Though she didn’t think it odd to believe herself falling for Zan in such a short time, she deliberately pushed away her grandfather’s idea that Zan loved her. He wanted her sure, but love? That was a much deeper emotion. Besides, if he loved her, wouldn’t he take her needs—outside of the sexual—into consideration? Than again, shouldn’t she? Wasn’t she being just the slightest bit greedy, wanting Zan to change his life for her while she resisted doing the same?
Which brought her right back to what she thought that first day. The best thing that should have happened between them was nothing. But now that they had something, she would have to make the best of the coming days without risking her heart any further. Accept that she would take what she could and then leave with a week’s worth of irreplaceable memories.
She had just dried off, leaving the towel wrapped around her hair, when she sensed Zan’s presence. Both his scent and his alpha-like shifter power hit her at the same time and an unknown knot unloosened in her gut.
He was alive and back. And while his scent and impending approach had her body readying its already ready self, the type of energy rolling off him gave her pause. He might be hail and hearty, but he was pissed about something. And heading straight toward her.
Not wanting another confrontation in another bathroom, she quickly unlocked and opened the bathroom door to see the man never far from her thoughts glowering at her. A look that only lasted a second before a carnal heat flared to life as he took in her nude form, still dewy from the shower.
Green eyes darkened, lips parted, nostrils flared, and he went preternaturally still as if in some type of trance. While the anger was still evident, unquestionable desire had broken to the forefront. As a distraction, she couldn’t have done anything better.
“What’s wrong?”
His lips pressed back into a hard line and she could have smacked herself. Maybe if she’d kept her mouth shut he would have just snatched her up and taken her to that big, comfy bed right behind him.
“What’s wrong?” Jackie winced as Zan’s roar bounced throughout the bathroom. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong. You left this house.”
Warily, she raised an eyebrow. “Your point?”
He gaped at her calm question. “Christ woman. There’s a killer out there and you went for a fucking jog as if all was right in the world.”
She shrugged and his eyes dropped down to her exposed breasts. “I’m not that much of an idiot. Joe was with me. He knows Shider’s scent.”
Zan’s eyes flicked back to hers, gleaming with something just this side of human. “And he’d only catch it if Shider was upwind. If you’d felt the need to work out some excess energy, you should have either stayed on the premises or called me.”
“Really,” she ground out between her teeth. “If Shider climbed up a tree with a rifle, I wouldn’t have been any safer running in circles around the house. I refuse to wait around, twiddling my thumbs until something happens.”
Angry herself, she didn’t recognize the muscles twitching in his jaw for what it was. “And since you left me to go play soldier, I had to find something else to do. Joe was handy.”
However upset Zan had been before, it was nothing compared to the present. Twin spots of fury spotted his cheeks. Steam was practically pouring out his ears and Jackie paused in her tirade, thinking that her runaway emotions followed by her big mouth had just kicked her past the point of no return.
“Joe?” He snarled. “You don’t belong to Joe. You belong to me.”
Refusing his possessive doctrine, she gnashed her teeth. “I belong to myself!”
Zan reached out and grabbed her by the hips, lifting her until they were eye-level and her toes were dangling in the air. The towel unraveled and fell to the floor at the sudden move, causing her hair to slap wetly onto her back. Amber ringed the green of his irises as the beast inside him struggled for supremacy. “You are my mate. Not Joe’s. Not anyone else’s. No matter what you say about others out there. You, Jackie Chavez, are mine.”
Taken aback, she blinked. Well, what did she expect from a dominant male shifter on the day of the full moon? Overly protective, aggressive, and possessive. That about summed Zan up.
This time she couldn’t complain about him using his height or weight to intimidate her as she had so many days ago. Though this time his strength and fury made her want to gulp in trepidation. He might proclaim he’d never physically harm her, but she had a strange feeling he wouldn’t be against locking her in a room and throwing away the key.
She was abruptly back on her feet and spun around to face the large mirror over the sink. Zan had one hand on her chin, the other over her belly. As angry as he was, and as close to the surface as his wolf was, his touch remained gentle. He wasn’t hurting her, but his hold was unbreakable. “Look at us.”