Their Way of Loving

1. Prologue: The Grip That Stayed

The leaves underfoot had already taken the shape of their steps. Elena felt the give of them before her eyes adjusted, the same soft collapse between root and root that marked the place they always stopped. Sofia walked half a pace ahead, the linen of her shift already loose at one shoulder, the fabric catching and releasing against the back of her thigh with each stride. Neither of them spoke. The wall was behind them. The house lights had dropped away three turns ago. What remained was the low sound of their breathing and the occasional dry click of a branch settling.

Elena’s hand found the small of Sofia’s back without looking. The skin there was warm from the walk. Sofia did not slow. She only shifted her weight so the contact stayed. They moved together through the narrow gap between the two trunks that always framed the clearing. The air changed. Cooler. Denser with the smell of damp bark and the faint animal musk that never quite left the ground.

The larger wolf was already there. It stood with its head lowered, pale eyes catching what little light reached the forest floor. The second animal rose from where it had been lying, shoulders rolling as it shook once and settled. Elena felt Sofia’s spine tighten under her palm, then ease. They had stopped needing to name what came next.

Sofia turned. Her shift slid the rest of the way off one arm. Elena watched the fabric catch at the elbow, then fall. Sofia’s hand came up and closed around Elena’s wrist. She drew it forward until their fingers met and locked, palm to palm, the grip firm enough that Elena felt the ridge of Sofia’s knuckles press into her own. Sofia stepped backward until the low root met the back of her calves. She sank. Elena followed. The leaves were cold against her knees. Their joined hands rested between them on the ground, fingers interlaced, neither pulling free.

The larger wolf moved in. Its shoulder brushed Elena’s hip. The heat of it was immediate. Elena bent, free hand finding the familiar patch of bark. She felt the animal’s breath against the inside of her thigh, then the broad, wet drag of its tongue. Her stomach tightened. Sofia’s grip on her hand increased by a fraction. Elena turned her head. Sofia was already looking at her. The second wolf had risen behind Sofia; its weight settled across her back in a slow, heavy press. Sofia’s mouth opened. No sound came out. Her eyes stayed on Elena’s.

Elena felt the first careful thrust. Thick. Insistent. She held still and let the angle take it. The stretch burned for a moment, then settled into a deep, occupying pressure. Sofia’s fingers flexed once inside Elena’s. Elena answered with the same small tightening. They stayed like that while the animals found their rhythm—short, driving strokes that rocked both women forward onto their braced arms. Elena watched a leaf stick to the corner of Sofia’s mouth and lift with each breath. She watched the fine tremor that started in Sofia’s shoulder and traveled down the arm until it reached the place their hands were locked.

The knot began to swell. Elena felt it as a gradual, unmistakable thickening that locked her hips in place. She could not have pulled free even if she had wanted to. Sofia’s breath changed. Elena saw the moment the second knot caught—Sofia’s eyelids fluttered, her free hand curled hard into the leaves, and the pressure in their joined grip became almost painful. Elena held it. She held the look. The wolves panted. The clearing filled with the wet sound of their movement and the low, involuntary sounds both women made when the swelling pulsed.

Elena’s free hand slid across the leaves until her fingertips rested against the inside of Sofia’s wrist, just above the locked grip. She felt the rapid beat there. Sofia’s eyes were wet at the corners but open. Elena leaned the small distance the knot allowed and pressed her mouth to the back of Sofia’s hand. The taste was salt and dirt and the faint trace of Sofia’s skin. Sofia’s thumb moved once against Elena’s palm in answer.

The animals slowed. The knots held, then eased by degrees. Elena felt the gradual release as a long, sliding emptiness that left her aching and open. The larger wolf stepped back. The second followed. Both animals moved into the darker trees without looking back. The clearing was quiet except for the sound of Elena and Sofia breathing.

Their hands remained locked on the leaves. Elena’s forehead rested against Sofia’s shoulder. She could feel the fine shiver still running through Sofia’s arm. Sofia turned her head. Their mouths met, slow, the kiss tasting of the night and of each other. Elena’s free hand came up and settled at the nape of Sofia’s neck, not holding, only resting. Sofia’s eyes stayed open. Elena watched the way the moonlight caught in them and did not look away.

1. Chapter 1: The Room Above the Store

The room sat above the hardware store at the end of the main street, two flights up a staircase that smelled of machine oil and old cardboard. The company manager had unlocked it with a key on a length of twine and told them the double was already spoken for. Elena set her duffel on the narrower side of the bed nearest the window. The mattress dipped under the weight. Sofia stood in the doorway with her canvas bag still on her shoulder, looking at the single overhead bulb and the fan that rattled in its housing when she switched it on.

“I’ll take the other side,” Sofia said.

Elena nodded. She opened the window as far as it would go. Warm air moved across the sill, carrying the sound of someone stacking chairs in the tent ...