in relief, he lowered back down and breathed her in for a moment, hoping he’d get a few more minutes of fulfillment before his desires shifted and boredom crept in.
The soft sunlight streamed through the window. Dust motes swam lazily. He sighed again in utter relaxation. The stress of the last few days softened. Not gone, but hazy in the aftermath of really good sex. In fact, he felt like a puddle of goo, wanting to ooze down over her.
He ran his hand up her bare thigh and over the curve of her soft hip. He lightly kissed her shoulder and let his lips trace down to the curve of her neck. He was so hard he couldn’t stand it.
A thought made him pause.
He wanted her again.
It wasn’t just sexual desire, either. He longed for the tender devotion he’d allowed himself to express last night. He wanted to revel in her. Make her moan in pleasure and clutch him with her whole person.
Warmth pulsed in his chest, a feeling that had been growing throughout his time with her. One that had only been intensified by last night. Deep and primal, his possession of her burned hot. The thought of anyone else touching her prodded his wolf and sparked his rage. One thought blared through his brain: She is mine!
A strange kind of fear washed over him.
He had been prepared to suffer the guilt of hurting her. He was not prepared for this. This—whatever this was—was no good. He didn’t understand the intensity of it. The crushing need to touch her again. To hold her. To rip someone’s face off if they looked at her for too long.
Before he knew what he was doing, he’d launched himself out of bed. Pacing the room, he couldn’t help but look at her. Her hair was splayed across the pillow in a brownish-red wave. The strange glow of her ethereal beauty entranced him, urging him closer.
He blew out a breath, resisting. He needed time to think about next steps. He still had a job to do. Everything else had to come later.
“Charity, get up,” he barked.
She stirred with a small feminine mew. Her arms stretched upward and she yawned. The sheets fell to her waist.
He gritted his teeth. It took everything in his power not to take two quick steps and taste…
“We have a ton of stuff to do today.” Taking a deep breath, he tried to soften the hardness in his voice. “I need to speak to Roger, too. I’d like to move you into the Realm today.”
She blinked into the sunlight and her face relaxed slightly. After wiping her eyes, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and paused for a moment. “Is this the part where we become acquaintances?”
It sounded like a rhetorical question.
“Just… Let’s get moving,” he said, turning to the door. “I have a lot I need to do before we get you out of here.”
“No sweat, daddy-o. I need to take a shower. Oh wow. I am sore. I feel like I lost my virginity all over again.”
Devon glanced back in time to see her slowly run her hands over the soft curve of her hips. His desire throbbed. He wanted to follow her hands with his mouth.
Why did she sound so nonchalant? Usually girls were all over him the next morning, trying to cuddle and get close. He half wished she’d follow that pattern. But the other half was annoyed that last night had clearly affected him ten times more than it had her. Another first. And probably the most horrifying.
His uncertainty finally morphed into anger, the emotion he had the most experience handling. “Hurry up.”
Two hours later, Devon shifted from side to side in impatience as they stood in front of an ATM. His pack had taken out the newbies without him, and he’d called in someone to clean up the dead vamp and pick up Sarge’s body. Sarge had been practically ripped apart. He hadn’t stood a chance against that old vamp.
A sheen of sweat broke out on Devon’s face, his body’s immediate response to the lingering threat. He would step up and fight that elder to protect Charity. One on one, if need be. Unfortunately, he didn’t have high hopes he’d emerge victorious—or at all.
“What’s the hold-up?” Devon asked, going over his to-do list. He still had to get supplies to board up the window by the door, not to mention call a body shop about the trashed SUV. Filling out