thighs. The sudden shock of sensation
distracted me so much that when he leaned in to kiss me, I just went with it.
Justin pressed his warm lips against mine and an arc of pure lustful
electricity seemed to connect us. His chest pressed my arms firmly to my own
chest, making me helplessly immobile while his mouth had its way with mine. The
kiss was beyond perfect. Powerful shivers wracked my body as the heat from his
lips radiated into mine. When he parted his lips and his tongue glided into my
mouth in a delightful invasion, a fire ignited at my core.
I couldn’t help
moaning and moving my body against his. I raised my legs, locking them around
his thighs to keep Justin close.
He groaned, a
vibration I felt as much as heard.
He finally
broke away and looked down at me. At my body. He took several deep breaths. “We
should stop. This isn’t... we shouldn’t. Here.” He unbuttoned his flannel shirt
and tossed it over my hands still covering my breasts. “Take this.”
My cheeks
burned with humiliation. “Thanks.” At the painful reminder of how undesirable I
actually was, I remembered why I’d forced myself to abandon the useless dreams
of Justin coming after me, telling me the pack master had had a change of heart
and would make an exception for me. I used to have such silly fantasies about
Justin tracking me down after I’d been evicted from pack land, sweeping me off
my feet and claiming me. In my dreams he brought me home with him.
Justin spoke as
if he’d read my mind. “I’ve got to bring you home with me.”
I blinked.
“Whoa.” Things were clearly moving too fast for my comprehension. I said the
first thing that popped into my head. “But I’m not allowed on pack land
anymore.” I put on his shirt. It was not long enough to sufficiently cover my
curvy thighs. I tugged it as low as it would go. My fingers toyed with the edge
of it nervously. Wearing Justin’s shirt made me feel like he’d marked me
somehow. I liked the idea of being marked by him.
He’d already
climbed into the driver’s seat. I scrambled into the front as well. He threw
his truck into gear and peeled out of the parking lot. “You’d have been invited
back a year ago if I’d had my way. It came down to a stubborn pack master who
left it up to Meredith. Meredith blocked my request for a reprieve. You know
how she is. She’s not favorably disposed toward you.” He delivered the
understatement with a wry tone. “I tried convincing her to forgive you, to
appeal to her better side. To make her take some damn responsibility. No dice.
She had pack law on her side. Meredith sees you as a threat.”
I frowned at
the thought of Justin trying to sway Meredith. Had he used his alpha power on
her? Or something more intimate? He’d dated her at one point—every guy in
the pack dated Meredith sooner or later—so he must have. Even so, I
figured he never got to know Meredith very well if he thought she considered me
any sort of threat. I mean, look at me next to her. She was slender, blonde,
glamorous. She was a gorgeous woman and a thoroughly vicious werewolf.
I was a pound
puppy.
The
overwhelming urge to just go back to my safe little apartment, where cruel werewolves
never hurt or disappointed me, crashed over me. I needed to check on Digger
anyway, take her for a long walk, feed her. I craved my normal routine. “Just
take me home,” I said around a lump in my throat. “My home, I mean. I’ll handle
it from now on. But, um, thanks for your help.”
I watched his
lips thin into an uncompromising line. His broad shoulders moved enticingly
under the form-fitting tee. “Handle it, like you handled your first change?”
I was about to
answer when he shifted gears. His truck leapt forward and onto the narrow road
that snaked through a forest of increasingly larger pine trees. I reached for
the grab bar to stay centered in my seat. He drove fast and confident up the
sparsely populated mountain that hosted the local pack that