Reclaiming the Wolf (Cascade Shifters Book 1) by Jessie Donovan

and she could never forget that.
    Kaya lifted one of her hands from the ground and found Sy’s hands at her waist. He tried to lace his fingers with hers, but she grabbed his fingers and tugged at his hand. “Let me go, Sy.”
    For a second, he did nothing, but then he released her. As he moved away, she felt his cock slide out of her. She tried not to notice the empty ache with him gone. Instead, she stood up and brushed the dirt off her hands and knees.
    She squared her shoulders and turned around. She hated how Sy had an unreadable expression on his face.
    Oh well, best to act as if she hadn’t just had one of the best fucks of her life. “We should quickly rinse off and get back to the car or we’ll never make it to Seattle before midnight.”
    Sy stared at her for a second before he said, “Okay.”
    Then he picked up his clothes and walked out of the cave without another word.
    That was exactly what she’d wanted him to do, so why did she feel more than a little pissed off at his actions? For a few seconds, she’d felt as if Sy had wanted to keep her for more than one quick fuck. But either she’d misjudged him or he was letting her not-so-subtlety know that if she wanted him again—or anything more—she’d have to voice it out loud.
    She gathered her clothes, squeezed through the crack that served as the cave’s entrance, and passed through the cascading waterfall. Stepping into the small, cold pool of water at her feet, she looked around and noticed Sy was gone.
    Well, then. She felt a little hurt at his “fuck and leave” method, but at least he’d given her two mind-blowing orgasms.
    As she quickly washed between her legs, the tenderness of her skin brought back the memory of her on her hands and knees with Sy pistoning behind her. She had missed that kind of closeness, and by extension, trust. If her inner wolf didn’t trust him, it never would’ve allowed him to take her from behind.
    She wasn’t quite sure how to interpret that.
    Deciding it was best not to dwell on that fact for too long, she stepped out of the pool and wrung the water from her hair. She was about to start her trek back to the car when Sy reappeared and tossed something at her. She caught the t-shirt as Sy said, “Since we were going to pick up some clothes for you in the city, that’ll have to suffice for now.”
    For some reason, the fact he’d only left so he could fetch her one of his t-shirts to wear made her feel happy.
    Shit. So much for being a mature and collected clan leader. All it took was some great sex for her to start acting like a teenager.
    She resisted the urge to lift the shirt up to her nose to breathe in his scent, and instead, simply tossed it over her head. Since she was nearly as tall as him, the shirt barely covered her pussy and ass, but at least it would protect her breasts and sensitive skin from the bushes and trees of the forest.
    She forced her gaze upward, and damn the man, he was still stoic. Fine. If he was going to act like nothing had happened, so would she. That might actually work best. They both needed to focus on tomorrow.
    “Thanks,” Kaya said before heading back to the car.
     
    ~~~
     
    The next morning, Sy stood in the kitchen of the apartment DarkStalker rented in Seattle for visits. He stared at the coffee machine and willed it to finish brewing. He’d had a hell of a night, and only caffeine was going to get him through the day.
    Kaya had spent their drive to Seattle replying to emails and doing who the hell knew what else on her smartphone, but he hadn’t minded her purposefully ignoring him. After all, he was still trying to figure out what he was going to do. He hadn’t imagined her going soft in his arms yesterday, nor had he misjudged the longing in her eyes last night. She was lonely, plain and simple. The problem was, she would rather be tortured than admit it.
    She took her job as clan leader seriously. He would never try to change that, but whether she knew it or