“You got it.” Victoria visibly struggled to regain her composure, smoothing her shaking hands over her hair as her gaze shifted to Luc. “I think it’s obvious to everyone in the neighborhood that you’re taken.”
Sophia stiffened. “I’m not ‘taken.’ ”
“No? I doubt the Were would agree. The way he looks at you ...” She gave a tiny giggle. “It gives me the shivers.”
Sophia followed the nymph’s gaze, finding Luc staring at her with a heat that made the very air sizzle.
Shivers? Her entire body trembled.
“He’s an alpha,” she lamely retorted.
“It has nothing to do with him being an alpha and everything to do with him being a man.” Victoria heaved a feminine sigh of pleasure. “And what a man he is.”
Sophia’s power made the nymph’s hair stir in warning. “I thought you were desperately in love with your cur?”
“I am, but I’m not blind.” Not entirely suicidal, the female returned her attention to Sophia. “Take my advice and lock him away before some tart tries to steal him.”
Sophia clenched her hands, her gaze still locked with Luc as she absently considered the logistics of holding such a powerful beast captive.
Preferably in her bed.
Luc was a typical male Were.
Warm-blooded, fully functioning, and possessing a fine appreciation for the opposite sex.
Tonight, however, he had to clench his teeth against the soft female hands that took every opportunity to touch his exposed skin and the plethora of boobs waggled beneath his nose.
There was only one woman he wanted touching his body or offering him the temptation of her firm, delectable br**sts.
The knowledge should have sent him howling into the night in terror.
But if the past few days had taught him nothing else, it was that it was far too late to avoid his obsessive need for Sophia.
Even when he was miles away from Chicago she consumed his thoughts, the overriding need to return to her side a nagging ache that couldn’t be denied. And when she was near ...
Dios.
Pretending indifference to disguise his acute awareness of the female Were, not to mention his savage need to haul her nearly na**d body away from the gawking male guests, Luc covertly monitored her every movement.
Which was why he knew the second the nymph approached her.
Tensing, he battled back his instinct to rush to Sophia’s side. He didn’t have to overhear their words to know that Sophia was in charge of the heated exchange, or to suspect that she was managing to bully information from the nymph.
A fact confirmed when Victoria crossed the terrace to grasp her lover’s arm and with nervous glances toward Sophia urged him across the lawn toward the side gate.
Clearly, Sophia was more than capable of holding her own. At least when the enemy was face-to-face.
But when she turned to enter the house through the French doors, without so much as a glance in his direction, he could no longer deny his primitive male urges.
Nothing like the sight of his prey attempting to escape to send a predator into a frenzy.
Nearly bowling down the gaggle of females leaning against his lounge chair, Luc was on his feet and following in Sophia’s wake. He didn’t give a damn about the cries of protest. The only thing that mattered was getting to the female who had him so twisted in knots he couldn’t think straight.
He caught up with her as she crossed the shadowed kitchen, moving with a burst of speed to block her path.
“What did you discover?” he demanded.
She came to a grudging halt, her hands on her hips. “How do you know I discovered anything?”