Page 29 of Protector

“Oh, Jeannie… I know.” I can’t see him yet, but I can sense his smile in the easy way he says my name. “And I could’ve handled this whole mate thing a lot better… I’d apologize if I thought the words would actually sway you… but I’m beginning to understand that it’s not words that’ll do it for you. You need a male to act.”

He’s not wrong. “Yeah? And?”

“I can do both if you let me. I can tell you that I’ve been dying to kiss you again, but if this is the only chance I get to be close to you… I’ve spent decades dreaming of this. But since you need actions…”

Using his hand to move mine away that so I’m no longer blocking his access to my pussy, he pushes gently with his other, opening a gap between my legs big enough for him to shift his body into the space.

I could’ve stopped him at any moment. With my wolf, with my words, or even a warning down the whisper-thin bond stretching between us again. If I didn’t want his mouth on my pussy, it wouldn’t be there.

But, Luna help me, I do—so I brace my body up on my elbows and forearms, throwing my head back with the first heated swipe of his tongue after he uses his fingers to lift my labia, baring the rest of me to him.

Tristan said he’s been dying to do this. That he’s dreamed of it.

And then, after only a few seconds of his mouth on me, he lifts his head. “No.”

That single word snaps me out of my pleasurable bliss.

No?

My foot goes straight to his shoulder. It might tear a ligament or two when I kick the Beta away from me, but if he hates going down on me that bad, he can get the fuck away from me.

I knew it. I let my guard down for an instant, but this male only rejected me again.

What the hell was I thinking? Was I so relieved that he was here, that he seemed interested in giving this mating thing a second chance that I forgot how bad it hurt to know he was mine and not be able to have him.

I thought I did. With his nose nuzzling my clit, his tongue dipping into my pussy… I was already imagining what it would be like to take his cock next.

And now this?

Tristan tenses under my foot. “Jeannie, wait.”

“You have two seconds to explain why I shouldn’t kick you to the other side of the cave.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry. Your musk… I think it went straight to my head. Am I drunk? Shifters don’t get drunk so I don’t know if that’s what this is like, but your scent… your taste… I didn’t realize how that would sound until I already said it.”

“One.”

He lifts his hand, thumb squeezing my inner thigh. What’s he going to do? Latch on if I do kick him? And then the air around us moves as he shakes his head.

“I was answering you from before. That’s why I said ‘no’.”

I flex my toes. “Tw?—”

He laughs. I’m threatening bodily harm, and Tristan laughs. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a feisty she-wolf?”

“Yes,” I say flatly. “Usually human males who thought that was the best way to sweet-talk me into their beds.”

His laugh dies a quick death. To my surprise, there’s that possessive growl again. “When you’re with me, there are no other males. I know you have a past. A beauty like you… I’d be fooling myself if you didn’t have males trying to mate you. But you’re here now. The Luna said you were mine… and I’m done with pretending you’re not.”

Luna damn it. It shouldn't work. After three months of this male purposely avoiding me and our mate bond, this about-face shouldn’t do shit for me.

But while commenting on my attitude and talking to my boobs instead of me never seemed to work for any of my previous prospective lovers, if there’s one sure-fire way to get my motor running, it’s a male acting possessive over me.

Part of me hates it. I’m a dominant wolf shifter who kills for the Luna. But another part? The part that needs to protect?

It loves it.

“Your body doesn’t offend me, Jeannie. It excites me, and makes me think things I never have before. It makes me want to do things I never have before… and I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else looking at you and having those same thoughts.”

---