She didn’t know if the shiver that passed through her was from excitement, or fear.
Chapter Eleven
Zan stepped into the miniscule bathroom, closing the door gently behind him. His body hummed with satisfaction as he disposed of the spent condom and flushed the toilet. It wasn’t until he buttoned up his jeans that his fingers froze in realization.
He was completely dressed. He’d only taken enough time to free his dick and shuck on a condom before sliding inside Jackie’s delectably wet and willing body. Against a damn wall. He’d acted like a rutting beast, taking what he wanted when he wanted. No finesse, no wooing, just fucking.
Not only that, he’d bitten her, making his claim before she was ready. Like the greedy bastard she thought he was.
“You ass.” He laced his hands on his head and glared at himself in the vanity mirror. Muscles, so recently eased with sexual release, bunched. But his beast rolled over onto it’s back and wiggled in ecstasy.
“You’re an ass too.” He jerked on the faucet and splashed water over his face. Slowly, the contentment felt by his wolf bled into the man. By biting her, Zan had made a claim. In the world of shifters, Jackie belonged to him now. To hold, to protect, and to cherish.
Now he grinned at himself. It had been a long time since anything belonged only to him. Hell, the house he lived in he shared with the other shifters that made up his team. Clothes were routinely borrowed due to their propensity to get bloody, torn or shredded during a shift. Their weapons were centrally stored in a locked room for inventory purposes. He might have two special knives he kept in boot sheathes, but those could be lost at anytime. Just like the loss of his 9mm to Scott only the year before when the kid had taken a wrong step during a mission and landed in a river.
Well, no one would lose Jackie because he wasn’t sharing her. Hell no. She belonged to him. From the tips of her painted toes to the top of her silky chestnut crowned head, and every soft and creamy inch between.
His eyes closed, desire snaking through his body despite only having her minutes ago. Renewed lust tightened in his groin.
This time he’d take it slower. Savor the curves and hollows as she deserved. Nibble his way to their mutual pleasure. Make love to her slow and easy.
His eyes snapped open and he stared at the shocked eyes reflecting back. Where the hell had that come from? He didn’t make love. He had sex. His job didn’t permit anything more than casual when it came to relationships outside his team. Forming attachments were distracting and potentially deadly for a man like him. Shit. The last thing he needed right now was the thought of worrying over some female doctor when he was neck-deep in a dangerous assignment.
Abruptly his wolf stood up and growled at him.
She isn’t some female. She’s our mate.
Groaning, Zan snatched up the hand towel next to the sink and rubbed it hard over his face, digging the palms of his hands into his eyes for good measure. What the hell had he done? He couldn’t have this.
Yes you can. You were already feeling restless. Unsettled. Unhappy. Taking too many risks. Now you have a brother, a mate, and the potential to start a new life. A content life. With a woman who excites you. Both body and brain. You’re an even bigger ass if you ruin this.
God! He could practically hear his father snarling at his indecision, which brought him back to where he started. He was an ass. Because how could he chastise Jackie for not accepting him and the mating heat when he didn’t even know what he wanted. Sex, hell yeah! But what happens after the sex? They lived on opposites sides of the country for God’s sake. Was he such an ass that he could walk away from her when the mating heat waned? Hadn’t he, not even a week ago, mentally beret the bastard who’d initialed the same without claiming his mate. Well Zan might have claimed, but now what?
The bathroom door was flung open and he swiveled just in time to feel a small fist plow into his stomach. “You ass.”
“That seems to be the general consensus,” he muttered over the pain.
“You bit me. You had no right to do that. None.”
Zan forced himself upright and rubbed at his abused belly. The woman sure did pack a hell of a punch. In more ways than one. Her eyes were hot with anger, her lithe body now tucked back into her clothing and practically vibrating with fury. And was he a perverse son of a bitch for finding the sight highly arousing?
She turned and stalked out to a hall closet, yanking out a towel while muttering to herself. He’d been too dazed to catch the beginning, but now he cocked his ear.
“...for the best. It will keep the other wolves at bay, so to speak. Which will be good considering the full moon’s in three days. Then once you leave everything should go back to normal. The scent marker will fade and I shouldn’t go into heat again until another mate comes along.”