The woman started to reach for something in her purse. Pepper spray? A gun? Bowman caught her hand, his growl rumbling across the empty parking lot, vibrating the ground.
Shit. If Bowman hurt the woman, or even scared her bad enough, the human cops would be all over this place in a heartbeat. Bowman would be dragged away in cuffs spelled to contain Shifters, and probably every Shifter in the roadhouse would be arrested along with him.
Only one thing to do. Kenzie hurried out of the shadows, making for the two of them. At the last minute, she slowed and pretended to be out for a nonchalant stroll. She put a sway in her hips as she eased herself up to Bowman and draped her arm around his neck.
The heat of him came to her, along with his wild scent. The strength of him quivering under her touch made Kenzie flush with warmth.
Bowman's entire body went rigid. No one touched an alpha when he was at the height of his anger, especially not when he was this close to shifting.
No one but his mate.
"Hey, Bowman," Kenzie said, letting her voice drawl in a sultry way. "You seeing someone else now? I'm going to get jealous."
CHAPTER TWO
Kenzie, her arm still around Bowman, pinned the pseudo-groupie with a stare that she hoped showed a hint of feral red.
The woman backed a step under their collective gazes, and Bowman, thank the Goddess, released the woman's wrist. Kenzie remained draped over him, pretending not to feel every bit of tension in his body that told her he did not want her there.
The woman opened her mouth to deliver a final word. Her wolf ears had slid back on her head, and her makeup was running with her sweat. But she apparently thought better of speaking, and turned and walked hurriedly away. Her fake wolf tail waved as she went.
As soon as she disappeared back into the roadhouse, Bowman spun around. He did it so fast, Kenzie didn't have time to let go of him.
She found herself holding six-feet-eight of enraged Shifter. Bowman's body was tight, his gray eyes almost white with the suppressed change. The wolf in him was furious and wanted to hunt, to bring down and tear apart prey.
With any other Lupine, Kenzie might laugh and suggest he needed a beer-she'd buy. But Bowman wasn't going to calm down. While Kenzie didn't blame him-that woman was up to no good and might be dangerous-he had to stand down, or he might do something that would get them all into trouble.
Only one thing could soothe a wolf as dominant as Bowman. The touch of a mate.
Kenzie ran her hands over Bowman's shoulders, the tension in him incredible. He didn't want to calm down. He wanted a run.
Well, he could do that, but not right now. Other people were coming out of the roadhouse, paying no attention to them in the darkness. Some got into trucks and cars to drive home or on to the next bar; others lingered to talk and laugh. Bowman was too close to wild not to try to turn one of them into prey.
Bowman glared at Kenzie, but she didn't ease off. She skimmed her hands down his hard chest, feeling his heart beating crazily, his skin hot under his shirt. His growls continued to rumble-if anything, growing louder.
She kept up her massage, moving her hands in circles on his chest, pressing her body against his. He was incredibly warm in the January cold, his mating heat starting to take over the killing need.
Bowman seized her wrists in a grip that would have hurt anyone else. "Kenzie, you need to stop."
Kenzie flattened herself against him. She felt him with her whole body now, his heartbeat against hers, his breath on her skin, the hardness of his entire body.
"Not until you can walk inside without throwing people all over the tables."
Bowman's growl rumbled. "I don't like anyone watching my Shifters."
"I get that. But she's gone."
"People like that always come back."
"I know."
If he'd been anyone else, Kenzie might be tempted to get up in his face, wag her finger at him, bean him with sarcasm or bitchy words, but she knew better than to try it with Bowman. She knew him, and what he'd respond to.
Bowman's eyes at least had lost their spark of killing rage. Another spark flared in him, though, and Kenzie knew she was in trouble. Not that she minded. It had been a while. Too long.
Bowman's grip on her wrists tightened, his growl returning, but softer now, with a different note. Kenzie responded with a low growl of her own.
