Page 130 of The Wolf in My Tavern

“Damn whelp,” Gray growls, his fingers dipping under the hem of my dress and petting my ass cheek. “You are always presuming you get more than you do.”

“It was right here, against my throat,” Callum says, sounding grouchy now.

“There is not even a hint of blood,” Gray replies, his fingers sliding back and forth under the swell of my ass, tickling, making me hold my breath for him to move somewhere better.

“I am a fucking shifter now,” Callum says. “Of course, there is no blood. I shifted when I went out on patrol.”

“I would not have shifted if she had drawn blood,” Gray says, his fingers hovering over my ass, so close to where I need it most. “I do not believe you.”

“Will you please stop arguing? What are you hiding?” I demand, trying to push my ass back toward his fingertips.

Gray takes his hand away and steps right up to me, squishing me against Callum and making all the air leave my lungs in a sudden whoosh. His lips lower to my shoulder, skipping over my dress until he nuzzles and nips the crook of my shoulder and throat.

Heat pools in my lower belly.

“She is so fucking close,” Callum says, his fingers tipping my chin, forcing our eyes to meet in the gloom as Gray continues to kiss me. “My beast is near insensible. Her scent has changed… She is fertile… Ready to breed.”

My nostrils flare, and my pussy clenches savagely, pushing out a gush of slick that I feel trickling down the tops of my thighs.

“I think we should call it,” Gray says.

“No,” Callum replies, and even though it is dark, I hear the smirk in his voice. “They will figure out where we are… eventually.”

Gray’s chuckle is low and husky. He nuzzles behind my ear, making me hot and squirmy in the best way, and then lifts his head. “Good idea.”

Callum suddenly steps back, ducks his head to put his shoulder to my belly, and, planting his arm around my thighs, hauls me up and over.

“Uff!” All the air leaves me in a rush as I dangle.

Pivoting, he strides off down the corridor. Not toward our room as I imagine he might. No, he continues on the other way.

I peer back. A shaft of light spills in from an open side door, illuminating a grinning Gray who follows us. My eyes immediately lower to where his cock strains against his hide pants.

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Callum says, swatting my ass.

A single, alarming thought penetrates my floaty mind.

No.

They cannot mean to…

Can they?

Gray has made no further mention of a public claiming ceremony, nor has anyone else. I even asked Lizbeth about it, but she only laughed and said, “Oh, we don’t do that anymore.”

I believed her at the time.

I do not believe her anymore.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Callum

Ihustle along the corridor with Ada swinging over my shoulder, my focus on my destination.

Gray’s footsteps follow closely.

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