Alpha Moon (The Cain Chronicles) (Seasons of the Moon) by SM Reine

Abel and the trees.
    Even with her mom arrested by the Union, life was pretty good.
    Abel buried a final stake into the ground. “There we go.” He stepped back and dusted his hands off on his jeans. “Look good to you?”
    Rylie watched the flex of his abs, the twist of his shoulders. The remaining scars on his chest only served to accentuate his muscles. The ridges were as fascinatingly labyrinthine as the forest, and as interesting to explore.
    “Yes,” she said.
    He gave her a sideways grin. “I worked up a sweat. Need to wash it off. Want to swim?”
    “In that ?” Rylie eyed the lake. “It’s all ice melt.”
    “I’ll keep you warm,” Abel said. He dropped his jeans, baring the vee of his Adonis belt, his muscular thighs, and…everything in between. Her face started burning all over again.
    It took her two tries to speak. “I don’t know…”
    “Did I just hear a ‘yes’?”
    Abel’s hands clamped down on her arms. He hauled her off of her feet.
    “Abel!” she shrieked.
    In a flash, he flung both of them into the water. Rylie barely had enough time to suck in a lungful of oxygen before she was slapped with frigid water. Her skin prickled and burned. Her dress was sodden, tangled between her legs.
    She hit the sandy bank and pushed up, but Abel was in the way, all hot flesh to make up for the cold water.
    His mouth claimed hers. She parted her lips more in shock than invitation, but he took advantage of it, tongues tangling and teeth nipping. Rylie tasted melted frost, the meat on his breath, the very masculine and animal and so completely Abel flavor of his lips.
    When they crested the surface, it was together. The water sloshed around her shoulders. Abel didn’t let her break away. He pulled her hard against him, biting her bottom lip almost hard enough to draw blood.
    “This is ours,” he growled.
    It took her way too long to understand what he was saying. “The lake?”
    “Everything. Yours and mine.” Abel pulled her legs around his hips, forced her head back so he could bite under her chin. “And since you belong to me, too…”
    At another time, Rylie would have happily argued with him about who was more Alpha, and which of them belonged to which, but she had much better ideas for their mouths. When his lips returned to hers, she bit back. And she didn’t do it gently.
    “Mine,” she said.
    Someone cleared her throat.
    Rylie broke away, feet dropping to sink into wet sand. Her head whipped around.
    Summer stood beside the tent cabin, grinning an impish, embarrassed grin. She politely looked at her feet. “We’re here,” she said. Her arms were wrapped around Sir Lumpy, who seemed content to survey his new territory from the vantage point of her chest.
    “Shit,” Abel said.
    “We?” Rylie asked, leaning around to look behind Summer. Jessica was trudging up the path in the same impractical heels that she had worn on the day of her arrest. She didn’t seem to have noticed Rylie and Abel yet.
    Rylie turned to tell Abel to hide, but he had already dipped under the surface, swimming for the opposite shore with long strokes. He was a great swimmer. He disappeared in moments.
    She tugged her dress into a more modest position as she trudged out of the water.
    “Hi, Mom,” Rylie said brightly as Jessica approached.
    “Lord in Heaven, what happened to you?” Jessica asked by way of greeting.
    Her cheeks burned so hard that she thought they might catch fire. “I went swimming.”
    “Fully clothed?”  
    Actually, Abel had managed to strip her underwear at some point, while they were underwater. He was talented like that. But Rylie nodded her agreement, casting a surreptitious glance at her body to double-check that everything was hidden. “Yeah, only way to enjoy the lake. It felt…refreshing.”
    Summer snorted indelicately, setting Sir Lumpy on the grass. He darted into the bushes.
    Time for a quick change of subject.
    “You survived,” Rylie said, taking a visual