Free Broken Moon: Part 1 by Claudia King Page B

this natural beauty to enjoy down in the city," Harper
replied, leaning up to kiss her cheek.
    April smiled, finally
letting go of the sheets and curling her arm around her partner.
She liked these moments when he was sweet. It reminded her of when
they were younger, when the idea of playing "mates" was just a
silly childhood game. She'd never really understood what it would
be like to make a life with Harper back then, to share a home,
maybe even have children one day if they were lucky.
    She shivered again,
and clutched the sheets back to her breast.
    "Still cold?" he
said.
    She nodded quickly,
forcing her thoughts back to the present. She was lucky, really, to
have someone like Harper who cared for her. If it weren't for him
the elders would have paired her up with another mate the second
she hit adulthood, and she wouldn't have had much say in the
matter. Not that the other arranged couples in the pack were
unhappy, but the idea of it had always unnerved her. She sometimes
lay awake at night wondering what it would have been like to be
paired with one of the older males, Blackthorn, or Hadrian, or even
Gene. Moving into their cabin and going to their bed every
night...
    She bit her lip and
chased the unwanted thoughts away again. That didn't matter when
she had Harper.
    The pressure on the
two of them to complete their mating had been minimal, but it was
always there in the background, hanging over her uncertainly. Soon
the day would come when she'd have to give up her own cosy cabin
and move into his.
    It was as good a
future as any female in the Highland Pack could have asked for,
really.
    Harper's lips brushed
her bare shoulder, their warmth sending a tingle through her body
as his free hand moved beneath the sheets to caress her bare
hip.
    "Your fingers are
cold," she said softly, looking down into his sparkling eyes and
running her fingers through his fair hair.
    "I can always leave you
to warm up by yourself, if you'd like," he replied, a teasing smile
on his lips.
    April returned the
smile and shook her head, breathing in sharply as his cool hand
traced the softly defined muscles of her stomach, his fingers
brushing the dip of her navel.
    Harper was a good
friend. A good lover. And he would make a good mate. She had no
reason to complain.
    Easing her down on the
bed he slid his arm out from behind her back and straightened up to
remove his shirt and underwear, casting them aside on the cabin
floor as April ran her tongue teasingly over her lips, rubbing her
thighs together in expectation as the familiar tingle of excitement
built in her belly. It always made her feel young and girlish,
reminding her of the first night her childhood friend had kissed
her and taken her virginity, their sweaty, quivering bodies wrapped
together in the sheets of his bed as the firelight danced on their
skin. She had never been with anyone else since then, and doubted
she ever would.
    He eased the sheets
away from her naked body and slid in beneath them, his hardness
pressing against her stomach as he took her in his arms and leaned
in for a kiss. She responded affectionately, indulging his eager
tongue in her mouth with a soft suckling and a murmur of
encouragement, parting her thighs for him as his knees eased them
apart.
    His hands found her
pert breasts, teasing her excitement closer and closer to the
surface as he massaged them gently, rolling the nubs between his
fingers until they were hard and tense. Her chest rose and fell
sharply, her breath coming in gasps as she clung to Harper's
muscular shoulders, pressing her body up against his to bathe in
the sensation of his skin rubbing against hers, the teasing
pressure of his shaft resting just below her navel, twitching in
response to her quiet sounds of pleasure.
    "I don't have to go
back out there," he whispered in her ear amidst a trail of warm
kisses along her cheek and neck. "We can take our time."
    "You don't need to
impress me," she chuckled, twining her fingers through the