"He's a predator."
Lily started. "A sexual predator?"
"No. A predatory animal. He's a hawk shifter." Jude glowered at the strip of road illuminated by their headlights.
"Okay, well, in the interest of fairness, you're a predator, too."
"Yes, I am."
"So … "
"I found you first." The atmosphere thickened. From the corner of his eye, he saw her flick the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip. His lion purred at the sensual, kittenish gesture, but Jude recognized it for what it was-uncertainty.
Some shifters-some animals-liked to keep their prey on edge. Fear could be intoxicating. Even he had been known to toy with his target, but Lily triggered different instincts.
She wasn't prey. She was Pride.
And she wasn't anywhere near ready to hear that.
She didn't speak again until he pulled onto her street and drove right past her house.
"Missed it." She reached for her seatbelt. "It's fine, though. You can let me out at the corner and I'll walk back."
"There's someone inside." Holding the wheel with one hand, he grabbed his phone with the other. "Here. Call the cops and stay in the car. I'm going to check it out."
"What do you mean? What did you see?" She craned her neck and peered through the rear window.
"There's a man. He walked past the downstairs window like he owned the place. Call the cops." Jude turned the corner, threw the SUV in park and flung open his door. He already had a boot on the pavement when Lily coughed delicately.
"I don't live alone. He's moving around like he owns the place because he does, sort of."
He gripped the top of his doorframe and slowly turned his head to look at her. How had he missed the marks of another man's claim?
She unlatched her seatbelt and put her hand on the door handle. "I appreciate your quick thinking, and the ride home."
Jude closed his door and fisted the wheel. Eyes on the street because his lion was so close, he didn't trust himself to keep it hidden. "Husband?"
Silence. Jude looked at her face for the first time since her explanation. She was staring at him, dark eyebrows pinched between thoughtful blue eyes. When their gazes connected, she shook her head.
"No," she said. "Brother. I wouldn't have behaved around you the way I have been if I was married."
He tapped the wheel with his thumb and let that sink in, rolling her words over so long she shifted uncertainly and looked away. She was going to bolt. Hell.
"What way?"
She lifted one shoulder. "What do you mean, what way? Don't tell me you missed the fact I didn't object to your hands on my ass or your mouth on my skin tonight."
"I haven't missed a single thing about you," he purred.
Her breath caught. "Jude?"
"Lily."
She licked her lips and swallowed. "What does it look like when your lion comes out?"
The sexy, husky pitch of her voice stirred his cat to full alertness. "You'll know it when you see it," he promised.
"Now?"
"Not all the way, but he's trying. Are you afraid?"
She shook her head slowly but her white-knuckled grip on the door handle told a different story.
Slowly as a stalking predator, he leaned across the space between their seats, cornering her until she had nowhere else to go. Wide, hungry but uncertain, her eyes sucked him in, closer and closer until he could see the silver striations in her irises. Her breasts rose and fell with each rapid breath, sweet and soft against his chest.
"You are afraid." He rubbed his lips against hers, tasted her skittish gasp, and smiled. "You want to see him anyway, though, don't you?"
"Yes, but my wants don't control me anymore. I need to go. Right now. Back off, Jude." She turned her face aside and unlatched her seatbelt.
Silent, he drew back to grant her the space she'd requested. Not meeting his eyes again, she slid down to the sidewalk and closed the door in his face.
7
Kissing Jude would have been the beginning of a colossal disaster. She'd talked a good game there at the end but the stark truth was, she'd lied. She was afraid. Her wants did still have the power to control her. And if she let herself go down that road, she might want him more than she'd ever wanted anything else. That kind of desire …
No. She wouldn't be consumed.
Mind made up, she'd contacted Alexa's friend and submitted an application to the Jungle. Not the best choice, precisely, but it seemed safer to make use of Alexa's contact than go it alone at the Red Room. Maybe faster too, in a world where who you knew determined what doors were open to you, and how soon they opened. She couldn't afford to wait forever. The longer she starved her body, the weaker she would be, and she had a feeling she hadn't seen the last of Jude so she needed her strength.