Free Capturing the Alpha (Shifters of Nunavut Book 1) by Viola Rivard

but her body went still as waves of sensation undulated over her.
    Ginnifer tried to hold onto the feeling for as long as she could, but all too quickly it was over. Suddenly, she was freezing and her body began to shake. Anxiously, she opened her eyes.
    Zane was still above her, though they were no longer pressed close together. The expression on his face made her own face burn, and she thought she could feel herself blushing from nose to ears. With his brows drawn up and his lips fixed into a parted frown, he looked very disturbed.
    Her heart and mind were racing, and she thought that maybe if she kissed him again, they could just resume what they’d been doing, and it would probably be even more intense than before. She almost did, but then she recognized the emotions that warred on his face, ones that she should have had on her face.
    Shame. Regret.
    Ginnifer scooted out from under him, hands trembling as she snatched up her clothes. She began to dress, her conscience coming back with a vengeance and roaring into the void that had, only moments ago, been swimming with lust. But it still wasn’t guilt over Aaron.
    “You’re not single, are you?” she asked, her voice coming out hoarse. A crease formed between his brows, so she elaborated. “Do you have a…a mate?”
    The word made her feel nauseous.
    “No,” he said, causing her shoulders to sag with relief. “But I will. Soon.”
    She thought she saw his lips quirk distastefully, but maybe it was wishful thinking, something her mind worked up to take the edge off her guilt. She wanted to ask him more, but she imagined it was the last thing he wanted to talk about right now.
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “I really do love Aaron. He…” Words she hadn’t even had the nerve to think before now came bubbling up to the surface. “He proposed to me the summer after we met, six years ago, but every time I try to set a date for the wedding, something comes up. There’s always some new cause he wants to rally for, some new injustice he wants to fight. We were supposed to get married this spring, and then two months ago he decides he wants to go to Syria and help orphans.”
    She threw up her hands. “How can I possibly say no to that?”
    It wasn’t even the half of her grievances with Aaron, but she was not about to unload anymore drama onto Zane, who was probably already having second thoughts about letting her come back to his den. She was used to keeping everything bottled up, and she resolved herself not to slip up again.
    Tears stung her eyes, but she held them back, not wanting to look as pathetic as she felt. “I do love him, and I’ve never done anything like this before, not even close. I’m frustrated, but I shouldn’t have involved you. It was wrong of me.”
    Ginnifer zipped up her coat, the last layer of her clothes. Zane was already standing, but he kept his hands rigid at his sides, not offering to help her up. But then, wasn’t that what had gotten them into all this mess?
    She stood, grimacing at the uncomfortable dampness between her thighs. Peering at Zane through her lashes, she caught him staring at her. There was something completely unexpected on his face, something that confused her in light of everything that had happened. His eyes tugged at her, with a sad longing she didn’t understand. She waited for him to blink it away, but it was clear that he wanted her to see it.
    Swallowing hard, she said, “We should be going, right?”
    His only response was a nod.
    ***
    They walked in silence, with Ginnifer trailing slightly behind Zane. A wind blew up from the south, carrying her scent to him on the breeze, and it made Zane wish that he didn’t have to lead the way.
    The smell of her arousal seemed lodged in his nose. It didn’t fade, and try as he might, he couldn’t grow accustomed to it. The scent kept his cock rigid, which aside from making him irritable, made him reluctant to shift. He could think of few things more