Free Out of Place Mate by Rebecca Royce Page A

which the other man barely dodged. “You don’t get to talk about my mate that way.”
    “Your mate? You’re human. Did you forget? I know you always had an obsession with the hot shifters who lived next door to us when we were growing up, but you can’t just fall into bed with the first half-animal ass that is interested in you….”
    Okay. He’d said enough. Her wolf stayed mostly in check after years of having to learn control, but not everyone in the bar had restraint on their other sides. He needed to shut up. Fast. Victoria grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. “Come with me.”
    He turned his attention to her for the first time. “Excuse me?”
    “Come with me, hot stuff. Before that temper of yours gets you pummeled. Things have changed for your brothers in ways you can’t understand.”
    She pulled, knowing one way to cool him down.
    “Look, Miss….”
    “Don’t talk.” She spoke over him. “Walk. And it’s not Miss, it’s Victoria. Or Tori, if you’re going to be nice to me.”
    “Where are we going?”
    She dragged him through the kitchen, into the back room, or what Gunther called ‘the staging area,’ the place where they could change their clothes and clean off before or after work.
    “I get it. They’re your friends. But those are my brothers and they have responsibilities….”
    She waved away his words, sniffing the air. “You smell like sandalwood. Why? Did you fly in from the Middle East tonight? I used to live there, and I smelled sandalwood constantly.” Her senses were better than humans, but not as good as some other shifters, thanks to the assault she’d endured in Europe the year before. Her ability to scent aromas dissipated faster than they used to.
    His eyes narrowed. “Are you also a shifter? Is this whole place filled with shifters?”
    “Yes and yes.” She took a deep breath of him, pushing her head against his chest and fitting her body to his in order to get a better whiff. In response, his cock jumped visibly in his pants. Interesting . Perhaps Sean Quaid didn’t object to her as much as he acted like he did.
    “I went to Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago. Can you really smell it on me still?”
    “I can smell it, but I shouldn’t be able to—not after three weeks. Did you wear this tuxedo there?”
    “No.” He scratched at his chin. “I only drag this thing out when I really have to.”
    She felt certain there would be a story behind that statement, but at the moment she didn’t care to hear it. If he hadn’t just arrived from the Middle East then she couldn’t explain the sandalwood that way. Maybe he always carried a scent of sandalwood, like his own personal calling card. “I guess it must be your own special smell then. I like it.”
    It felt odd to have to look up to see him instead of glancing down or making automatic eye contact. She’d always been taller than all the other women around. At six feet, she dwarfed the tiny ladies who surrounded her, and most men were uncomfortable with a woman who could look them in the eye. With Sean, however, she had to get on tiptoes to kiss him.
    She tasted his surprise even as his cock pressed harder against her. He might object verbally, but his body told a very different story.
    He pulled back, groaning. “I don’t have time to lose my mind.”
    “So don’t lose it. I never misplace mine.” Except she feared perhaps she had because she might be getting drunk on his scent.
    “The men who come in here don’t leave the same.”
    She laughed. “Not true. Only your brothers seem to have caught the mating, but seeing as you don’t much care for shifters, I doubt that’ll be a problem for you.”
    “Who told you that?”
    Enough banter. She kissed him hard again, loving the feel of his hands roaming her back. Her purpose in bringing him away from his brothers had been to cool down the out-of-his-element man, but now all she could think about involved heating him up.
    His tongue plunged into her mouth, and she