Page 57 of Good Luck Charm for the Wolf

“She ain’t yours. Never was. You think pawing at a woman and licking her like a creep makes her yours? I’d say someone wasn’t raised right. But no worries, Cat, I give lessons.”

Eric drops his hold on me fast, like I burned him.

Good. Let him.

I back away immediately, chest heaving, eyes locked on Doug like he’s the only safe place left in the world.

Doug steps right up to Eric, chest to chest now. He’s taller, wider, and meaner looking than the Cat Shifter who is sweating bullets right now.

Gross.

“You’ve got two choices, Cat. Get out before I ruin your life or make this physical and let me do it the fun way.”

Eric opens his mouth, ready to argue, fist pulled back like he’s going to swing.

But Doug moves first, and he is fast as lightning.

His fist slams into Eric’s jaw with brutal force.

The crack echoes through the empty pizzeria as Eric stumbles back, clutching his face, eyes wide in pure shock.

Doug shakes his hand out like he didn’t just nearly knock the guy’s head clean off.

“You come here again, you touch my woman again,” Doug growls, towering over him now, all feral menace and crackling dominance, “and I’ll do a lot worse than break your fucking face.”

“But she?—”

“This is your one chance to leave here on your own feet. Stay gone, or I swear I’m gonna tear you limb from limb. And if, by some miracle, you manage to put all the pieces of you back together, I'll make sure you have nowhere to run. Nowhere, Cat. No Pride in the country will take you when I’m finished. There. Will. Be. Nothing. For. You.”

Eric doesn't argue.

He scrambles toward the exit, practically tripping over himself to get out the door and into the night.

Doug locks the door behind him, then turns back to me.

His eyes soften immediately as they land on me.

I stand there, wide-eyed, shaken, but safe.

Because of him.

It’s just us again.

The silence is thick with adrenaline and leftover rage.

“Dina,” he says softly, voice losing its bite the second he looks at my ruined mural and back at me.

“I’ll fix it,” I explain, not even caring that those assholes ruined my work.

That’s not important right now.

Doug sucks in a deep breath and exhales slowly, like he’s trying to compose himself.

Then he crosses the space between us in two long strides and pulls me flush against him, hands cupping my face like he needs to feel every inch of me breathing and okay.

“Mine,” he murmurs fiercely, before kissing me like he needs to seal that vow deep into my soul.

And honestly?

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