Page 98 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

A hissed breath escaped him. The almost angry sound brought me out of my stupor, and I jerked in his arms.

“Kelsey. My treasure. Dear one. You are safe with me.” He ran a soothing hand over my hat. “I will never hurt you.”

I snorted.

“Remember that time you knocked me to the ground for kicking you in the nose? Well, that hurt like a mother.”

He pulled back and flashed his teeth at me again.

“That was before you were willing. And it was an accident.”

I gave him a narrowed-eye stare.

“Can we just go inside already? You’re distracting me.”

He chuckled before tipping his nose up and inhaling deeply. Instead of wondering what he was doing, I stared at his expanding chest in fascination. Yep, I still wanted to lick him. If Zoe were here, she’d call me pathetic.

“A troll waits inside,” Vedar said, interrupting my thoughts.

“No humans?”

Vedar slowly shook his head.

“Okay then. Let’s go find out what the troll knows.”

Vedar nudged me behind him, which I didn’t mind. The view was great. While I ogled his backside and contemplated how he would react if I started petting him there, he opened the door.

Inside the house, there wasn’t a single light on. I set my hands on Vedar’s waist and followed closely like I’d promised and because I was blind. He wasn’t. He veered around the kitchen table and made his way to the living room.

A light snapped on suddenly, illuminating a very scarred and ugly, large man.

The troll.

His black gaze swung to me where I peeked around Vedar, and the troll grinned.

“Joey thought you might come, human.”

“Where’s Chloe?” I asked even as Vedar’s weight shifted to hide me.

“I’ll take you to her,” the troll said.

I snorted.

“No, thank you. I’ll stick with people I know.”

“He thought you might not accept the invitation,” the troll said, lifting a tube to his mouth a moment before something stung my arm.

I yelped, Vedar roared, and the troll laughed for half a second before the hand around his throat cut off his airway.

“Don’t kill him,” I said. Or I tried to. The words came out funny.

As Vedar strangled the troll, he looked back at me.

“Remove the dart, my heart.”

I looked down at the little dart sticking through my poofy jacket and plucked it free with a hiss.

“That was a dick move,” I murmured as I blinked at Vedar. “I feel funny. What was in that?”

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