I lick my lips as I try to think of a question, to continue our current conversation and keep my rational side engaged so that the wolf side doesn’t rip away my good sense and inhibitions and beg Gannon to take me on this counter. “So, if one den bites me, I can only mate with the men in that den?”
“Yeah.”
“And they only mate with me—”
“Our den only wants you.”
“You guys don’t…with each other?”
A wicked twinkle shimmers in his eyes. “No, the only one taking our cocks would be you. But, you should know that our bond as a den means I’ll enjoy my brothers fucking my mate and cumming all over you almost as much I’ll enjoy doing it myself.”
Well, set me on fire and melt me down like a candle…shit.
I clear my throat and shake my head a little in an effort to clear it too. My entire body is suddenly taut with need, but I’m not done with my questions yet.
“Is…sex the way the mate claim gets settled?”
Gannon visibly startles. He blinks a few times before giving me a disbelieving expression. There’s a hint of caution and maybe even a bit of hope in his voice when he softly asks, “What?”
“You heard me. A den and their mate fuck and it’s done…or…？”
He probably thinks I’ve lost it. Fuck. Maybe I have. But despite our previous friction, I know Gannon will give it to me straight with no chaser. I don’t want to be handled like I’m fragile about this. I want to know exactly what I’m walking into, and regardless of all his hard edges, I know he’s a soft place to land.
“Sex is part of how a mate claim becomes a mate bond, but a mating is sealed through a pair bite, which means you bite us and we bite you and it locks the bond.”
“So it’s a group activity?”
Gannon chuckles. “The pair bite is, but the fucking doesn’t always have to be. And since you’re tiptoeing around the question you really want to ask right now, I’ll throw you a bone,” he gibes, looking annoyingly smug. “Fucking can be no strings. I could bend you over the counter right now if you wanted me to. There wouldn’t have to be any biting involved.”
A shiver of pleasure tickles down my spine, wrapping around my hips and diving between my thighs.
I give a dubious look around the kitchen. “I thought you said Ruger didn’t like water spots on his counters; I don’t think he’d take too kindly to me cumming all over them.”
“I suspect he’d make an exception, or I could always fuck you on the drying mat.”
I half choke, half laugh in response. I know I’m playing with fire right now, but I’m drawn to the burn like I’m drawn to Gannon.
I smile a teasing grin. “So, you’re not a bunch of virgins who’ve never touched a girl and need to be taught all about the clitoris?”
“Clitoris.” He furrows his brow. “That’s a constellation, right?”
I give him the finger.
He smiles. “No. Not virgins. You can test drive our stick shifts all you want.”
I laugh at his horrible pun. “And if I’m on the human shot for birth control? That—”
“Won’t work, but we can scent when you’re fertile. You’re not.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks, but I ignore it.
“Condoms?” I ask.
“Still work.”
“STD tests?”
“Shifters don’t get human diseases.”
I’m on a roll now, questions sliding easily off my tongue. “Okay. Any…uh…unusual things I need to know about shifter sex? Like…are there secret shifter erogenous zones or anything like that? Are you working with all the same machinery as a human man?”
His hand comes up to cover his mouth, but he can’t completely hide the fact that he’s chuckling.
“Hey! This is serious!” I mock-scold him, barely managing to keep a narrow-eyed look planted on my face as I snap my towel in his direction.
Immediately, his laughter dies and his eyes flare with heat as he tilts his head. “Did you just snap at me, kitten?” he asks, his chin jutting in the direction of the dish towel still in my hands. His scent fills the air and I can practically taste the lust rolling off him, his warm amusement flaring and transforming into hot desire.
A tantalizing charge zips through me as our eyes connect and hold. His gaze is feisty, causing a flush to rise on my cheeks and—before I know it—my wrist is out, snapping the dish towel at him again.
“Kitten…careful or I’ll think you’re challenging me.”
His tone tempts a shiver to run across my skin.
“If there’s one thing you should know about wolves, it’s…a challenge can’t go unanswered.” His words should be a warning, but something in the way he says them sounds more like an invitation.
I picture running with him earlier. The way we teased, taunted, and tagged back and forth. The urge to do it again bounds through me. I pull in a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart, but all that does is fill my lungs with the overwhelming spice of his need.
Just like that, all rational thought flees and I know exactly what I want to do.
I run.
30
NOAH
With a laugh that sounds more like a squeal, I pivot and bolt out of the kitchen. Elation turns my knees to jelly, but adrenaline forces my limbs forward. I run for the stairs like my life depends on it, snapping the rag behind me for good measure. When it doesn’t make contact, I toss it, hoping it flies into Gannon’s face and distracts him for a second. Maybe he’ll even trip on it, knocking that ego down a peg or two.
Gannon’s amused growl follows in my wake as he darts after me, but I don’t dare look back. He’s got longer legs and I feel him gaining already.
I have to be quick.
The stupid-ass sweatpants of his that I’m wearing sag as I take the steps two at a time. I have to reach down and yank on them just to keep them in place. Fingers clenching the fabric at my hip, I jump and land on the balls of my toes. My nerves light up with impulsive glee when I make it up to the landing and dart into the first room with an open door.
I don’t even take in the decor. Diving headfirst across the king bed, I grab a pillow for ammunition as I slide across the sleek black comforter with all the grace of a ninja and drop down on the other side.
Gannon appears in the doorway, his dark hair disheveled, falling into his eyes, which gleam with predatory intent.
He stalks slowly into the room, each footstep making a gentle thump against the rug. Tense and swallowing the anticipatory giggles that swish and swoop around inside my throat like tiny birds, I wait until he rounds the edge of the bed to launch my missile.
Take that! I throw the pillow right at his face like it’s a frisbee, but I don’t watch it spin through the air. I’m already moving before it gets to his grinning face.
Gannon’s forced to lift his hands to catch the pillow, and while he’s distracted, I leap onto the bed and use the insane shifter strength I now have to launch myself all the way back to the door.
Fuck yes.
I glance back with a haughty grin to see the pillow sagging, forgotten in his hand.
Yeah. Be impressed.
But then I realize that his sweatpants have fallen to my thighs and even though Perth’s shirt covers the fact that I’m sans underwear, I know that Gannon’s well aware there’s nothing underneath. He is absolutely not stunned into statue-like stillness for the reasons I thought he was. Those smoldering gray eyes of his are trying to burn a hole right through my shirt.