Page 16 of Protector

Oh, look. My clothes are right there.

The reason I was so careful to strip before shifting is because I didn’t bring that many outfits with me. Between wearing a dress made by a witch designer or going in my skin, I’d pick skin, but if I take good care of my regular clothes, it would come down to that.

And, sorry Fal, but I’d rather not wear hand-me-downs and cast-offs from another shifter. She does, and she’s been raiding Eleanor’s closet while the human and her mate are gone, but that’s not my style.

I share with Lorelei. Sometimes Fallon when we were all piled in the dorm together, but I’d known her for two years at that point.

I met Eleanor… twice? And while she seemed nice, and I got on with Jade like a house on fire, I’m not borrowing their panties.

Luckily, I don’t have to. Mine are in pristine condition, and I bend over to snag the waistband with my claw.

There’s that possessive growl again.

I swallow my grin as I ease back into a standing position.

And then

“Jean Louise?—”

Oh no he fucking didn’t.

Forget teasing him because, fuck yeah, I was teasing him. But for him to use my name like that?

I whirl around, shaking my panties in his face. “I told you. Two people get a pass with that name. Two.”

He kicks his chin up. “I’ll be the third.”

Flexing my fingers on my free hand, I show him my claws. “Only if you want me to carve ‘Jeannie’ in your chest as a reminder, hotshot.”

Tristan’s blue eyes flash, suddenly white. It’s not a sign of the Luna—not like how my eyes go silver when her power is coursing through me—but something different. Something uniquely Tristan.

He swallows roughly next, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he leans forward on the balls of his feet. “Is that your way of offering me your mark?”

“I would’ve marked you three months ago. Right next to this Luna-damn creek… I would’ve marked you. Now?” It takes everything I have in me to keep my expression nonplussed—and to shorten my claws to almost human-like nails before I tear the delicate fabric of my underwear. “You wouldn’t be worth chipping any more of my polish, Beta.”

He falls back on his heels, cursing under his breath. “Fuck.”

Yeah.

He did this. He rejected me. I don’t know what kind of game he’s playing, showing up like this when no one else is around, acting like a possessive wolf in the middle of the mating dance. There is no mating dance. We’re two broken shifters, and proof that the Luna really does make mistakes.

It’s fine. Honest. I spent my whole life sure I’d never have a mate. That stolen moment with Tristan was a tease and a revelation. I got a taste of what it would like, and further proof that a happily mated life isn’t meant for me.

I shake my head, knocking my hair over my shoulder. I’m not even trying to show off my naked body anymore. To be honest, for a second there I’d almost forgotten that I hadn’t pulled on my clothes just yet, though the heated look in his eyes—mingled with a remorse I pretend not to see—warms me up way more effectively than my fur would.

It’s winter in Winter Creek, the air smelling of the promise of more snow. Shifters run hot, though, and after my earlier swim in the creek, the chill doesn’t touch me at all. It still hasn’t. Not when I’m feeling flushed, a different kind of warmth working its way through me as Tristan watches me so closely, I don’t even think the Beta’s blinked since he spat out the curse.

I’m done with giving him a free show. Angrily stabbing one leg into my panties, then the other, I shimmy them up. Glaring at my former fated mate, I swoop down, gathering up the rest of my clothes and my shoes. I’ll change later. For the moment, I just cover my chest with the bundle.

Then, without a single word, I head for the trees.

His voice chases behind me.

“Where are you going?”

Isn’t karma a bitch? Three months ago, we stood in this same spot, only I was the one who lobbed that question at him.

But look at that. Tristan might be a gorgeous Beta who makes me alternate between wanting to gut him with my claw or throwing him to the ground so that I could ride him like a fucking pony, but you know what he isn’t? A Luna-touched shifter who can compel me to tell him shit.

---