Page 4 of Howliday Match

“Can’t blame a male for looking!”

Absolutely I can. I can fucking blame him enough to tear his fucking ass off and feed it to him.

“What the hell is going on around here? Why are all the guys in this place hot and bossy as hell?”

I can’t stop grinning. “You think I’m hot?”

“I didn’t say that,” she huffs. But I drop her lightly to the ground, dragging her down my body, watching as her pale cheeks flush and her pretty eyes flicker away from mine. Sky blue darkened to thunderstorm navy.

My heart skips a beat and my wolf howls in my chest, wondering why I’m not holding on to her and never letting her go.

“That’s what I want to do, buddy. But I can’t take away her choices. Can’t force her to want to be with me.”

She glares at me and backs away. “Who the hell are you talking to?”

I snap back to attention, knowing that it is definitely not time to mention my little secret.

“You haven’t told me your name. Don’t you think you owe me that much?”

Her golden-brown brows lift and she snaps at me. “What do you think I owe you for?”

“I saved you!”

“You saved me?! Have you lost your mind?”

“You don’t even realize what kind of danger you were really in. You have to be more careful. The people who are here are really…”

She holds up her hand and snaps, “I can tell that these are some weird freaking people. Starting with you. And I don’t think you’ve told me what your name is. So to me this conversation is the start and end of our relationship. I suppose I should thank you if you think I was in danger but I just don’t believe that I was.”

I shake my head. “My name is Raphael Dumonte. I’m from Magic, Wyoming.”

“Raphael.” She flushes and her bluer than blue eyes skitter away from mine. “I’ve never heard of Magic.”

My lips curl up. “You’d never forget it if you had.” I hold out my hand and she takes it. I lift my brow to her and she jumps slightly. “Oh, shit! My name is Helena Martin.” Her pale cheeks flush dark and she pulls her hand away from mine, cradling it to her chest.

“I promised my friend that I’d help her out with this party. I have to go in and finish this job.”

“If you walk back in that door, I’m gonna watch you like a fucking hawk. You still don’t realize what’s going on here and I don’t think you’re going to believe me if I do tell you.”

“Try me,” she huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Later. I’ll just have to make sure that none of these other males do anything that hurts you. I’d hate to have to kill someone tonight,” I grumble under my breath.

She chuckles but then the smile straightens into a frown as she eyes my very unhappy face. “You’re not serious, are you?”

“I am. But I’ll just have to try to keep from killing someone. As long as no other male touches you, I will be fine. I just wish that I already had my mark on you. That would at least protect you from the main predators in there.”

She shakes her head and eyes me like I’m crazy. “I’d say what the hell are you talking about but I’m not sure I want to know at this point. It sounds like I’m safer not knowing.”

“Oh no. You won’t be any safer being an innocent in that place. As a matter of fact, it makes you a little lamb to the slaughter for these guys but I’ll make sure that you stay safe. It’s my whole life at this point.”

She rolls her eyes and walks ahead of me back into the kitchens. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a very annoying and overly mysterious man?”

I grin. “I don’t know about the mysterious part but ask my cousin and he’ll gladly tell you that I’m often annoying.”

She cocks her head and laughs. “Well, at least you’re honest.”

She ducks into the kitchens and I groan under my breath when I see one of the bear shifters taking a sniff in her direction.

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