Page 39 of Rescued

Which she was refusing to show in front of him.

As they got into the living room, she turned away toward the bedroom, but not before he saw one tiny tear trickle down her cheek.

Dammit. He caught her arm and pulled her back, forgetting for a second that he was naked and it was awkward.

“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly, trying to get his own emotions under control and failing dismally. Fear, anger, relief, guilt, and a million other things were bouncing around inside him like ping-pong balls in a wind tunnel. “I just—those psychos should never have done that to you. Scaring you was bad enough, but their wolves are barely under control. It could have been way worse.”

If their wolves’ hunting instincts had kicked in when she ran—as predators’ instincts often did—they could have torn her limb from limb. The very thought of it gave him the shakes.

“I don’t think they meant to hurt me.”

“Just because they didn’t mean to doesn’t mean they have enough control over their wolves to stop them. Especially if they smell blood.”

Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t know. I thought—they were just people inside animal bodies.”

He shook his head. “Our wolves are part of us, but also separate, with their own thoughts and feelings. A normal, healthy shifter can control their animals, but traumatized shifters with PTSD can go rogue. Then all bets are off.”

“And these guys here…”

“Are practically all traumatized to some degree. The Sanchez cousins more than most.” He looked down at her, beautiful and luminous and brave and caring—going out after him in the wolf-infested dark. The vision of her maimed and bleeding made him feel like someone was scraping broken glass against the inside of his chest. He almost couldn’t breathe.

“Please don’t do that again,” he said softly. “If anything happened to you…” He closed his eyes against the vision.

Suddenly he felt her hands, gentle on the muscles of his chest, and then she dropped a soft kiss on his mouth. “Thank you for rescuing me,” she whispered. “Again.”

The touch of her lips broke his control. He caught her around the back of the head before she could move away, and pulled her mouth back to his.

Chapter 17

This was crazy. It was crazy to kiss her, and it was crazier because he was standing here naked, so there was no pretending that kisses were all he wanted.

He wanted to wrap himself around her and make sure she was safe, that she would always be safe.

Always be protected.

He wanted to feel her warmth and softness enclosing him, her scent surrounding him, so the shattered feeling inside him would go away.

He wanted to bury himself inside her and hear her moan, make her want him and nobody else, make her shudder with ecstasy.

He wanted her to ruin him.

And that was crazy too, because this was never going to last beyond the time Thanatos sent her off to a safe house to meet her destined plumber.

But he still didn’t let go.

He thought she might pull away, push him off her, but after one frozen second she pressed against him, one arm around his neck pulling him closer, one hand sliding up the length of his back.

He drank her in like he was dying of thirst, his tongue tangling with hers, tasting all her sweetness and becoming instantly addicted.

Her hand drifted down the curve of his back to his ass, pulling him even closer. His dick was so damn hard, so damn fast, and he rolled his hips, wishing there was nothing between them.

Fuck. Just kissing her was almost enough to make him come.

She was stroking his ass, his hips, making a little sound that was half whimper, half moan. Switch shoved his hand up under her sweatshirt, under the little top she wore with her pajamas, and found her breast, teasing the hard nipple.

Breanna gave a little sigh, and tilted her head back. Switch kissed his way down her neck, across the long tendon running down the side. His wolf rumbled in approval.

No biting, Switch warned. Well, only a little.