Page 63 of Fastlander Fallen

“I don’t give a fuck about the friend stuff. I like being around you. Call it what you want, Corey.”

“Don’t hurt me, okay?” she whispered.

He shook his head. “Woman, you’re safe.”

She didn’t know why, but that felt so good to hear. She rested her forehead against his chest and exhaled slowly. “You’re the one who’s trouble with a capital T.”

He slipped his hand around her throat and used his thumb to tilt her chin up as he drew his lips next to her ear. “Lion.”

The stars above were so bright and beautiful from here, and her racing heartbeat was the soundtrack to this moment. He’d just told her what he was.

She didn’t know why, but that trust meant so much to her. Corey slid her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly, buried her face against his neck. He smelled like cologne, firepit smoke, and Ace.

He pulled her up off her feet and hugged her, swaying them slowly, his cheek pressed against hers.

Was this all right? She’d never fallen for anyone this hard, or this fast. “Is this the way it is with shifters?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“It happens fast?”

“Only if it’s right.” He settled her onto her feet and slid his big, strong hand around hers, then led her toward the firepit.

Hallie waved. “Hello stranger, long time no see!”

Her flip-flops clacked loudly in the night as she tried to keep up with Ace’s long, powerful strides. “Ouch!” she yelped as she stepped wrong on a stick and it poked the inside arch of her foot.

She lifted her foot and studied the blood that welled from the scrape.

Ace knelt down, and she rested her hands on his shoulders as he studied it. He wiped the blood with his forearm, but it instantly pooled again. He stood and stared down at her foot with an unfathomable expression. He seemed…confused.

He leaned forward, scooped her up, and carried her the rest of the way to the firepit.

“I’m really okay,” she said with a laugh. “It just surprised me.”

He sat her down in an empty chair, knelt down and wiped it with his forearm again, and frowned at her foot as it oozed more.

“You good?” Hallie asked.

“I’m totally fine. Just clumsy and hit a stick.”

Ace stood again, and just as before, he frowned down at her foot. “It’s not stopping.”

She giggled and told him, “It’s okay. We humans don’t stop bleeding as fast as you shifters do.”

“It was only a stick,” he murmured, his eyes trained on the drop of blood that fell from her foot.

“Look at your stupid face as you realize it,” Owen jabbed.

“Realize what?” Corey asked.

“How fragile you are.”

Ace tossed him a snarl. “Shut the fuck up, Owen.”

Owen tossed his hands in the air in mock-surrender. “Just pointing out the facts. Smell that, Ace? The scent of her blood. Is that why you’re growling? You’re realizing she’s not something to fuck, she’s something to hunt.”

Ace blurred, and Corey’s brain couldn’t keep up with what happened next. Owen went flying, and the sound of the hit to his face sounded almost delayed.

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