Chapter 7 Knox #2
My wolf had snarled at that. She wasn’t wasting anything. She was exactly where she belonged, running her business, surrounded by books and the community she’d built. The fact that some middle manager with a leased BMW thought he deserved her made me want to tear his throat out.
I’d stood before I realized I was moving. Walked to the counter with my empty cup while my wolf pushed against my skin, ready to make it clear that Lina was NOT available. Not for Mrs. Callahan’s son. Not for anyone.
Except she’d asked for a refill, reached for the cup at the same time I did, and our fingers had brushed.
The world had exploded.
The mate bond had slammed into place with the force of a freight train.
Recognition. Connection. The absolute certainty that she was MINE.
My wolf had gone wild, howling its triumph while foreign emotions flooded through me.
Her emotions. Attraction and confusion and underneath it all, a pull toward me that matched my pull toward her.
MATE. MINE. CLAIM HER.
The cup had shattered between us, and I’d felt her shock echo through the bond. She’d felt it too, even if she didn’t understand what it was. The connection. The electricity. The rightness of it.
A human. My mate was a fucking human.
I’d fled to the bathroom and had what could generously be called a panic attack. More accurately, I’d stood there shaking while my wolf demanded I go back out and claim what was ours. The bond pulsed between us, new and raw and impossible to ignore.
It was almost unheard of. Wolves mated with wolves.
The few cases I knew about where a wolf bonded with a human had ended badly.
Either the human couldn’t handle the bond and died during the claiming, or they survived only to be thrust into a world of violence and pack politics they never asked for.
I couldn’t do that to her. Wouldn’t.
So I’d done the only thing I could. I’d run. Thrown money on the counter and told her to stay away for her own good, then fled before my wolf could override my common sense.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I’d told her to stay away when I was the one who couldn’t keep my distance. When I was the one who’d been stalking her shop for weeks.
Then the rogues had finally made their move, and the only thing I could think about was HER.
They’d attacked at night, just as we’d predicted. What we hadn’t predicted was that they’d split up. While my team handled the main group, one had broken off. I’d tracked it through the streets, my wolf in full hunt mode, when I’d realized where it was heading.
Her shop. The bastard was heading straight for her shop.
My scent was all over that place. The mate bond, new and barely controlled, would have been screaming my presence to any wolf with half a nose. I’d led them right to her.
My fault. Always my fucking fault.
I’d gotten there just in time to see her on the ground, the rogue looming over her.
The terror in her eyes had made my wolf see red.
The fight had been vicious but quick. Rogues were strong but undisciplined.
When it was over, I’d dragged the body into the woods while she was distracted, then circled back to make sure no others were heading her way.
By the time I’d finished cleanup and made it back to the hotel, I was coming apart at the seams. The bond pulled at me, demanding I check on her. Make sure she was safe. Hold her until the fear faded from her scent.
“Just a peek,” I’d told myself, sneaking out while my team dealt with the aftermath. “Just make sure she’s safe.”
I’d meant to look through her window. Maybe do a perimeter check. Instead, I’d found myself picking her lock and climbing the stairs to her apartment, drawn by a need that went beyond rational thought.
And now here I was, bleeding on her rug while she knelt between my legs and I fought not to show her exactly how ‘safe’ she made me feel.
“I should move,” she said suddenly, finished with the bandages but not pulling away.
The position, her so close I could feel her breath on my skin, was killing me. The mate bond humming between us, pushing me to close the distance. My wolf pacing restlessly, demanding I claim what was ours before someone else tried to take her.
Because someone would. A woman this perfect wouldn’t stay single. Some human man would see what I saw, want what I wanted, and I’d have to stand back and watch because the alternative was dragging her into my world of blood and violence and loss.
The thought made me grip the ruined couch again.
“Probably,” I agreed, making no effort to give her space. If anything, I spread my thighs wider, keeping her there.
She was so close I could see the pulse fluttering in her throat. Could smell her arousal building. Could feel the bond humming between us, demanding we stop fighting the inevitable.
Her hand touched my chest, skin to skin, and the bond lit up between us. She gasped softly, and I caught her hand, pressing it flat against my chest where she could feel my heart trying to break free.
“Lina.” Her name came out destroyed.
We stared at each other, suspended in that moment of choice. I could see the war in her eyes. The smart part of her that knew this was dangerous battling with the part that felt what I felt. The bond singing between us, demanding we give in.
“Tell me to leave, Lina.” The words scraped out of me, one last desperate attempt to save her. “Tell me to go and I will.”
She looked at me with those warm brown eyes, her hand pressed to my thundering heart, and said the one word guaranteed to destroy my control.
“Stay.”
Fuck it.
I groaned and yanked her into my lap. My mouth crashed into hers without hesitation, devouring her the way I’d been fantasizing about for weeks.
She gasped the moment our lips met, and I didn’t waste a damn second.
I slid my tongue into her mouth and claimed it, tasting the coffee on her breath, the sweetness beneath it, and the heat that always lived in her like it was fucking mine. Because it was. She was mine.
She squirmed against my lap, and I could already feel her body starting to respond. Her thighs clenched, her hips jerked once. She wanted it, needed it just like I did.
I cupped the back of her head with one hand, tangling my fingers in her hair and holding her still while I fucked her mouth with my tongue. The other hand locked tight on her hip, grinding her down over the hard ridge of my cock. She moaned against my lips, and fuck, I nearly lost it.
I hadn’t even gotten her naked yet and I was already throbbing inside my jeans, so fucking hard it hurt.
Weeks of holding back, of pretending I wasn’t obsessed with her, were coming apart at the seams now.
My cock was rock solid, leaking for her.
All I wanted was to shove her down, rip those torn clothes off, and bury myself inside her until she screamed my real name.
She whimpered when I sucked her bottom lip between my teeth, and the second she rolled her hips against me again, my control snapped.
“Feel that?” I growled against her mouth, dragging her down harder so the swollen head of my cock ground right against her clit through both our clothes.
“That’s what you do to me. Been like this since the second I saw you.
Can’t fucking think when you’re near me.
You walk into a room and my cock’s already hard, leaking for you like I’m some fucking teenager again. ”
I bit her neck, right above the pulse, sucking until I knew I’d marked her. My tongue licked over the spot once before I whispered it. “Mine.”
“Matthias,” she gasped, and I fucking hated the sound of it. I wanted her to call me by my name, but that was too much of a risk. I couldn’t. Fuck.
I reclaimed her mouth, harder this time. Hungry, desperate. My hands slid under her torn shirt, finding warm skin that made her shiver. So soft. So perfect. The sounds she made as I explored her body were going to fuel my fantasies forever.
Her own hands were everywhere, nails scraping over my chest and arms, leaving trails of fire. When she rocked against me again, I had to break the kiss to breathe, pressing my forehead to hers before I fucking combusted.
“You have no idea what you do to me.”