Page 10 of Into the Lion's Den (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

I held up my T-shirt that featured Einstein sticking out his tongue. Strangely, the sight of it took away some of the panicky feeling that listening to John always made me feel.

“Do you have any other concerns?” he asked.

Did I have any other concerns? I’d abandoned my name, my mother, my sister, and my job as an IT specialist. I was slated to testify against Carmine DaBruzzi, one of the biggest crime bosses in Chicago.

But I wasn’t going to give John any reason to worry about me now. We’d already discussed the witness protection program in excruciating detail. I knew the risks. I knew the rules. I knew what was at stake.

DaBruzzi was an animal. He had to be taken off the streets, and my testimony would do that.

“No,” I said. “It’ll be fine.” I’d simply make the best of this new situation, and I’d give everything I had to this new job. At the very least it would keep my mind distracted.

I balled up my Einstein T-shirt and tossed it into my drawer. “I should get going.”

“Of course,” John said. “I’ll check on you later, but you have my number if you ever need anything.”

“Thanks, John. Later.”

I hung up and pocketed my phone. Then I walked to the large window and pressed my forehead against the cool surface, closing my eyes.

I bounced my head against the glass—not hard, just enough to knock some sense into me. “Everything will be okay. I just need a nice, normal year. Maybe two. Then everything can go back to normal.”

An odd sense of awareness suddenly prickled at the base of my spine. It crawled up my back—not entirely unpleasant—and tingled over my scalp.

I sucked in a breath and opened my eyes.

Reese Fitzpatrick stood at the edge of the forest, some fifteen feet from my window. His clothes were rumpled, and his dark hair was a tousled mess. He stared back at me with those intense green eyes, his body having gone completely still.

And I knew in that moment, I’d just traded one kind of danger for another.

5

REESE

Ilay sprawled and naked on my back. Sarah McAvoy pressed the warmth of her soft hand against my chest before her fingers began tickling and teasing down my sternum, heading lower, making me feel completely owned.

No female—human, shifter, or fae—had ever owned me. I’d never given any of them the time necessary to try. But there was no harm in letting Sarah give it her best shot.

The sensual torture she could inflict with just her simple exploratory touches… I didn’t want it to stop.

She teased me—on and on—until finally she bent over my body.

Her silky hair brushed my chest.

I reached up, tangling my fingers in her tresses.

Her head descended. Her lips met mine and…

My eyes snapped open.What the literal fuck?

I turned my head to the side to check the clock on my nightstand. It was already nine o’clock. I never slept this late.

It took me another second to get my bearings. To remember what had likely triggered the most exquisite dream I could remember having in years.

Sarah McAvoy.

Yesterday, after I’d returned from my run, I’d caught her watching me from her bedroom window. She couldn’t possibly have seen anything too revealing, but she’d whipped her curtains closed so fast, I wasn’t entirely convinced by my own logic.

I’d needed to know for sure, and I’d planned to use the dinner hour to satisfy that need. When she’d skipped out on dinner… Well, that couldn’t stand.

---