Page 15 of Her Dragon

“Time to head back to our cabin,” Artemis muttered. “I want you all to myself.”

As he tugged me away from his packmates, Evette called, “Get used to that too. I’m pregnant with his twins, and Leyton is still greedy with my time.”

“Don’t expect that to change once the twins come,” Laina warned. “I’ve given Keane cubs, and he still wants me all to himself.”

“You better not be complaining about that,” Keane grumbled.

“Never,” Laina promised.

“Don’t worry.” I patted Artemis’s chest. “I’m looking forward to alone time with you even though we can’t spend it all in bed while I’m recovering from last night’s antics.”

“Doesn’t matter if we’re in bed or not. With you is exactly where I want to be.”

Another plus to being with a shifter was how open they were with their feelings and planning a future together. I wouldn’t have to deal with any of the game playing I’d heard other girls complain about. Artemis wasn’t shy about what he wanted, and I had no doubt that it was me.

11

MARIELLE

Although I took a long bubble bath last night, the ache between my legs hadn’t eased enough for Artemis and me to have sex again before I had to head back to campus. Which left me feeling cranky even though he’d used his mouth to give me two orgasms this morning and had served me breakfast in bed again. Pancakes and bacon this time, along with a cup of coffee fixed exactly how I liked my daily dose of caffeine.

It was a good thing the existence of shifters was a well-kept secret from humans, or else every human woman would want a fated mate of their own. Even Shelley probably would’ve given up on her gold-hunting plans if she knew how amazing shifters treated their women.

I would’ve been fine driving myself back to campus, but Artemis insisted on bringing me. And using his truck instead of my car since it had rained a little this morning.

“There’s a parking lot around this corner,” I instructed, pointing to the left. “If you drive there, you can pull up to the curb and drop me off right in front of the door. I should have just enough time to run upstairs and change before my first class.”

“You don’t want me to come up with you?” he asked.

Turning toward him, I quirked a brow. “I would, except then I’d never make it to class on time. The second I pulled my pants off, we’d both want your mouth on me. Then we’d forget where I was supposed to be, and I’d probably miss my second class too.”

“True,” he conceded with a smirk. “I’ll wait here and drop you off after you’ve changed. Or you could just keep my shirt on.”

I laughed at his suggestion and plucked at the neckline that had slid off one of my shoulders. “Wearing it at your cabin is one thing. It’s way too big on me to wear around campus.”

“Hurry up.” He stroked his thumb over my exposed shoulder, sending a delicious shiver down my spine. “I want enough time to send you off to class with a kiss.”

“Be right back,” I promised before climbing out of the truck to run upstairs.

It only took me a few minutes to change outfits. I tucked his shirt under my pillowcase, wanting to keep his scent on it in case I stayed in my room without him sometime. Then I headed back down to his truck. Artemis followed my directions to the building across campus where my chemistry lab was held.

After he parked in the visitor’s lot, he climbed out and circled around the front of the vehicle to open my door. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.”

“What’re you going to be up to while I’m busy today?” I asked, not having any luck tugging my backpack out of his grasp.

“I’m gonna walk you to class and then I’m gonna hunt down that professor of yours who stole our moon rock.”

I sighed in exasperation, rolling my eyes. “Dr. McCord might be a jerk, but he didn’t steal anything. I gave him the lunar meteorite for testing.”

“Only because he tried convincing you that it was a worthless chunk of iron ore,” he argued. “The bastard had you doubting yourself, and that will not stand. You’re too damn smart for him to fuck with your head like that, and now you’ve got me to make sure he never does it again.”

It was tough to argue with his logic when that was exactly what Dr. McCord had done. I’m not sure what his motive had been for telling me that the black rock was magnetite when someone at his level of expertise should’ve known darn well that it wasn’t. Testing for the presence of cosmogenic nuclides would prove that it was a lunar meteorite, but his visual examination of the rock should have made him suspect that I was correct.

“I know, but I don’t see how this will go well. He gets cranky about students wanting to meet with him outside of office hours,” I warned him.

Artemis crossed his muscular arms over his broad chest. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a student.”

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