Page 88 of The Wolf in My Tavern

Drake chuckles again. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

I don’t acknowledge him leaving, as I have eyes only for my furious mate. “What are you doing out here, lass?” I meet her halfway, taking her by the arm, wanting nothing more than to get her out of sight. We are on a ship full of lusty males starved of female companionship.

She rips her arm out of my grasp with surprising ease, her eyes spitting daggers. Rounding on me, she pokes me in the chest.

I look down at her tiny, surprisingly bony finger.

“Where is Callum?” she demands.

“He is having some quality alone time,” I say, my gaze settling on the fur she has wrapped around herself, which threatens to slip from her breasts… Gods, she is beautiful… and hot. I am as obsessed with the woman as I am with her delectable body.

She hisses through her teeth. “He does not need alone time!”

I blink, dragging my mind from lusty considerations of the public claiming that will be expected when we return to the pack. She is staring out to sea like I might have dropped him overboard.

“This is bollocks. If you have thrown him overboard, I will cut off your balls and feed them to you.”

I grimace. Even though I don’t believe she is capable of such a macabre act, it still makes certain parts of me shrivel in fear. Also, I have never even heard her curse before. Where the fuck did she learn that word? I don’t even know how it might have happened, but I have a strong suspicion Lizbeth is somehow involved in Ada developing a filthy mouth. I will have words with Drake…

She pokes me again, rightfully sensing my mind has drifted. The fur covering her shifts. I both hate and hope that it might fully expose the swell of her plump breast.

The third poke is savage and accompanied by her stomping her foot.

I remember when she used to be a shy tavern wench, blushing when she approached my table and stammering over her words. Now look at her: gloriously feisty, standing up to a male many times her power and size, and utterly fearless.

I fell in love with her shy presence. I fall deeper in love with the woman she has grown into and become.

“I have not tossed him over the side, lass,” I say, seeking to calm her. “As you rightly surmised from the very start, in hurting him, I would hurt you. And I would sooner… let you cut off my balls and feed them to me than hurt you.” I shudder. That was not the best choice to get my point across.

I curl my hand around hers, removing the poky finger and bringing her knuckles to my lips. It disarms her briefly before she snatches her hand away and slaps me across the face.

I blink a few times. For a tiny lass, she has a hefty strike when she has a mind to.

“I want to see him right now.”

“He is not available.” I don’t like her being out here where it is cold—her naked toes must be freezing. “We should go back to the cabin. We shall be docking in the morning, and you can see him then.”

“No. I shall not go anywhere. Not until I see Callum with my own eyes—Oh!”

I toss her over my shoulder and march for the cabin. She beats on my back, strains for freedom, and finally screeches with her fury.

“Quieten down, wench.” I slap her ass. Striding through the door, I turn and shove the bolt across. It is high, and she cannot reach it without climbing on a chair… which is why I had all the chairs removed.

She does not quieten down. If anything, she gets worse.

Ada

“Fine,” he says, after he bolts the door, his tone an ominous kind of calm that sets butterflies to flight in my traitorous belly. “If you are not willing to be reasonable. I have no choice but to spank some respect into your deserving behind and then rut you until you do.”

“S-spank me?”

I hang over his shoulder as he strides for the bedding nook.

I can’t believe I slapped him—I don’t even know why I did. It was wrong of me. Didn’t my time with my father teach me about striking in anger? Deep down, I know he would never hurt Callum, but everything has gotten muddled up in my mind. When I am close to him, I feel an insatiable need to couple that is so intense it consumes all my thoughts and actions.

It is very distracting.

Also, he should have told me straight away that Callum was well instead of staring at my breasts like he was thinking of unwrapping me and devouring them on the ship’s deck, where anyone might have seen.

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