“Stay. I want to feel you … like this. I want to see you up close.”
If I could grin, I would. She’ll know damn well how much hearing that pleased me the moment I shift. Pride flows through me and I huff in agreement as I pad over swiftly to be closer to her. Her delicate hand grabs the knife, but before retrieving it she looks back at me. “I thought we could keep him for Devin.” Although it’s a statement, it’s clear she’s asking me. My hackles raise, realizing she knows more of me than I know of her. She waits for my nod and then she removes the knife. It’s a silver blade. He’ll heal with time, but we’ll deal with him before he has a chance to come to. I watch her skilled moves while coming to terms with the situation. My mate is a vampire and she knows of Devin. Numerous questions pile in my mind, but in wolf form I’m unable to speak. Standing, she places the bloody blade behind her back and tilts her head as she takes me in.
Her dark eyes travel down my body. Although she’s shorter than I am, we’re the same height while I’m standing on all four paws in my wolf form.
“Lie down.” Her command makes me grin inwardly. I’m so fucking turned on it hurts. I need to shift so I can play this game with her. Obeying my mate, I settle on the ground in the brick alley. A low rumble vibrates my chest as she spears my fur with her small hands, petting me. She moves in front of me and takes my large head in her grasp before gently scratching my chest. Her touch on me is a heaven I didn’t know existed. I resist the urge to close my eyes so I can stare back at her while enjoying her touch. A small smile plays at her lips as she watches her fingers disappear in my thick, soft fur. All too quickly, she stops. Her smile vanishes as she glances at the bodies around her.
She purses her lips and looks behind us at my tattered and shredded outfit. “You ruined your clothes.” I sit up, making me about a foot taller than her so I tower over her, but she maintains eye contact. “What are you going to wear now?” Is she admonishing me? “I’m going to need help moving these bodies and storing him in the trunk.” Her thumb points to the incapacitated shifter. “I have silver rope in the back of the car, but how the hell am I going to carry him?” Her tongue clucks as she surveys the scene. “You need clothes. Do you have any?” I shake my head, causing her dark eyes to narrow. “Shift.”
My mate is … testing me. I allow a moment to pass, observing her and she stares back at me, her confidence disappearing for only a moment. “Please,” she adds, dragging out the word as if she’s not used to saying it.
That’s better. All I can think before I shift back is that my mate is going to challenge me, push me, command me even … and I’m eager to play and to do the same in return.
Vince
Tossing her keys on the bedside table in the hotel room, I perk up as I hear the shower being turned on. I buried the human and the two shifters in the woods after tying up the remaining one with silver rope and locking him in Veronica’s trunk. Her name was the first thing I requested. I can’t get over the way the four syllables roll off my tongue.
Time was short between us, though, with barely any words spoken other than a hastily devised plan. Bury the three, throw the other in the back of her trunk and then lie low at this hotel.
After all of that, a shower is desperately needed and then I have to call Devin. He needs to know everything and more importantly, that we have a shifter roped in silver to interrogate.
The fucker pissed all over himself, but he’ll live. For now. I don’t know how long that’ll last once Devin finds out what they were planning.
I strip out of the jeans and simple white T-shirt my mate got me. The shirt barely fits, but I think she likes seeing it stretched tight across my broad shoulders. She knew damn well I needed a larger size.
So far I’ve learned my mate is opinionated. She likes what she likes, and I’m hard as a fucking rock for her. Every little detail about her seems to scream to me to pay attention. From the way a soft accent lingers on a few of her words, to the way she tucks her jet-black hair behind her ear to accentuate her slender neck. I crave every inch of her.