Page 36 of Blood of Vengeance

“Flinch,” she yelped, though not as an admonishment. No, the woman had a solid hold on me and wasn’t letting go. There was also a softness to her body, a willingness. She liked this. Even if my name in that tone sounded like a warning.

One I wasn’t about to listen to.

“My bed, my rules.” I wrapped myself around her and tugged her almost underneath me, letting my weight rest partially on her. Turning myself into her shifter weighted blanket and hoping I worked to soothe her anxiety. I even let my wolf growl nice and low and continuously. Vibrating against her like a goddamned massaging recliner.

All my tricks eventually worked. Locklyn relaxed beneath me, her body going pliant. Her hands burying themselves in my hair as my head rested on her chest. Her touch felt good. Too good. I was either going to fall asleep or fuck her through the mattress if we didn’t get up soon. And once I got inside her, I had a feeling I would never want to leave. Brothers and their need to hunt for Chiggy’s killer be damned.

Which meant I needed to stay on task.

“Better?” I asked, fighting the urge to bite her soft skin and taste her sweet blood.

“Yes.”

“What got to you?”

“Everything. It’s all…crazy.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I knew it had to be a brother, but I had a mate who needed me. One who took priority in that moment. The boys would have to wait.

“It is crazy, but I’ve got you. I’ll be the calm inside the chaos for you.” I growled louder, letting the sound massage her one last time. “Ready for some food now?”

Locklyn sighed and squeezed me tighter for just a moment. “Maybe a little something.”

My girl was hungry, which meant I had a job to do. But she also needed my physical contact. I knew that as well as I knew my own name, could tell by the way she clung to my side that she wasn’t ready to be away from me just yet. Which was fine by me—I would give her what she wanted while making sure she had what she needed. That was my job.

I held her tightly as I sat up, pulling her with me so we didn’t break contact. Once I had myself in a seated position with her on my lap, she wrapped herself around me. Fuck, what I would have given to have been naked in that moment. To have had my girl bouncing on my dick. Such an impossible thought in that moment, and yet one I couldn’t help but want to sink into. I knew she had to feel how hard I was under her, knew she noticed the fucking tree trunk pressed against her. She didn’t seem to mind, though. She might have even wiggled her hips a little as if to line me up with her pussy.

Something that would definitely break my control if I didn’t get my ass in gear.

“Food. Gotta make some food,” I said, practically to myself. Reminding my wolf what we needed to do to distract him from ripping off her clothes and sliding deep. Not tonight, friend.

Thankfully, Locklyn didn’t put up a fight as I grabbed her ass, rose to my feet, and carried her to the kitchen. I set her down on the table so I could keep touching her, so she could reach me if she needed to. So the connection between us didn’t break while I cooked for her. My kitchen wasn’t anything out of some designer magazine—it wasn’t open concept and huge. I had a typical small 1960s kitchen with a little round table in one corner. I could almost keep a hand on Locklyn’s knee and cook her entire meal. Almost.

I pulled some steak strips from the freezer and collected the rest of the ingredients I would need, mostly from the cabinets. I didn’t keep a lot of fresh stuff around because I usually wasn’t home enough, but I had the basics for street tacos.

Within minutes, the kitchen filled with the aroma of warm spices and meat. I was about to head out to my patio to grab one last thing when I had to stop.

“You like cilantro?”

Locklyn nodded. “I do, yes.”

I grunted and continued outside, grabbing a few sprigs from one of my cilantro plants before returning to the kitchen. Locklyn looked up when I came through the door and smiled, nearly punching me in the gut with the power of her attention. Fuck, this girl had me spinning in circles.

I had to focus on the food. “Some humans say this stuff tastes like soap.”

She tilted her head. “Shifters don’t?”

“None that I’ve ever met, and I’m old as fuck.”

“How old?”

The same question as back at the club, and I’d walked right into her asking it. I would eventually have to answer, but we didn’t have the time for that particular discussion, so I put her tacos together instead and headed her way, holding out the plate like a peace offering. “Old enough to know you might not be comfortable with that discussion.”

Locklyn took a taco and bit into it, chewing with a contemplative look on her face before swallowing and attacking my restraint once more. “Older than my dad?”

“Yes.”

“By a lot?”

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