I wanted everything—body and soul.
Her sea-glass green eyes studied me from across the kitchen.
“You could sit, if you want,” she said, indicating a spot across from her at the table.
“If I get any closer to you, I’m going to touch you, and once I touch you I won’t want to stop.”
She dropped her fork. It clattered against the wood flooring as she looked at me with wide eyes.
Time spun out.
She swallowed, and I fought my instincts to cross the room and take her into my arms.
Using every ounce of self-restraint I possessed, I made myself move toward the door instead of the table. “I’m going out on patrol with my enforcers. Call me if you need me.”
I let the door swing shut behind me.
Maybe if I worked myself to the bone, I could fall asleep tonight and not dream of her.
Chapter 12
Piper
Weeks went by without any more incidents. But instead of this bringing a sense of relief, it made the tension ratchet up almost unbearably.
We got through Alanna’s first tooth, and she was a happy girl again. Day in and day out, we didn’t go anywhere or do anything outside of the Lodge. The buzz of UTVs in the distance was constant as enforcers used them to search Bear Clan property. Police patrolled and searched Moonhaven Cove, finding nothing. It was as though Barrett and his men had disappeared.
Tonight, I was getting a little bit of a break. Alanna was down for the night, being guarded by two of Riggs’ best enforcers. But because the noise of the Clan Lodge was getting to me, I was hiding out in the games room. I racked the billiard balls in the triangle, moving them along the blue felt to the starting position, then lifted the triangle and set it aside. Taking a cue from the holder off the wall, I chalked it before taking my shot.
Balls snicked and crashed into one another, scattering everywhere, with a few going into various pockets.
Even before he spoke, I knew he was there. I’d felt him the moment he entered the room.
“Good break.”
Reluctantly, I turned to face him. Since that moment in the kitchen, I’d been trying to avoid him again, and I knew he understood why. His hands were in the pockets of his joggers, and his eyes were sharp and knowing, but there was a quiet, patient understanding in them too.
Every molecule in my body sang whenever he was near me. The more I got to know my mate, the more I found to admire and respect.
I kept trying to ignore it, but it was getting more difficult.
“There’s always a pub with a billiards table near the bases, and there are always one too many cocky jerks who need to learn humility,” I said with a shrug. “So I teach them.”
His eyes blazed with laughter and something deeper before he moved into the room and grabbed a second cue off the wall.
“Mind if I join you?” His voice was soft.
Maybe he’d lowered it because he’d noticed the noise of the Lodge was getting to me. He was attentive like that, and I’d seen it more than once.
But I didn’t think it was just that. He seemed to work to be soft-spoken around women.
It had baffled me at first, but I got it now. He was huge and intimidating, so he softened himself on purpose to make sure he didn’t come across as threatening to females.
For most shifters, females were heavily protected.
I wondered if something in his past had made him more careful around women, but I didn’t ask, because asking would only give me more about him to admire.
Normally, this growing admiration toward Riggs would be a good thing. He was my mate, after all. But I was doing my level best to keep a clear head and deal with the threat against me and Alanna, and he was distracting in all the best ways.
