Page 22 of Feral Moon Rising
“I have my own to care for.”
Three.
Lionel nodded, pushed Lottie forward.
Two.
She tottered toward me. I caught her as he spread his hands.
“Then do it.”
One.
I held his gaze, shook my head. My arms tightened around her. No chance was I letting my mate go now she was exactly where she was supposed to be.With me.
“I don’t need to,” I said softly.
Gathering Lottie in my arms, I carried her from the alley unassailed as the first shifters used their remaining talents and tore into their leader who wore the brunt of their decisions.
For those ear-bleeding moments I was glad Lottie was too out of it to hear his screams.
****
Blake and Lottie layside by side, pale as death in my bed as I covered them both in a nest of blankets and raised her wrist to his lips.
“Bite, brother. Mark her as ours,” I whispered, pressing my lips to his temple.
Live. Please.
No matter how much he irritated the shit out of me, how many times I had to haul his ass out of trouble and across state and county lines ... I still loved him. As much as I loved her.
“Did she agree?” he slurred. The tip of his tongue peeked between parched lips to taste her. A shudder rippled along his body at the mere scent of our mate, so close. But still he held back.
Lionel might have screwed his claw to the wall and worn the consequences, but I won’t let Blake die because of some qualms when she’s fucked out of her mind and it’s not his fault.
Because she was in no state to say yes. So, I would say it for her.
“She agreed, Blake. She’s yours,” I lied, pressing her flesh to his lips.
“Finally,” he mumbled around the too-thin limb, and bit.
His jaw was so fucking weak the mark didn’t even take. Cursing low in my throat as his hands fell away, I slid in behind him, cupped my hands beneath his chin, and forced his bite.
A scream ripped from Lottie’s throat as Blake’s jaw locked around her wrist. He swallowed once, then again. Just as her eyes cleared, registering her pain—
So did his.
“You fucking asshole,” he groused around her flesh.
Though he didn’t let go of his prize, the cynical part of my possessive shifter-mind noted. I released his jaw and lay back, watching the show unfold before me.
Blake’s energy unfolded in waves like the blankets he threw back as he arced over her, pushing her back. “I’m sorry, sweetness. But I need to have you now,” he murmured. The tinge of regret in his eyes was fast hidden beneath a wave of molten desire even I could feel as he lifted her tiny form and pushed her between my spread legs.
Our mate panted, her head flicking back and forth as she took both of us in. Confusion scrolled across her face, though she seemed to be used to taking the strangeness of us in her stride by now.
“A few days with us, and we've altered your life.” It was as close an apology as she’d get from me.
Asshole that might make me, but the way she looked at me, all wide eyes without a hint of that godforsaken purple haze thankfully inhabiting her gaze, she was the most tempting damn creature I’d ever seen. Right now, that honor belonged to someone else.
