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“That’s what I thought,” Marco said at myhesitation.
“Marco...”
He cupped my face, gazing into my eyes. “Princess, it’s okay. The first time we go there, I want it to be only because you want it, not even slightly because circumstances are forcing your hand. I can beat Julius without breaking a sweat, and I can wait. It’s the least I cando.”
I choked up again, but for a completely different reason. The fact that he was saying no had dissolved the last of my doubts. I could have given myself over happily now, looming challenge ornot.
But I’d already burned that bridge for the moment. I settled for kissing him, soft and sweet, as his hand stroked over the side of myface.
My body was still tingling with longing. Maybe Marco could feel that too. He drew back a couple of inches with a sly smile. “I would, however, be happy to enjoy you in anotherway.”
Before I had to ask what he meant, he was easing down my body. His fingers hooked the hem of my panties as he brushed his lips over my breasts and belly. I gasped when his mouth closed over the bundle of nerves at my core. Every part of my brain that had been cycling through worries short-circuited, and for a brief moment in time, I was made of nothing butbliss.
Chapter 15
West
Inever felt reallycomfortable around feline shifters. Marco I could put up with, because at least he was dedicated to something. The rest of his kin—you never knew what was going on behind those shiftyeyes.
At least, most of them read as shifty. The tiger shifter who’d challenged Marco a couple hours ago came across as a pretty straight-forward asshole. Or that’s what I’d determined while I’d been keeping an eye on him. Right now he was playing pool with a couple of his kin in the estate’s big entertainment room, bellowing victory whenever he hit a ball into a pocket. The sound made me wince inwardly even from across the room. I adjusted my position against the wall near thedoor.
I had my phone out, pretending I was mostly paying attention to that. I had actually checked in with a few of my lieutenants while Julius the Tiger had swaggered and blustered. Now I was playing a very half-hearted game of Candy Crush while keeping my ears perked to the conversations aroundme.
I’d just cleared a level when Ren strode past me into the room. A whiff of her scent reached my nose: the usual sweetness mingled with a musk that got me half-hard in two seconds flat. I straightened up, resisting the urge to lick my lips. And ignoring the twist of jealousy in my chest. She’d just been with at least one of the other alphas—I knew that much. And that alpha had gotten her off,well.
One hint of the smell of arousal on her, and I was right back to the other night in her bed. My mouth on her skin, her hand around mycock—
Yeah, thinking about that right now wasn’t going to take me anywhere useful. I dragged in a breath to steady the thump of mypulse.
Our dragon shifter wasn’t here to see me. She marched right across the room and came to a stop by the pool table, her gaze fixed on Julius. Shit. What the hell was she up tonow?
I shoved my phone into my pocket and ambled a little closer, trying to look casual, which wasn’t easy when every feline shifter nearby glanced over at the scent of wolf. Julius turned and spotted Ren. He set his pool stick against the floor,grinning.
“Dragon shifter. Come to get an early start with your newmate?”
Ren’s chin rose higher, her eyes flashing. She looked fucking gorgeous like that, but it also meant she was about to throw herself right in over her head. So damned determined to right every wrong even when she barely understood the threat she was facing. It wrenched at my heart, but that sense of justice wasn’t going to do anyone any good if she got torn to pieces in the process. I tensed, ready toshift.
“No,” Ren said, clear and loud enough that the whole room had to hear. “I came to give you an out. Marco is going to win tonight. And even if he wasn’t going to, I’d never acceptyouas my mate. I thought it was only fair to mention that ahead oftime.”
The tiger shifter’s face darkened. His lips curled into more of a sneer. “Is that what our alpha is reduced to now? Sending you to protect him while he hides in hisrooms?”
Ren rolled her eyes. “No.He’shappy to put you in your place the regular way. But I’d rather not see any kin banished when they don’t need to be. Consider it a courtesy. There’s no point in pursuing a lostcause.”
Julius rapped the end of his pool cue against the floor. His eyes had narrowed. “I don’t think it’s lost at all. And I think you’ll find it a lot harder to say no when the bond passes tome.”
Ren looked him up and down, letting every hint of her disdain show in her expression. Oh, Lord, she was aiming to get herself eviscerated, wasn’tshe?
“Believe me,” she said flippantly. “I can’t imagine even beingtempted.”
Julius bristled, baring his teeth. “We’ll see if you change your tune after tonight, won’t we? Or maybe you need to learn your placenow.”
“I know my place,” Ren said. “And it happens to be very far over yours. But if that’s how you’re going to act, I’ll enjoy watching you get your ass handed to youtonight.”
She swiveled and headed back toward the doorway. Julius’s arm jerked as if he meant to lunge after her, and I braced myself to leap between them. But he caught himself with a harsh inhale. His gaze tracked Ren to the door with an angry, predatorygleam.
I waited just long enough to make sure he was staying put, and then I strode after mymate.
* * *
