Undone

Chapter XII

The following day Jeremy woke slowly. The sun hadn't fully risen yet, but he could detect the early morning rays as they peeked beneath the bedroom blinds, specks of dust dancing in the long shafts of light. Instinctively, his hands reached for Kate, his eyes popping open completely when the space beside him proved empty and cold. Lifting his head from the pillow, he looked around expectantly.

The room was still cast in shadows, but his eyes adjusted quickly. Surprised, he saw his jeans and waistcoat, both of which he'd discarded without care the night before, neatly folded on the stool in front of Kate's vanity, his shoes placed on the floor beside it. The room was spacious and airy, the bed positioned across from the doorway. The walls were a light yellow, the carpets a plush cream that felt wonderful to walk across barefoot. Beside the vanity was a door he knew led to the en-suite bathroom, while a set of cupboards that matched the bed and side tables exactly stood against the opposite wall. Bracketing the bed on either side were two tall windows, both covered with wooden slat blinds that blocked out the majority of the post dawn luminance.

Falling back against the pillows, Jeremy closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, his lungs expanding with oxygen as his senses assimilated the unfamiliar smells and sounds surrounding him. He could tell that Kate was in the kitchen, the delicious aromas wafting his way a clear indication that she was preparing breakfast. In anticipation of food, his stomach growled loudly, a reminder that his last meal had been at Stonehaven the previous afternoon.

Lying still, his mind conjured rousing images of the passionate night he'd spent with Kate. After Nick's call, they'd made love twice more before finally falling into an exhausted sleep, their arms and legs entangled as they subconsciously strove to remain close. Her scent, so reminiscent of a bright spring day, still clung to the sheets, to the pillows, to him. It had been the first time he'd ever lost himself so completely in a woman that in some moments it had been hard to decipher where she ended and where he began. They'd been so in sync, so connected, so perfectly attuned to each other's needs and wants that words had not been necessary. He'd never known it was possible to crave someone's touch so desperately, to want to be near another being with such an outright intensity that it bordered on obsession.

Their lovemaking had been explosive; passionate, heady, wanton and all consuming. Jeremy marvelled at how they fit together, so perfectly, as though they'd been designed exclusively for one another. There was not a square of Kate's body that he was not intimately acquainted with as he was certain there wasn't an inch of his that she'd left unexplored. Even now, having spent himself inside of her multiple times, he still hungered to touch her, to taste her once more. The feeling was overwhelming, his desire seemingly infinite, making him wonder if he'd ever get enough of her.

But the great sex aside, he loved that he could talk to her. For the first time in his life he'd been the one being comforted instead of the one doing the comforting. It had felt wonderful. Just having her there, listening to him without a shred of judgement as he'd recounted his harrowing childhood and the years subsequent to that had given rise to such a sense of contentment, the likes of which he'd never known. Without question, it had been the best night of his life.

In short, the entire experience had been a revelation.

Jeremy had never felt this way about any woman before; the burning need to possess, to protect, to love, pouring out of him like an endless stream of emotion. He wished he knew what came next, how they would navigate through the challenges that their newfound relationship was certain to present. A part of him was afraid to think of it, afraid that he'd realise that he was living in a fantasy and that his bubble of happiness would burst at any moment, the cold, harsh reality of day bringing with it the glaring obstacles they may never be able to overcome. He was a wolf and she was a human. Those were two irrefutable facts that were never going to change. To make matters worse, he was alpha, his behaviour and actions scrutinised above all others. He couldn't afford to ever reveal any weakness when it could be used against him, placing the safety and security of those he loved most in jeopardy.