"You all right?" Hud rumbled, trying for a look of genuine worry.
"Why wouldn't we be?" Morgan said coolly, meeting his gaze.
Hud nodded, bowing his head slightly. "Alpha," he muttered.
CoraBelle and Elmira looked around the clearing.
"They didn't mention that shed," CoraBelle said to Boothe. "He's using a tool to make that igloo. Doesn't that disqualify him?"
"Leave it, CoraBelle," Boothe said irritably. "It's not enough to challenge him on."
"So you're not conceding?" Elmira looked at the igloo with annoyance.
Morgan grinned at her. "Not by a long shot," he said.
Chapter Ten
Once the structure was complete, Morgan stretched out a hand to indicate that Valerie should go inside. She eyed the igloo skeptically. But Morgan had put it together efficiently and decisively, packing the spaces between the blocks with snow and smoothing the walls with his large, capable hands to compact the powder into ice.
Besides, since the cabin had burned, it was this or brave the elements. So she got down on her hands and knees, trying to ignore the stinging of her bare hands in the bitterly cold snow, and crawled inside. It wasn't the most dignified of positions, and she just hoped Morgan wasn't staring at her ample backside as she wriggled into their makeshift shelter.
It was a blissful relief to be out of the biting wind, and almost at once Valerie began to feel a little warmer … but only a little. Her teeth were chattering, she was shivering even bundled in her cozy winter coat, and her hands were achingly cold, the tips of her fingers numb. Her nose was like ice and her cheeks felt as if they'd been slapped. She thought wistfully of the crackling fire in the cabin and wished frostbite of the paws on stupid shifters with their stupid mating contracts.
Morgan joined her inside, his high cheekbones flushed and his blue eyes bright, and suddenly the igloo seemed too small. He took her hands in his and rubbed them briskly, chafing a bit of warmth back into them.
Valerie pulled one hand free, dug into her pocket and produced a chocolate bar.
"Where did that come from?" Morgan asked in amazement. Then he nodded. "Honoria. When she hugged you."
"Yes, and she whispered in my ear that I owed her big time and she expected a new iPhone for Christmas." Valerie grinned at him. "I like your sister. She's sneaky and devious. Reminds me of me." She peeled off the wrapping and held it out to him. He shook his head. "I can eat my food raw. You go ahead."
As she ate the bar, her hands were shaking.
"You're frozen," he said, his brow creasing with worry. "Maybe we should head back after all."
Valerie clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering and shook her head stubbornly. "No way," she said. "I'll be okay."
Morgan rubbed her arm, then scowled. "You're shivering," he said.
"N-n-no, I'm not."
Morgan hauled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her.
"I'll keep you warm. I won't have you catching your death of cold. You're my mate – however temporarily – and it's my responsibility to take care of you."
She couldn't deny that she felt warm and safe clasped against his broad chest, encircled by his big, muscular arms, and the sheer size of him made her feel dainty and feminine. It was an unfamiliar sensation, given that she'd always taken up more space than the mean girls at school and people like Nelda seemed to think she should. She snuggled closer against him and felt her shivers begin to subside.
She looked up into his blue gaze. "So your dad taught you how to build an igloo, huh? You must have really loved him."
His expression became shuttered. "I don't really want to talk about it, Valerie," he said, but he didn't loosen his embrace or stop rubbing his palm up and down her back as he shared his body heat with her.
She met his gaze. "My parents died when I was a little girl. I don't even have memories of them. If I did, I'd talk about them just to keep their memories alive."
His hand stopped its soothing circling.
"What's the point of remembering?" He closed his eyes for a long moment and then met her gaze again.
"I just wish that you could have seen the look on your face when you talked about making igloos with him. You looked … happier. Carefree. I've never seen that look on your face before."
"End of conversation."
"For you, maybe. I plan on continuing to talk. You know me, I'm unshuttupable. In fact, I think that-"
"I do know one way to shut you up," Morgan said.
And with that he covered her mouth with his, kissing her thoroughly and possessively.
When he pulled back, his eyes were dazed with desire and Valerie was trembling all over – no longer because of the cold.
They were silent for long moments, their gazes locked, then their mouths clashed again and they were clutching at each other, breathing hard, unable to keep their hands from exploring each other's bodies.
Valerie fisted Morgan's hair in her hands, holding him against her as they kissed and nipped and licked, while Morgan pushed her coat back from her shoulders, discarding it on the packed-snow floor of the igloo. He covered her plump breasts with his palms and groaned, then pinched her nipples through the thick knitted fabric of her sweater, making her whimper with desire. She tore impatiently at his shirt, feeling the heat of his skin beneath, his shifter metabolism more than a match for the sub-zero temperatures.
Morgan ripped his shirt away and yanked her sweater roughly over her head, holding her close and devouring her mouth as he fumbled with the catch of her bra. He whisked that away too, then rode her down onto the ground, laying her back against the padded softness of her coat and covering her body with the hot, muscular planes of his chest. He burned like a furnace.
Valerie moaned and writhed against him, parting her thighs to invite him to lie between them and rolling her hips wantonly when she felt the hard length of his cock pressing against her pussy. She thought she might die if she didn't feel him inside her soon. She was almost ready to beg.
But there was no need. Morgan drew away for long enough to push down her jeans and his slacks, and she kicked the denim over her feet so she could wrap her legs around his hips, inviting him inside her.
He reached down to wrap his fingers around his rigid length, lowering his head to kiss her breast and tease her nipple with his tongue. The tiny bud stood up as sharp and hard as a diamond, and the bite of ice in the air had nothing to do with it. She simply ached for his touch. He suckled, his eyes closed and his brows knitted in blissful concentration as he guided his erection between the petals of her pussy and pushed inside inch by torturous inch, groaning as he did so in a way that made her clench around him and dig her fingers into the smooth muscles of his back.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, letting him even deeper inside her, and as he began to thrust, she ran her hands down to his taut, flexing buttocks, urging him on with moans of pleasure and incomprehensible words of desire.
They moved together in a sweet, frantic rhythm, their breathing harsh and syncopated as waves of welcome heat radiated through Valerie's body, weakening her limbs and coiling in her belly until she cried out, thrashing her head from side to side as she pulsed and spasmed around his hardness.
She saw him falter, and then he stilled and withdrew, his chest heaving and his face set in hard lines as he struggled to hold back. His cock stood up painfully hard against his belly, the shaft sticky with her juices and a pearly drop of precum on the quivering tip. His length looked dusky against the paler skin of his stomach and thighs, engorged with blood.
Biceps bunching and hands clumsy, he urged her to turn over, positioning her on her hands and knees. Feeling utterly shameless, she hollowed her back and parted her thighs, offering herself up to him. His satisfied grunt as he pulled her back against him stole her breath, and then he was bracing her hips with his hands and thrusting inside her again.
She clutched screwed-up handfuls of her coat and scrunched her eyes shut as he pounded into her, his belly slapping against her back, the bulky muscles of his thighs pressing intimately against her own softer flesh.
He reached around with one hand to strum an intoxicating rhythm on her clit, his big fingers unbelievably skilled and nimble as they played over the knot of singing nerves.
Valerie pushed back against him, and the throbbing waves of her orgasm drew him into a long, shuddering release that left him quivering above her as his heart pounded against her spine.