Page 5 of Protector

Like Cal, he’s about my age. Undeniably a shifter. There’s something in his the lazy grace of his prowl as he eases out onto the path, eyes locked on me. They’re blue. That throws me for a second; I don’t know many wolf shifters who have blue eyes. But then, despite the sunset and the shadows, I see them flash from blue to stark white and I think: Beta. Whoever this is, he’s a beta wolf.

Oh, and unless I lost my mind from boredom during the three train rides, I think he might be my fated mate.

He’s limber. Lean. Beneath his white t-shirt, I see toned arms and the outline of a sculpted chest. His hair is longer in the front, short on the sides, and a rich golden color that makes me instantly wonder what it looks like as fur.

My duffel bag drops from my hand. Slowly, I rise up from my crouch.

The guarded look on his face melts away to one of surprise—then wonder.

“You…”

My heart thuds against my chest. I feel a pull toward him. No… a tug. It’s like there’s something stretched between us, this gorgeous stranger on one side, me on the other, and it takes me a second for my brain to catch up with my instincts before I can put a name to it.

It’s a bond.

I have a bond with this Beta who looks like he belongs on a movie screen.

“Mate,” I whisper.

He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t move. He just looks at me.

I’m Jeannie fucking Lipton. I’m not the type of she-wolf who sits back and lets things happen around her. I either remove myself from a situation, or I attack it head-on.

In this case? I start to jog toward him.

For a split second, I’m sure he’s going to disappear into the trees before I can reach him. But then he moves, closing the small gap between us, and we collide.

My hands start at his waist. His drop on my shoulders before skimming over my biceps, tracing the curve of my sides and my hips. Our mouths find each other right away. It’s a messy kiss. Our teeth clash, and though I haven’t summoned my fangs, maybe he has because I taste blood and something that must be uniquely this male.

I skim my hand underneath his t-shirt; despite the cold, he’s blazing hot, another tip-off that he’s a wolf like me. I’m already feeling feverish, and I’m panting into his mouth as his finger latch onto the waistband of my jeans.

“Yes,” I moan, angling my hips to give him easier access as he pulls his head back long enough to run his attention from our kiss to my jeans. “Touch me. Take me. Do whatever you want to me...”

“It’s you. I… I can’t believe it’s you.” A flick of his finger and the button is done. He doesn’t bother with the zipper. Without the button, there’s enough give for him to dip his hand into my panties. “I’ve waited so long?—”

I’ve only known I might actually have a fated mate for two days, and already that seems like an eternity without his possessive touch.

Whenever I take a lover, I make them wait a while before I sleep with them. But with his scent in my nostrils, his taste in my mouth, and the Luna whispering he’s yours, my child, the one you’ve been waiting for in my mind, there’s no reason to wait.

The Luna picked this male out for me. From the way he reacted, he recognizes me as his mate, too. We have forever to get to know each other, to learn to love each other. We can’t even finalize this newly forged bond until the full moon when the Luna is at her peak and intended mates can perform the mating ceremony.

But with our instincts pinging and our hormones raging, we can mate just because?—

Two of his fingers slide through my folds. I fight the urge to throw my head back and owl and just that touch, and the only reason I manage not to is because my fated mate suddenly goes still.

I’m heavy-lidded with lust, and it takes a second for me to notice that something… something’s not right.

He gulps.

I wait.

“You’re wet,” he says. “For me?”

Well, duh. He’s acting like he’s surprised about that. “Well, yeah. Because you’re my?—”

I never get to finish my sentence. Before I can, the male who was certainly eager enough to unbutton my jeans and dip his hand inside of my panties yanks it back out again as though he’s been burned.

Stunned and confused by his sudden… panic? Is that panic? I think it’s panic… stunned by his shifting emotions, I don’t do anything as he backs away, putting distance between us.

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