Emme didn’t stir as he handed her across, and as soon as I wrapped my arms around her, my wolf calmed. Her sweet scent started to mix with mine, and I was thrown back to the day I’d scented her chocolate and honey in the council room.
The connection had been so strong, slamming into me, and I’d almost given into the roaring need to claim her. It had only been the fear on her face which held my bite.
I headed for the stairs but had to slow when Kellan leapt in front of me, his face devoid of his usual joviality. “Don’t do anything that will cause me to be angry with you. I will avenge her honor.”
My rumbling growl was the only fucking warning he needed to know he’d pushed me as far as I’d allow tonight, but he didn’tback away. For that, I respected the hell out of the little shit. “I won’t hurt or upset her. Now get out of my way.”
He pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at me, before he stepped aside, allowing me to take her upstairs. Emme still hadn’t moved, solidly asleep, and it annoyed me that she’d let herself grow so exhausted that she was vulnerable.
I’d never cause her physical harm, but she didn’t believe that, so she shouldn’t be sleeping this soundly in my arms. Was this about more than exhaustion though? Was there a part of her that instinctively knew she was safe in our pack?
When we reached her room, she let out a breathy sigh and snuggled closer to my chest. Her ear was pressed just above my heart, as if seeking out the beat. With a groan, I shifted her higher and adjusted myself in my suit pants. Being this close to her had my dick trying to punch through the material like I was a fucking teen pup getting laid for the first time.
I had to get her to bed before the slivers of control I desperately clung to shattered.
The roaring need to claim her never went anywhere. If anything, it got worse each day, as I fought a millennia of shifter instinct.
Chapter
Thirty-One
Iwoke up later than usual on Sunday, feeling refreshed and strangely calm. As I rolled over, coffee and cocoa drifted up from the sheets, and I tried to recall what happened last night. I’d worked at the club, and then Kellan brought me home, and…
A quick feel under the sheets revealed that I was in my underwear, and I might not be able to remember it, but I knew exactly who’d undressed me and put me to bed.Hunter Reeves.
I must have fallen asleep in the car, exhaustion and the weird trust I had for these alphas, knocking out my usual security system. I’d have to be dead to the world to not rouse when Hunter removed my pants and tank.
I waited for the anger and sense of violation to strike at his audacity of undressing me without my permission, and it was faintly there, but mostly I was annoyed by my vulnerability around them. The issue here was that my wolf trusted them implicitly, and she was no longer a viable warning system. Not when it came to Reeves Pack.
At least, from what I could tell, he’d done little except strip me of my shoes and clothes—which had stunk from the club, and I wouldn’t have wanted to sleep in them anyway—before sliding me under the sheets.
Still, at some point I probably needed to have a quick chat with him about consent.
Pulling myself out of the bed, I padded over to the window and lifted the blinds. A dull light reflected back, and for my first time in Golden Claw, their bright fall weather had been replaced by rain. Heavy and ominous clouds hung low in the sky, the wind blowing fiercely through the mass of trees across their acres of land, and I wondered if they’d still head to the track.
Not to mention, there was no way family bonfire night could go ahead if this weather persisted.
Fighting the urge to crawl back into bed, I almost fell onto the soft surface, until a waft of stale booze drifted off my skin. More than one drink had spilled on me last night, and I couldn’t wait another second to shower.
In the bathroom, the bright lights reflected my freckles and clear blue eyes in the mirror. I was surprised to see that any makeup I’d been wearing to work was gone. If Hunter had removed it, it was strangely thoughtful, for that snarly alpha.
Though, it had been Kellan who’d dusted the powder off my nose as soon as he’d arrived at Luxuria.Your pretty freckles are never to be covered, Shortcake. They’re mine to keep.
He had a way with words that stayed with me long after he’d finished speaking.
Twenty minutes later, I strolled out of the bathroom, scented in a new strawberry lotion I’d found in the drawer, and not even a minute later there was a knock at the door.
“Pretty girl, you awake?”
I was only in a towel, and we did not need a repeat of the last towel incident. “Yep, give me a second to get dressed.”
There was a thud, as if Kellan had dropped his head against the door while he mumbled, “I’d rather not.”
Biting back a laugh, I hurried into the dressing room to find some clothes. There was no pain in my feet from last night, andoverall, it’d been a pretty great first shift. After Slade dropped me off, and half the club fawned over him from a distance, he’d sat in one of the high tables with his laptop and proceeded to work.
Work and stare.
His biting gaze had me stumbling around like a newborn pup who hadn’t quite gotten her legs under her yet. The dragon shifter confused me, and when he’d packed up and left a couple of hours into my shift, I couldn’t figure out if I was relieved or disappointed to no longer have his green gaze on me.
