Free The Liger's Mark by Lacey Thorn

wouldn’t change, especially when it would only be a matter of time before her mate left her again.
    “He’s fine,” Gabriel grunted out then cleared his throat. “Took a bullet graze to the upper arm, but it’s not much more than a scratch.”
    Kenzie made to move away, and Gabriel clasped her arm.
    “I should go check on him,” she said. “Make sure he’s okay.”
    “Your friend can wait, mate,” Gabriel grumbled. “What’s going on? Why do you have hunters on your ass? It’s more than obvious they were only after you.”
    “Don’t do that,” Kenzie admonished. “It’s not fair.”
    “Wanting to know what the hell is going on isn’t fair?”
    “No, calling me mate. We’ve had sex. It takes more than that to make us mates.”
    His gaze narrowed, nostrils flaring as he glared. He tugged her to him until she was straddling his lap, sheet forgotten as skin met skin. She braced her hands on his shoulders, her nipples beading into hard points against his chest. His cock rose between her thighs, kissing her moist folds. It would be so easy to reach down and hold him steady while she took him.
    “We are mates,” he asserted. “I left. I had no other choice at the time. Someone’s life depended on me getting to them. I was following the hunting party that ending up taking you. I needed answers, and I got them before I killed each and every one of them. Had you not been my mate, had I been able to keep my hands off you, I would have left sooner.”
    “If I hadn’t forced your hand?” she sneered angrily.
    “No one forces me to do anything,” Gabriel stated arrogantly. “I would have come back for you. Nothing would have stopped me from mating you. As it is, I was expecting to find you in Oklahoma, safe.”
    “You certainly said otherwise.”
    “I was shocked, caught completely by surprise. Those words were as much to remind me of what I needed to do, who I needed to be, as they were to warn you away from me. You deserve a man far better than what you have in me. I’m hard and at times unforgiving. I’ve taken lives with no remorse, and I’ll do so again. I’m demanding and selfish. I never expected to find you, but now that I have, you are mine. My mark declares it. My beast roars with the knowledge of it. I don’t deserve you, but I’ll be damned if I let you go.”
    “Does that mean you’re going to give us a chance to get to know one another? To build the type of bond most mates have? Does it mean you’re staying with me?” Kenzie demanded, heart in her throat.
    “I’m the Angel, and I can’t change that no matter what others think. I fight. I hunt. I rescue, and I kill. There will be times when I leave you, when I have no other choice. I’ll always come back. As long as there is life in me, I’ll return to you,” he promised.
    “I don’t know if I can live that way,” she disclosed. “I won’t spend my life waiting for a man to find time for me.”
    “That’s not how it’ll be,” he said.
    “Really? Because it sounds to me like that’s exactly how it will be.” She held her hand up when he went to say something else. “Stop. You’re either with me or you’re not. It’s that simple.”
    “Nothing is easy,” he charged. “Nice try, by the way. You’ve successfully diverted the conversation for a few minutes. I still want answers. Why are there hunters after you?”
    “You mean other than the fact I’m a shifter?” Kenzie asked and sat back, her ass settling on his rock hard thighs, which were at least still covered by the sheet. His cock, however, bobbed in front of her, drawing her wandering gaze again and again. “Do something about that,” she commanded, waving her hand at his crotch.
    “Anything particular you have in mind?” he asked with a purr. “Or should I just go with instinct?”
    She swallowed, lust riding her hard. Her body craved Gabriel. The animal inside panted at the thought of taking every inch of his glorious erection inside, or maybe