He snarls, lunging for me, but the second Kiara throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist, he goes stock still. “Z, that’senough.”
Gods, she’s perfect. Nobody’s ever defended me before, but Kiara? She’s willing to dive headfirst into a fight with a shifter. Forme.
Gonna marry that woman so hard.
“This the dumbass fated mate you told me about?”
She removes her grip on the shifter slowly, watching his reaction. When he doesn’t lunge for me again, but tucks her behind him while growling low in his throat and glaring daggers at me, she sighs softly. “No, this is the feral one. He's new.”
Instantly, the fight drains out of me. My girl knows the jackass-that-shall-not-be-named doesn’t deserve her. All of my rage is directed at the idiot that wouldn’t know a good thing if it bit him on the dick, but it’s his loss. So this new guy itching to tear my throat out to protect my girl? I respect him all the more for it, even if I hate the idea of anyone standing between me and the light of my life. He was looking out for her when I was distracted, andthatopens up a whole new world of possibilities I hadn’t considered before.
If she’s fighting for him, there’s a reason. And I trust her.
“Do we like him?”
She doesn’t hesitate. “Yeah, we really do. He needs me, but honestly? I think I need him more.”
“That settles it, then.”
Like a flip is switched, I stop picturing his death. He isn’t going to kill me; it’ll take a hell of a lot for him to come anywhere close. But heisa threat, and I can respect his skill as much as I acknowledge that keeping a feral shifter around my mate poses a new set of problems that I’ll need to manage. It’ll be tricky, but I do so love a challenge.
A cornered animal is unpredictable only as far as they’d do anything to survive. But they’re predictable in the respect that youknowthey’ll do anything to survive, so you can anticipate certain behavior.
“Alrighty then. Does he do any cool tricks, or is he more of an attack dog?”
She scowls. “He's not a dog.”
“Tomato, potato. Does he need special food?” Seriously, I’m not prepared for this. Keeping a mate alive is one thing, but all of her pets too?
You’ve got this, Dev. Just murder anything that looks at your girl or her pets longer than five seconds. Maybe three.
“You do realize he's aperson, right?” the love of my life asks.
I shrug, rolling my knife between my fingers. “Only person I care about is you. Everything else is just part of the ride.”
Her eyes widen as she catches sight of the bandage on my wrist and breaks free to grab my arm, much to the shifter’s chagrin. He rumbles his displeasure, staying a step behind her. Every muscle is strung tight, ready to pounce if I so much as breathe wrong, but he’s well trained and seems to be following her lead for now.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“Oh, this?” I peel off the bandage and grimace as the tape rips out my arm hair.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Something to keep me busy while waiting for the wraith to show up; tattooing my girl's mate mark on so I wouldn't keep smudging the ink after I drew it on each morning and have to start over. But... well...
Sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck, I confess, “I tried to make it permanent, but I think it's infected.”
“You…” she trails off, looking at me in a way I can’t quite read. “You tattooed my mark on yourself? Why?”
Now I’m the one looking at her funny. “You’re my mate, why wouldn’t I want everyone to know I’m yours?”
I stumble back a step with a surprised grunt when she throws herself at me, but before I can ask what I said wrong to upset her, her lips are on mine. For several seconds, I forget how to breathe. Scared to, if I’m being honest. Afraid to do a single thing that might make her stop.
Infuriatingly, she pulls away, avoiding my gaze suddenly and starts to apologize, of all insane things. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just thought-”
Threading my fingers through her hair and cupping her cheek, I kiss her back. Zero hesitation, and even less experience, I pour every emotion I don’t know how to name into the kiss. I usually don’t like physical contact in any form, but Kiara? She’s so… sosoft.And warm, and all things good wrapped up in one beautiful, addictive package. I may not have actually had sex before, never had the desire before now, if I’m being honest, but I understand the mechanics. And every roll of Kiara’s tongue against mine inspires a new visual until I don’t even know where I’d start. I want everything, all at once. Forever.
She breaks the kiss, chest heaving, and while I’m trying to catch up with the rewiring she just did in my brain, heals my wrist and asks, “Why did you ghost me after our date if you feel that way? I thought,” she swallows, shifting between her feet and averting her gaze. “I thought it went well. Did I do something wrong?”
If I thought I didn’t understand women before, it’s nothing compared to how dumbfounded and lost I am now. What the heck is she talking about? Do somethingwrong?My Kiara is fuckingperfect,thank you very much.
