Shock struck Boone’s expression, and he went perfectly still.
His eyes had changed color as I’d thought. I’d have sworn they were brown a moment ago, the same shade as his beard, but right now, as he loomed sated and large over me, they glowed a pale shade of green. Cash green. And when I said they glowed, they had the same glint that a cat’s or dog’s had in the darkness. Like they were able to see in the dark when you couldn’t.
Slowly, Boone eased out of me, sat back on his heels. Wow, he was still huge and hard, now coated in my arousal. A bead of cum seeped still from the little slit at the top.
He did that thing he’d done when he sat at the end of the bar, holding very still, like he didn’t want to spook me. His eyes held mine.
“What do you mean, baby?” he asked, his voice low.
I suddenly wished I had said nothing. I didn’t want him to lie to me about what he was like Natalie had. That had hurt my feelings when she’d done it. Rand was a werewolf. I knew because I’d seen him during the full moon. I’d looked out the window of my over-the-garage apartment to see a huge wolf run up to their back door then transform into a butt-naked man and walk right in the house. Not any butt-naked man–Rand. I’d never seen him naked before, or since, but I recognized him.
That had been one hell of a surprise.
I wasn’t supposed to know what he was, obviously. In fact, Natalie had lied right to my face when I asked about it the next morning, so I didn’t press the issue. It had been that important of a secret that my dear friend, the one who was generous enough to put me up in her extra space, felt she couldn’t tell me the truth. After that butt-baring incident, I looked for clues that Rand was a werewolf.
There were a lot when the secret was known.
For one thing, the ranch that abutted this one was called Wolf Ranch. The brothers who owned it–Rob, Colton, and Boyd–had the last name Wolf. Every full moon, at least the few I’d been here, Natalie went up to Wolf Ranch to hang out in the big house with the ladies. I also heard the howling of wolves up on the mountain. Not only did Rand run alone when it wasn’t a full moon, but it seemed he ran with others. There were lots of shifters around here.
Then there was the eye color thing. I’d seen Rand’s change when he was getting hot for Natalie, especially if it was close to the full moon. It was one thing to see them flirt or a little extra PDA in the kitchen, him cupping her ass or whispering something that made her blush, but the eyes… no human could do what Rand’s did. Then I realized Cody’s eyes did the same thing when his wife came around the bar. It was as if they couldn’t control themselves, that their need for their women was so potent that they changed.
Now, Boone’s were doing the same thing. For me.
I also couldn’t miss how Cody and Rand were hella strong. So was Boone–I’d watched him pick up that huge trash barrel full of glass bottles at the bar like it held feathers–and he was even bigger than either of his friends.
As far as I could tell, these shifters weren’t dangerous. Rand and Cody were both nice as could be. I didn’t hear about dead bodies being found after the full moon or anytime in Cooper Valley although that was taking things to the extreme in my head. They weren’t vampires or serial killers. They were shifters.
Natalie didn’t seem scared for me, and she didn’t seem afraid of her husband or any of the others from Wolf Ranch who I’d met. I knew she wouldn’t have invited me to move out here to stay with her until I got back on my feet if it wasn’t safe. In fact, she’d promised Rand would protect me if Marty showed up and tried to drag me back to LA.
I reached out and stroked Boone’s thick beard. It was so soft… and had been between my thighs just as I’d imagined.
“Are you a werewolf?” My voice sounded hoarse.
He nuzzled the hollow in the front of my shoulder, dropping a kiss there. “What do you know about werewolves?” His voice was deep and husky.
Ugh. He didn’t answer my question. I really didn’t want him to gaslight me about this.
Marty gaslit me every day of our marriage, telling me something like my outfit was too slutty, then when I got upset about it, he pounced on that. Like it was my fault he was getting angry about wearing something that wasn’t remotely inappropriate.
I couldn’t take mind games like that from a man again. I’d rather never be in a relationship than have a man who belittled me that way a second longer. It’d taken me years to recognize what he’d been doing, how easily I fell for it all, lost my family, my friends. My confidence.
It was back now, and I wasn’t giving it away again. Ever.
I met his gaze with a hint of defiance. “I know Natalie lied to me when I asked her if Rand was one.”
Rather than shut down, his expression softened and opened. His lips quirked a little at the edges. He lowered his head and… oh my, flicked his tongue over my erect nipple. “That’s because you weren’t supposed to know, baby. It’s a secret. But it’s okay now. You’re mine.”
His?
I stiffened at that, even though my body seemed to enjoy his assertion, my pussy clenching in an aftershock. It was too possessive. Too… all consuming.
“I’m not yours,” I said immediately and decisively.
His expression clouded, and he settled along my side, leaning on one elbow to prop his head with his hand and tracing my nipple with the index finger of his other hand. Lazily. Slowly. As if he didn’t have a care in the world. As if I hadn’t just asked him if he was a werewolf. As if he hadn’t raised a huge red flag with the use of one word: mine.
I looked at his thick finger as it moved over my skin with fascination. It was so large. As large as a normal man’s dick. I knew what it felt like to have that digit inside me. In fact, I knew what it was like to have two of them inside me.
“I know your divorce isn’t complete yet,” he said with a slight shrug of his broad shoulder. “Cody told me. I don’t care about human laws.”
