Page 1 of Protector

CHAPTER 1

GOOD TWIN

Shit. My twin is home.

She’s not supposed to be. With our assignment on pause until the Luna puts us back on duty, Lorelei decided to fill up her free time, volunteering at every in-need community she can find in our city of New Brunswick.

Of course she does. She’s the good twin.

Me? I decided to get a part-time job because a bored Jeannie has a tendency to get in trouble. I needed flexible hours in case my true employee—the Luna herself, and the goddess revered by all wolf shifters—had a reason to call on me. Plus, as one of her guardians, it’s not like we’re in it for the money. Our line, known as the Liptons in this generation, is filthy fucking rich.

When your family dates back to the not-so-mythical founders of an ancient empire, money kind of has a tendency to accumulate.

Not that you would know it by looking at us. That’s on purpose. We live in an average apartment in the downtown of the city, not too far from where Lorelei and I dormed during our years at RU. Lorelei might splurge on a designer purse here or there, but I’m happy in my Target clothes and Walmart sneakers. As a pair of full-blooded wolves living in a mostly human city without any clue that supes are real, it’s better that we don’t stand out if we don’t have to—as best we can, that is.

So I got a job at this coffee shop that’s a couple of blocks from our place.

That’s where I met Cal Reynolds.

A full human male who’s about as old as I look, he would come into the shop every morning to load up on his caffeine for the day. He’s in the Masters program at Rutgers, so a little older than the usual college student we get, and super fucking handsome. I’ve never been picky when it comes to my lovers. If you attract me and my wolf, I’m ready to go.

Cal seemed drawn to me immediately. He even tried to laugh it off when he hit on me, trying to convince me he’s not the sort of guy to ask out a barista on a whim while she was working, but he couldn’t help himself.

If I was any other type of she-wolf, I’d say that was a fated mate bond at work. That sudden attraction, that knowledge that you’re looking at the ‘one’... I know that’s not the case. He’s a human, and my brand of Luna-touched wolf—a guardian instead of a wolf who was blessed by our goddess—doesn’t have a fated mate. How can we? When our life is devoted to serving the Luna, there’s no room for a mate.

But just because there’s not one male out there meant only for me, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy one I find attractive…

Cal wore me down. I liked the attention, and I agreed to a date. One date.

That was six weeks ago, and I’ve been spending any and all of my free time with him.

Earlier tonight, we caught dinner to celebrate the end of the fall semester. And, well, maybe I really wanted to reward my new boyfriend, because I finally invited him over to my place.

I might’ve given Cal a little taste of what he could expect when we ducked into a side street near my building, making out like a pair of horny teens before I grabbed him by the hand and laughingly dragged him the rest of the way.

He started kissing me again on the elevator ride up, and I was into it—until the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I’ve heard people joke that there’s such a thing as twin telepathy. For twin wolf shifters? It’s not a joke. I don’t even need to use my sniffer to pick up on traces of Lorelei’s scent reaching me from our fourth floor apartment because I can already sense her near.

Crap.

Pulling away from his kiss, I lay my hand on Cal’s chest.

He drops his head, necking me softly. “What’s the matter? Something wrong?”

“It’s just… I forgot that my sister might be home.”

Another kiss against my throat has me thinking it might not be such a terrible thing to ask Lorelei to give me some privacy. She’s used to me kicking her out of our space when I want to get laid. She never, ever complains, either, or judges me for getting my pleasure where I can.

She’s still a virgin. Not for any reason other than she’s never found a guy—or girl—who made her want to have sex for the first time. When we were pups, she held out hope that maybe we would be given a fated mate, but I convinced her years ago not to waste her time.

We’re guardians. We protect. That’s our calling.

Even if I’ve secretly wished to have someone I could share a bond with other than my sister. Luna, I fucking love her. I adore her. Without her good side, who knows where the hell I’d be. But it’s not easy, looking at the mirror-image of you, knowing that you might share the same face, but your twin is still that much better than you.

Of course, that’s why I’ve purposely kept Cal from meeting Lorelei. He knows I have a sister, even if I’ve downplayed the whole ‘twin’ thing, and that’s about it. But it isn’t often that I want something just to be mine, and for as long as this fling with my latest boyfriend lasts, I thought it could be Cal.

And then, because he’s a good guy, too, he lifts his head. “That’s okay. If anything, I’d like to meet her. You make her sound amazing.”

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