That was all it took. Bowman hauled her against him, arms coming around her to scoop her into him. She saw his eyes, still white gray, before he closed them on his way to parting her lips with a searing kiss. Kenzie bent back under his onslaught, curling her fingers against his chest.
She wanted this. Every time they came together, Kenzie was so hopeful, not only for the intense pleasure he could bestow, but for what might come of their mating frenzy. Another cub, maybe. Or the mate bond.
Bowman wanted these things too. He never said so, but she knew.
Kenzie sank into the kiss, but Bowman broke it all too soon and started pulling her toward the darkness at the edge of the parking lot. He nearly hauled Kenzie off her feet, he moved so fast, but he would never slow his pace for her. She was Lupine, and alpha, and he knew she could keep up with him. He expected it, which was both flattering and frustrating at the same time.
The parking lot ended in the beginning of a dense woods of old pine trees whose boles rose a hundred feet in the air before they sprouted branches. Kenzie found the rough bark of one at her back as Bowman shoved her against it.
His mouth came down on hers, his eyes closing again as his kiss turned savage. Bowman jammed his hands to the tree trunk, pinning her in place with his body. His heat embraced her, and his low growls vibrated through her.
Kenzie's mating frenzy rose to meet his. They were always like this, unable to come together without wanting to tear into each other. She clutched the back of his shirt as Bowman kissed her, his mouth opening hers. He had her trapped-she couldn't get away. Not that she wanted to.
Bowman's fingers became claws that shredded her new cropped top, bought today. He never touched her skin beneath, but Kenzie's shirt and bra became so much scrap. She'd be pissed off about that later, but right now, she didn't care.
Kenzie plucked at Bowman's shirt, tight across his shoulders, until Bowman broke the kiss long enough to yank it off.
She and Bowman came together, skin to skin, the heat of his chest burning her bare flesh. Never mind that it was about thirty degrees outside and their breath steamed in the cold. Kenzie and Bowman were already sweating. They'd burn down the woods if they weren't careful.
Kenzie stroked his shoulders and his short black hair, using her touch and her pliant body to soothe him. No one else could touch Bowman when he got this crazed. Only Kenzie. No other Shifter could calm him like she could, which was why they'd ended up becoming mates. They'd done it for the safety of not only their wolf packs but all of Shiftertown.
Bowman didn't want calm right now. He yanked Kenzie away from the tree, and she found herself on the ground, though she'd never felt the fall.
She landed in his arms, both of them now stretched full length on frozen dirt. Snow from last week had melted, leaving mud that had hardened with this temperature drop. The frozen earth pressed against Kenzie's back while Bowman lay over her, his mouth on her neck.
His teeth scraped her skin, then she felt the pain of a love bite. Kenzie arched into her mate, needy for him. Bowman's mouth was a place of fire, hurting and wonderful at the same time. The hard ridge she felt beneath his jeans excited her, and she wanted him.
He wanted it too. Bowman jerked at the button of her pants, ripping the zipper. He'd never fastened his jeans again, and very soon Kenzie felt his cock, bare and hot, against her abdomen.
Right here, right now, in this woods with music thumping in the roadhouse and humans in the parking lot. Never mind soothing him. Bowman always made it so exciting.
He raised his head, his smoke gray eyes light, his breath a snarl in his throat. "Damn you, Kenz," he whispered.
Kenzie's heart thumped in painful and excited need. There was so much between them, and yet so much wrong, that she was never sure how she felt with him.
Sometimes, when they started this, Bowman would stop, jerk himself from her, and walk away. He'd shift into wolf and depart deep into the woods, returning to their home in Shiftertown after many hours. He'd never abandon them completely; she knew that. Bowman was a leader, and he'd never leave his Shifters to fend for themselves, nor would he leave his family, his son.
As Kenzie held her breath, waiting to see what he'd do-thrust himself into her or get off and walk away-a growl came out of the woods, one so menacing that both Bowman and Kenzie froze.