his heart. For he knew that when he showed her his true self, when he came to her in Lycan form, she would turn from him in disgust.#p#分页标题#e#
Simon lifted his face to the moon and basked in the light of the night. He dropped to his hands and knees before her and let her watch as his hands became paws with long, black claws, so sharp they dug into the soft, wet earth. Simon watched her face as she watched his. He knew his nose would elongate and his ears would move to the top of his head and become pointy. He'd seen his brothers and others of their kind change. It was a quick process. Yet tonight, it seemed to happen so slowly.
When he was fully Lycan, he stood before her, his face level with hers. He wanted to shout, "Go home! Go to safety!" But now all he could do was whimper. So, he did.
Then the little fool reached a hand toward him. She reached those tiny little fingers out as though she wanted to touch him. Hadn't her mother ever taught her not to touch wild animals?
Simon bared his teeth and growled.
Lily's hand stilled, hanging in the air in mid-reach. He growled again. There, he thought. That is what I am. I am fur and snout and teeth and bite. I am Lycan. I am not human.
Simon closed his eyes and sat very still. He hoped that, when he opened them, she would be long gone. She would come to her senses and leave him. But even more than that, he closed his eyes because he didn't want to see the revulsion on her face he knew would be there. He knew she wouldn't be able to accept him as he was.
Then she touched him. His eyes flew open, and he bared his teeth. He snarled. He would bite her if she wasn't careful.
"There, now," she whispered as a tear slipped from her eye and rode a path down her cheek. "Growl all you want." Then a laugh broke from her throat. She said very softly, "When Emma and I were young, we had these cats in the stables. No one could touch them. They were feral. They hissed and scratched and bit. But I never gave up."
Her hands threaded into the hair at his neck. She stroked him. She touched him. "I'll never give up on you, either, Simon," she said quietly. "Because I love you."
Simon realized that he'd never told her he loved her. All the times he'd pleasured her. All the times he'd held her. He'd never told her. He suddenly felt a burning desire to do so.
Simon gritted his teeth and forced the physical characteristics of the beast to recede. He fought until he kneeled before her again in his human form.
Simon took her face in his human hands, his palms dirty from the mud under his claws, hands that were unable to be gentle. Hands that wanted to bite cruelly into her flesh. She cried out. He instinctively gentled his touch.
Before tonight, he'd never been able to do that. He'd never been able to control the beast.
"Did you hear me? I said I love you." She repeated the words, her eyes searching his.
"I love you too much," he snarled, well aware that his lips lifted from his teeth. But unable to force the beast away completely.
"Love me enough," she simply said and held out her arms to him.
Simon kneeled before her on shaky legs. His body wanted to be in Lycan form. His mind wanted to stay in human form. His heart wanted to love Lily.
His heart won.
Simon took her face in his hands. "I cannot be gentle," he growled.
"I know," she said. She took his hand in hers and brought it to the curls at the juncture of her thighs. He slid his fingers into her hot, wet body. "I give myself to you, my wolf, because I know you will keep me safe," she said.#p#分页标题#e#
He needed no more urging. She cried out when he picked her up and spun her in his arms. He faced her away from him, her bottom cradled in the saddle of his hips. He pressed against her, ready to take her.
Simon wrapped one arm around Lily's waist and used the other to press her shoulders toward the ground. She extended her arms to hold herself up and looked over her shoulder at him.
Her auburn hair clung to her back like wet ropes. He brushed it to the side, exposing the arch of her spine. The soft rain that fell left droplets of water on her skin.
Control. He needed control.
Simon allowed himself the pleasure of licking a path
up her spine, his tongue lapping at the drops of water until he reached her neck.
"I am yours," she whispered. "Know that it's me who takes you, Simon." She repeated the words he'd said to her their first time together.