Sleep in her unmade bed.
Ken was so overwhelmed by the thought—by the moment—by everything, that there wasn’t any room for doubting: he had to kiss her. He leaned down and caught her mouth, pulling her into his arms, tasting the surprised noise she made.
And she melted. Like liquid in his arms, she curved up against him, conforming to his body, surrendering completely. Ken felt the same hot flash run through him that he’d felt when she’d taken control this morning.
The idea that they could trust each other this much, that they could let each other do anything they pleased, knowing that they were in safe hands…
Ken loved it. And he was going to take care of the precious gift he’d been given. He opened Lynn’s mouth with his tongue, holding her tight, until they were caught up together in a close, warm meld of breath and lips and bodies. Lynn sighed in pleasure, and Ken let his eyes close with the knowledge that this was perfection.
Lynn’s phone rang.
She jumped, although she couldn’t move far, since Ken wasn’t letting her go just yet.
It kept ringing.
She sighed. This wasn’t the little-kitten sound of contentment that had thrilled him a second ago. It was an I-can’t-believe-this sigh. A sorry-I-have-to-get-this sigh.
“I should at least look at it,” she said.
Ken let her go reluctantly. He consoled himself with the reminder that they were mated. This relationship was forever. They could have many, many other moments like this.
But this one was perfect, his lion muttered. We shouldn’t have let her go.
We weren’t about to just hold her hostage, Ken reminded him. We’re not the kiss jailers.
Any further unhelpful comments from his toothier side were forestalled by Lynn’s voice rising in alarm.
“Wait—Stella—you’re not making any sense.”
Ken frowned, his annoyance slipping away, being replaced by concern. Something was wrong.
***
Stella was tripping over her words. “Todd brought the pack over—I mean, that’s not the problem, they’ve been over before, but this time it’s—it’s really a problem this time, and I sent Eva to her room but I don’t know what sort of trouble they’re going to stir up—”
Lynn took a slow breath, made sure her voice was absolutely calm, and said, “Stella, what do you need?”
“Will you come get us?” Stella asked miserably. “I’m sorry, I know it’s a long way, but my car died last week and Todd’s been driving us. He’s a good guy, you know, it’s just the pack—when they’re all together like this, and they’ve been drinking—”
Stella’s boyfriend was a wolf shifter. Lynn had only met him once, and she hadn’t been at all impressed. She knew Eva didn’t like him, either. Not liking your mom’s boyfriend was probably embedded in the teenager code, true, but Eva was a smart kid with a good head on her shoulders. Lynn would probably trust her judgment before she trusted Stella’s.
“Has anyone threatened you? Or Eva?” she asked, looking around for her keys. Oh, they were in her pocket. Good. “Can you call the police?”
“The p—I mean, that wouldn’t be any use out here,” Stella said. “That just wouldn’t work. They all know each other.”
Lynn’s fingers clenched on her keys. She hadn’t missed that Stella had avoided using the word police. Had answered the question in the most generic possible terms.
Her sister was impulsive and quick to trust people she shouldn’t, but she wasn’t an idiot. She was afraid of what might happen if the wolf pack heard her talking about the police, and that meant Lynn was afraid, too.
“I’m leaving now,” she told Stella, “but it’ll be a couple hours before I can get to you. Will you be safe that long? Is there somewhere you can go? Could you and Eva shift and get to the woods?”
“I don’t want to do that,” Stella said quietly. “They might—it might turn into a game.”
With the wolves shifting too, and chasing them. Christ. “Okay.” Lynn summoned all of her willpower and did not start yelling at Stella for moving in with this worthless guy in the first place. “You and Eva stay out of the way, stay as safe as you can, and run if you have to. I’m coming.”
“Okay,” Stella said. She already sounded calmer and stronger than she had when she called.
“And call again if you need to,” Lynn added. “I’ll see you in a couple hours.”