Amber's Ace by Taryn Kincaid Page A

globe before turning back to her. “I’m popping with pride and awe. In front of the whole pack, too.”
    Her face heated. Goddess, the male was one gorgeous hunk of masculinity. She could gaze on him forever. But what she’d done, in front of the whole pack…. “I shocked myself.”
    “You shocked everyone. I’m bursting with wonder at how amazing you are.”
    “I hope you don’t think…. You don’t regret….” He made her so inarticulate sometimes. Yet, he always seemed to know, or understand, her thoughts and emotions. Perhaps that was what having a mate meant. Sometimes he perplexed her. But, deep down, she understood him, too.
    “Ssh.” He shook his head, and she ceased her stammering. “I’m incredibly honored. Best moment of my life. And just so you know…I hereby claim you, too, Amber. In case there was any doubt.”
    She sighed. “No doubt. No real doubt.” Her hand fisted over her heart. “I may act uncertain, but I feel you here.”
    “I’ll shout it to the stratosphere if you need me to,” he assured her. “I may, anyway.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and howled to the treetops. “I claim this brave and gorgeous woman. I claim Amber Northridge. My angel. My life. My mate.”
    Dear Goddess . Would she ever stop being completely dazzled by his wonderful, sweet-as-molasses smile? What great teeth he had.
    “The better to eat you up, angel face.”
    She clamped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my gosh. Did I say that out loud?”
    “Not sure. But I’m always attuned to my magnificent mate.”
    Ah. The smile again. Broader, sweeter, slower. Such beautiful, sensual lips. He could put them anywhere on her he wanted. Suddenly, she wanted them every place, his lovely mouth gliding all over her waiting, willing flesh. Making her shiver. Warming her. Heating her blood. Pleasuring her. Satisfying her hungry wolf. A wolf who had never before accepted sustenance from the hands—or mouth or cock for that matter—of a male.
    “Uh-huh.” Riley made a show of spreading out the blanket and taking care to smooth all the wrinkles, including invisible imaginary ones, from it. So, so slow. Giving her all the time she needed and more. “First…tell me you really want this. Our mating.”
    “Yes.”
    “And that you won’t be afraid of me. Ever.”
    Amber stiffened. He’d reassured her so many times. But how could she promise him such a thing? His touch didn’t fill her with revulsion like the others’ had, and no longer made her want to run and hide, to stiffen in panic, to whimper in terror. In fact, just the opposite. Whenever he drew near, she wanted, needed, to drag him closer still. She wanted his touch. Pined for it, like her wolf whined for it. But she had no track record for comparison of how things should be between males and females. Other than the evil visited upon her, she had no experience at all. And when the evil happened, some horrible male grunting, sweating, and rutting above her, the activity sent her to a secret, closed-off place inside herself, where all was icy, all was numb. Where she couldn’t think, couldn’t feel, couldn’t experience what was happening to her on a conscious level.
    But she wanted to feel again. With Riley. She wanted to feel everything.
    “I won’t ever hurt you, Amber. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.”
    She nodded. She realized he believed that. On some level, she believed him, too. But…all she’d ever known at a male’s hands was humiliation and pain. She understood males craved sex, needed it so badly it made them crazed sometimes…so they had no compunctions about taking what they wanted, with or without consent, no matter if they were destroying the woman they rutted on in the process.
    But what about females and sex? Until Riley had arrived in Los Lobos, looking so good and smelling so divine, with his wintry eyes and boyish smile, she’d had no interest in males at all. But Riley…. Just thinking about him touching her, fantasizing