Leon gets to his feet, towering over me in this new, full-moon form. Then he leans down and slides his arms underneath me, lifting me up.

“Leon!” I cry. “Your arm!”

He licks my cheek. Then he nods to the others. “We’ll be back.”

“Go on,” says Quinn, flapping one big paw at us, “and work off all that heat in your veins.”

Jace snickers as Leon turns around and trots off into the woods, clutching me tight to his chest.

“Where are we going?” I ask as I cling to him, the trees whizzing past us.

“To clean me up.” He nuzzles my face. “And if I don’t fuck you soon, I’m going to go find and murder each one of those guys just for looking at you.”

I grin and pet the side of his face. “Aw. I’ve never had anyone offer to kill for me before.”

Leon’s fangs flash in the moonlight as he grins. “I’d do anything for you, Tiff.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Less than a mile from the den, there’s a waterfall Leon claims brings fresh glacier water down from the mountains. The waterfall gathers in a pool at the bottom of the cliff, where it then trickles away in a creek.

Leon sets me down on the edge of the pool and then climbs in, his wet fur turning dark gray in the water. There’s just enough moonlight to see by as I drop the blanket and step into the pool beside him. The water is freezing cold, so I swim quickly towards him to soak up his body heat.

With a chuckle, Leon pulls me in against his soft chest. In his lap, between my thighs, his furry sheath is parting for that bright pink cock. But he just remains holding me, tucking his snout over my shoulder.

“I never expected getting involved with you would lead to a confrontation with the mob,” he says, chuckling in his deep, rumbling werewolf voice.

“I’m so sorry.” My shoulders curl tight around my neck. “I should never have done what Mr. Bosley asked. This is my fault. The fact you got hurt is my fault.”

Leon’s snout bunches up with a snarl. “That’s not true at all. You didn’t know what he was up to. You were doing your job.”

I shake my head. “I knew it was wrong. I was just too scared. I was a coward. And now Mr. Bosley’s dead.”

With a deep sigh, Leon rests his big head on top of mine, stroking his soft palms down my back. “You have no responsibility for that, Tiff. He did it to himself. And he tried to frame you!” He growls. “You don’t owe that asshole anything. He should have gone to the cops, like you told him.”

I know he’s right. I close my eyes and try to accept this. Maybe Mr. Bosley didn’t deserve to die, but his fate isn’t on my shoulders, either.

Turning around in Leon’s lap, I take a good look at his wound. I bring water up to his shoulder and dump it over him, cleaning the blood on the outside away. When I’ve finished, something hard and metal falls out into my hand. I blink as I realize it’s the bullet, and the tip of it is completely crushed.

“Hit the bone,” he says, taking it to set it beside the water.

“Your bone stopped a bullet?” I gape at him. “And your body somehow ejected it?”

He grins and shows me his shoulder, where the dark pink wound has already stitched itself back together.

“The full moon. Werewolf stories always make it out to be this bad, scary thing. But the moon is special to us.” He bares his fangs in a smile. “It makes us even more who we are. It intensifies all of our natural abilities.”

“I certainly did like how, um, horny it made all of you. And the way you fought back there…” Cool seems like too weak of a word. It made me feel. Safe. Protected. Awed. “Amazing.”

Leon grins as he squeezes the folds of my belly with one big paw. “Thank you, love.”

I run my hand through his wet scruff, up his snout to his ear, and tentatively scratch just behind it. Leon unexpectedly moans, his head leaning into my palm while his cock swells up underneath me.

“You like that?” I ask, scratching a little harder. Despite his injury, he’s curling into me, his hands tightening around my body so his claws brush my skin.

“It’s so good, Tiff,” he says, nuzzling my palm. “You know just how to touch me.”

So that’s his weakness. I tuck this information away for later.