Page 54 of Blood of Vengeance

I leaned in, pinning her against the seat and kissing her in a much less sweet, much more aggressive way. I practically devoured her lips, tangling my tongue with hers and slipping my hand under her shirt to grab her breast. Needing to touch her, taste her, feel her. Wanting to bury myself inside her right there in the parking lot. Not that I would.

“I like being a distraction,” I whispered as I pulled away.

Locklyn gazed at me all unfocused, her pink tongue appearing to subtly lick at her bottom lip. Jesus, I wanted those lips wrapped around my cock so bad, but I couldn’t. We were burning her old man tonight. I needed to focus on her needs, her pleasure. Her distractions.

With that in mind, I stepped back and closed her door, adjusting myself through my jeans before rushing around the truck to the driver’s seat. I hopped in and started the engine, immediately grabbing my girl’s thigh.

“Ready?”

She stared out the window and nodded, looking distracted, though not by me. “Yeah.”

“You okay?” Because she had been just seconds before. What had changed?

“I think so.” Another nose scrunch. “You ever get the feeling someone’s watching you?”

My wolf immediately reacted, slamming through my human consciousness to assess our situation. We looked all around, eyeing every shadow. Peering over every roofline. Just in case. We found nothing.

“I have. You feel that way now?”

“I feel that way whenever I’m outside. Ever since the guy…”

“What guy?” Those words came out on more of a growl than I had intended, the tone attracting Locklyn’s attention. She turned in her seat to stare at me, green eyes focused and clear.

“There was a guy watching me outside of the coffee shop I went to with the prospect the other day. Nothing happened, he didn’t interact. He just…” She turned, looking out the front window again. “He stared.”

I was going to need to have a serious chat with that fucking prospect. “I find a fucker staring, I’ll dig his eyes out.”

Locklyn huffed as I put the truck into drive and headed for the road. “People stare. You can’t dig their eyes out for that.”

“Watch me.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And you’re mine. It’s my job to keep you safe.” I squeezed her thigh, keeping my grip strong. “I refuse to fail at that.”

The closer we got to my little house, the quieter Locklyn became. Not that she’d been excessively chatty that day, but the tension in the air and the lack of words coming from her mouth stood out. She would say goodbye to her father tonight surrounded by a bunch of men she really didn’t know. Even me—her mate—she barely knew. That fact had irked me from the moment we’d locked in the date and time with Popper.

Thankfully, I was a nosy son of a bitch with a fat bankroll and some questionable morals when it came to things like cell phone access.

“Who’s that?” Locklyn asked as we pulled onto my street. I kept my motherfucking mouth closed, knowing exactly who stood on my porch. The two whos—one Hellion and one support person for Locklyn.

“Oh my god.” Locklyn was in motion before I put the truck in park, swinging her door open wide and jumping down from the seat. The woman on the porch rushed toward her, both coming together in squeals and hugs and pure happiness. Reunited and obviously very excited about it.

Rush moseyed over to my side of the truck, both of us watching them.

“You flew her best friend out?”

I shrugged as if it wasn’t the best thing I’d ever thought of. “Seemed like a good idea.”

He nodded. “Good job, man. Good job.”

“I can’t believe you did this,” Locklyn said, smiling my way with her friend Zella still in her arms. “How did you know?”

“I made an assumption that you might need extra support today.”

Zella—short, waifish, with big eyes and a cunning gaze—smiled my way. “Good assumption. I didn’t want to miss this.”

Locklyn wiped a tear from under her eyes and pulled Zella toward the house, both women disappearing inside. I waited by the truck until they were gone so I could address Rush in private.

---