Shift Happens(62)

Another growl escaped Wick’s lips.

“But I didn’t finish it.” I blushed, knowing Wick would understand what that meant. Completing the mating bond involved a strategically timed bite—the one wound that would scar instead of heal on a Were or Shifter. The mark of a mate.

“You need to trust your instincts.”

“What if I’m wrong again? It broke me, Wick. It took me thirty-three years living as an animal in the woods to find my humanity again. Barely. That’s why I’ve been working for the SRD for the last fifteen years. Even now, I’m not whole. I don’t know you. I don’t care if my wolf wants to hump your leg. I can’t go into a mating bond blind. I don’t think I have it in me to break a bond like that again and survive it.”

Wick’s chest rumbled. “When we mate, it will be for life. There’ll be no breaking it.”

“Exactly my point,” I huffed. “Shouldn’t we get to know each other a bit better first? It’s not too late to walk away.”

“Weres don’t have a shitload of potential mates running around, Andy. It will not be easy for me to walk away. It will be impossible.”

“Easier than if we’re wrong about this match.”

“Not wrong.” He leaned down and bit my jaw. “We are meant to be together. How did you react when you first took in my scent? I felt the same overwhelming thing. You are just scared.”

He’d felt that, too? “Maybe I am. Why can’t you give me time? What’s a few months in respect to a lifetime?”

“Months?” His voice made a strangled sound.

I shrugged. “Maybe less if you play your cards right.”

Wick’s chest rumbled. “So what are you suggesting? You want to date me?” He made the word sound dirty.

“Time to wine and dine, baby.” I slapped his butt. The hard muscle left my hand stinging, but I couldn’t help myself.

Wick pretended to grumble, but his lips twitched. “So wait. You met Dylan when you were twenty, spent eleven years with him, thirty-three years as a mountain lion and then fifteen years with the SRD?” He paused, probably doing the mental math. “That makes you seventy-nine.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Just a baby.” He licked his lips.

I stared at his mouth. “Exactly how much are you robbing the cradle?”

He shook his head and didn’t answer. “I hope you don’t expect me to keep my hands off you,” he said.

“I expect you to have them all over me.”

No more encouragement was needed. With a wicked grin, he dropped his head to my breasts.

“But,” I said.

Wick froze. “But?”

“I don’t think I’m…” I paused. “Ready for…” How should I put it? Sex? Commitment? Vulnerability?

Wick nodded. “I get it, Andy. We’ll go slow.” He trailed kisses down my body. One of his hands slipped under to clutch my butt. He squeezed it hard and dragged his teeth along my hip bone.

“I love how your skin tastes.” Wick’s voice vibrated off said skin. Ripples of pleasure traveled up my body. My nipples ached. Every inch of me hummed with deep longing. His actions defied his words. He might be working my body slowly, but this hardly qualified as a PG-rated activity.

“Wick.” His name came out as a plea.

His lips curled up and then he dipped his head between my legs. Running the bridge of his nose along the crease between my right leg and crotch, he drew in a deep breath, scenting me. “I want to taste all of you.”

I ran my hands through his short blond hair before clasping his head and angling it up to meet my eyes over the length of my body. His irises blazed yellow, his wolf in full control. “Wick,” I warned.

Wick swore and dropped his head. He took deep breaths in and out.

“This isn’t slow.”

“No,” came his strangled reply. He rolled off me. “I know. You are going to be the death of me, woman.”

I sank into the mattress and pillows, aching with unsatisfied need. Right back at you.





Chapter Twenty-Six


“Where do you think you’re going?” Wick’s voice, laced with frustration and anger, hit me like an ice cream brain freeze. Not bothering to lift his head from the bed, he kept his arm draped over his face when he spoke. I tried not to check out his tented boxer briefs, and failed. My mouth watered and I shut it before Wick sensed my weakness.

“To my room.” I perched on the edge of the bed and tried to find my various articles of clothing. My shirt was in shreds, same with my bra. “Where are my pants?”

Wick growled.