READER SHOUT OUT: Thank you (yes, YOU) for all your support of Zev & Sasha this month. I've been truly blown away. To say thank you, I've managed to write some extra content for the next couple weeks: Tomorrow when the month resets there will not only be 5 new chapters in Privilege, there will also be 2 standard release chapters as well (so if you buy top-tier privilege you'll receive 7 new chapters over the course of the day). And I am working on a mass release for the beginning of Volume 2 in about 12 days, so look forward to another FIVE chapters that day!
Thank you for everything you've given--your votes, gifts, comments, and encouragement have been a true gift to me to kick off 2022! (This was added after publication so you aren't charged for the words.)
*****
~ ZEV ~
It was torture, springing up from the bed when one of the sausages popped in the pan and turning his attention back to the food, and the dressing for his back. He forced himself to it, because his side was aching more than it should because he'd reopened the wound and he didn't want anything to ruin the rest of the time they had.
So as they both forced themselves to get back up, it was with glazed eyes and hearts beating too fast. Sasha was stunning—hair mussed and lips swollen with kisses, cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling whenever they landed on him.
It was torment. Delicious torment. He forced himself to go back to the table at the side of the room, but his eyes kept dragging back to her form, he kept inhaling her scent—rich with desire and thrill. Their eyes caught and she smiled. A promise, he knew.
He ground the leaves faster.
The sausages were burnt on one side because they'd gotten distracted, but neither of them cared. And after he'd helped her clean up, she turned to face him, that delighted suggestion in her eyes.
Zev's wolf growled with approval.
"I need to wash and redress my back," he said carefully, circling her in his arms.
"Do you need some help?"
"Yes, please."
Getting ready for a wound dressing had never been so… tantalizing.
Once he had the pot on the fire again, warming, Sasha pushed him back and forced him to sit on the edge of the bed. Then she started on his buttons, biting her lower lip so hard it turned white under her teeth. He wanted to tease it out with his thumb and kiss it to soothe it. But he was too busy keeping his hands on her. Holding her hips, trailing fingers up her sides, just touching her. Keeping contact as she worked on the buttons of his furs.
When she popped the last one at the bottom of his jacket, her hand brushed his groin and his entire body jolted to attention.
Sasha, the vixen, smiled up at him through her lashes.
Then she peeled both sides of the fur away from his chest and ran her hands up to his shoulders, pushing the fur off and down his arms.
He was forced to reach back carefully to peel the first sleeve off his arm and throw it back, but Sasha took the cuff of the other one and pulled it all the way off.
There was a dark patch on the inside of the furs. He prayed her eyes were too fixed on his face to notice.
She stepped up between his knees and her hands went straight to his shoulders. She leaned in until they were almost nose to nose, her breath fluttering on his lips when she spoke.
"Let me wash it for you."
He nodded, not trusting his voice and turned, pulling one knee up onto the bed to give her better access to his back and side, praying the bleeding from the dressing wasn't too bad.
But she hissed and tsked. "This had to be hurting, Zev. You should have told me!"
"Minos slapped it today, that's the main problem," he said, conveniently ignoring that he'd actually opened the wounds back up before his friend made it worse.
But Sasha didn't. Muttering about Alpha males and their pride, she began peeling the dressing away from his skin. He tensed—it fucking hurt—but didn't say anything, distracting himself by squeezing her thigh and kissing her lips when they came within reach.
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"You're not helping right now," she breathed after the third kiss that forced her to stop working while she gave it her full attention.
"Sorry," he said, his voice low and husky. He didn't want to take the time to do this at all—he was desperate for her. But he couldn't risk getting an infection.
So he forced himself to stop kissing her, giving her instructions for softening the dressing where the blood had crusted against his skin, then cleaning and applying the salve he'd made from the leaves of the bloodwort.
It took almost an hour to get it clean, dry, and redressed, but when she finally stepped back, pleased with herself, fingers sticky with honey, she grinned.
"Done!"
Zev took her hips and pulled her close, growling in his throat as he kissed her.
She returned the kiss enthusiastically, but wouldn't touch him because she had sticky hands. So he was forced to wait again while she washed and put away the supplies.
His blood rushed in his veins though, when she finally put the honey and salve on the table and said, "Done!"
She turned to face him, but didn't walk towards him immediately, smiling, leaning back on the table behind her.
Zev raised an eyebrow. "Done?"
"Done."
"Then come here."
Her smile grew. "In a minute."
He hummed in his throat. "What are you waiting for?"
"I need to get more comfortable," she said with a wicked smile. Then Zev's throat went dry as she reached up to unbutton the top loop on the chest of her fur jacket.
He sucked in a deep breath. "It's only fair, I supposed, since you took mine off an hour ago."
Her eyebrows waggled mischievously. And she popped the second one. Then the third.
Zev's followed her progress, his wolf eyes honed in on the spot where her skin would be revealed when the jacket was finally open. His breath was already coming faster, heavier. His hands twitched towards her, but it was a delicious torment, he reminded himself. A torment because he hated to wait. But delicious because he knew his appetite would be sated.
He cleared his throat when she finally slid the last button out of its loop and her hands relaxed at her sides. The two panels of the double-breasted fur jacket fell to the sides, the weight of them pulling the tops down so a V of pale skin was bared that revealed from her collar bones all the way down to the inner rounds of her breasts, but nothing more. Then she reached under them to the ties of her leggings and Zev's breath stopped.
"Zev?" she said quietly.
"Mmm?" Her hands weren't moving. Dammit. Why had she stopped?
"My eyes are up here." She was laughing.
Manfully, Zev yanked his gaze back up to her beautiful eyes, dancing with joy.
Delicious torment, he reminded himself, pushing off the bed as his body pulled towards her. Nothing tasted better.