Bite Marks (The Lycans 5)

Not that Kane and Sebastian were a threat to her. Not that anyone or anything was, because I’d level them without a backward glance.

But if I were to entrust the safety of my female—the most important thing in my godforsaken life—to anyone else, it would be to these two big bastards who would lay their life down because their loyalty was unfaltering toward me.

Kane was staring at Kayla especially hard, and I narrowed my eyes and stepped forward and to the side to use my body to block their gazes from her. I growled low, a warning that if he wanted to keep his eyes in their sockets, he’d stop looking at her.

He snapped his attention to me and straightened, giving me a slight nod of acknowledgment that he understood. Kane and Sebastian were stepping outside, the door shutting behind them.

And then we were alone.

I’d sent the staff home already but had them prepare a few meals for Kayla on the off chance she’d be hungry after all this.

I looked at Kayla then, feeling her gaze already on me, her expression hesitant. On any other given day, I thrived on the anxiousness, the nervousness that came when someone was afraid of me. But I didn’t want that for her, and certainly not from me. I wanted her to look at me with trust.

“Come,” I said and turned, heading toward my study, not looking back to see if she’d follow. Knowing she would. Her curiosity was stronger than any anxiety or fear she felt.

I opened one of the double oak doors that led into the study that also doubled as my library, and stepped inside. The scent of old cigar smoke, aged books, and brandy still hung in the air. I’d lit a fire an hour before and walked toward the mantel. My home was decades old, modernized and updated over time, but this room I’d left untouched aside from the window. This room had old bones, an icy draft perpetually between the walls.

I heard the soft padding of her footsteps follow me in, but she didn’t close the door. She was smart, my sweet little mate, not wanting to be trapped in with a ravenous male.

I tucked my hands into the front pockets of my slacks and stared at the flames but not lost in thought, because I was very aware how close Kayla was, how good she smelled… how good she’d feel.

I finally looked over my shoulder and saw her standing close to the door. I smirked. I’d let her have her false sense of security, because even if she did run, escape, try to hide, there would be no way I wouldn’t find her. But the hunt would certainly be entertaining… and arousing.

“Ask your questions.”

A long moment passed before she started speaking. “And how do I know you’ll tell me the truth to anything I ask?” she questioned hesitantly.

I turned to face her fully. “You don’t, but what other choice do you have?” She was silent, worrying her full, pink bottom lip with her straight white teeth. It turned me on. “I can give you my word that I’ll never lie to you. I’m not sure what it’s worth to you, but there it is.”

After a prolonged second of her mulling that over, she exhaled and nodded once, as if she was coming to terms with some internal struggle.

“Let’s start with how you know who I am. Where I live, my name, all that personal stuff you shouldn’t know unless you’re a creep and stalked me.”

I felt my lips twitch in humor. Hell, had I ever felt anything that resembled… happiness or amusement? The only pleasure I’d ever felt in my long life had been in the form of taking down my enemies, the sadistic part of my soul and bloodlust being satiated with that outlet.

But looking at Kayla, how she made me feel, the connection I felt growing between us because she was mine, was unlike anything I could’ve ever imagined in my dark, coldhearted life.

Nothing scared me. No man, no Otherworlder, not even the monsters that hid in the shadows. Because I was one of those, a killer, an animal others cowered from.

But this? This feeling, the hollowness in the center of my chest that was slowly being filled? That terrified the fuck out of me.

When I didn’t answer right away, she made this exasperated sound and crossed her arms over her chest, right under her full breasts, which had the effect of all the blood pooling in my cock and making the fucking length harden painfully. The material stretched over the braless mounds, those perfect fucking handfuls that had me breathing harder from my lust.

My gaze instantly latched onto the way her nipples were tight, hard, and slightly visible through the thin white material.

Gods.

I slowly let my gaze travel back to her face, feeling absolutely zero shame if she caught me staring. But she wasn’t looking at me and instead staring at the floor, her arched, brown eyebrows furrowed as if she was deep in thought.