Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Gwen crouched down. “You’re a handsome thing, aren’t you?” The wolf padded to her and literally shoved himself right into her space, almost knocking her over. He rubbed his jaw against hers as she petted his neck. His fur was thick and much softer than she’d expected. Her nose wrinkled as he licked at her jaw. “Ew.” She gave him a gentle shove, and he backed up with a playful growl.
She remained still as the wolf circled her, rubbing up against her just as Zander had warned her that he would. She smiled. But that smile soon faded when he started clawing at her door and furniture, marking his territory. “Hey! You’re going to wreck the room.” He either didn’t understand the words or didn’t care, because he didn’t stop.
When he was apparently satisfied that the space was well and truly marked, he padded back to her and licked at her face again. Before she could give him another playful shove, he backed away. Bones snapped and popped, and then Zander was in front of her.
“You weren’t exaggerating when you said he wanted to rub up against me.”
Zander drew her to him as she stood. “You’re gonna have him wrapped around your little finger.”
She smiled. “He’s a menace.”
“He’s happy.”
That made her chest ache in a good way. “What about you?”
“You don’t need to ask me that. You can feel through the bond that I’m happy.” He brushed his nose against hers. “And I can feel that you are too.” Which meant that all was good in Zander’s world. Not even the threat that lingered over them could spoil the magic of what he’d found in Gwen. Not a single thing could.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Zander.”
The whisper snatched him out of sleep a few nights later. Zander blinked. There was no one there, except for the female sleeping peacefully at his side. Still, tension began to creep into his muscles. Something felt . . . wrong. Like the air was charged with something.
The sound of fast footsteps was quickly followed by knuckles rapping on the door. “Zander, we got company coming our way,” warned Derren, urgency in every syllable.
Motherfucker. Zander shot out of bed and reached for his jeans. “Ally had a vision? What did she see? Moore?”
“Shifters. Lots of shifters.”
Zander stilled, frowning. “Shifters?” Fuck.
Gwen’s eyes flickered open. “You okay?” Whatever she saw in his expression made her bolt upright, fisting the bed sheets. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
“No,” said Zander, watching as she practically leaped out of bed and yanked on a tee. “The bastard must have hired shifters to do his dirty work for him again.”
“Z, we have to go,” Derren called out.
Gwen swallowed. “I’ll be okay. Go.”
He could hear in her voice that she didn’t want him to go, but she wasn’t going to ask him to be something he wasn’t and remain behind. He couldn’t leave his pack mates to face the trouble alone, but he didn’t want to leave his mate either. His instinct was to stay with her, protect her. His wolf felt just as torn.
Gwen tugged on her jeans, noticing that Zander was staring at her, jaw hard. “Really, I’ll be fine.” Snatching her handgun from the top drawer of the dresser, she said, “I have claws of my own, remember.”
Hooking his hand around her neck, Zander pulled her close and skimmed his fingertips along her jaw. She meant fucking everything to him, more than he’d thought anything could. “You know what to do.”
“I know.” They’d been through the plan countless times, and Gwen hadn’t forgotten.
He gave a short nod of satisfaction. “Be safe for me, yeah?”
“If you get hurt, I’ll be super pissed. Just note that.”
He kissed her, clasping her nape tight. “I’ll be back.” Since he’d be shifting soon, Zander didn’t bother dressing. He just headed out into the hallway, where his pack mates and the Phoenix Betas were waiting.
As they crossed to the staircase, adrenaline spiked within him, and his pulse began to quicken. He was ready for this. Wanted it over and fucking done with. “Did anyone wake Yvonne?”
“I knocked, but I didn’t get an answer,” said Jaime.
“Gwen says she often takes sleeping pills,” Zander told her. Marlon was staying at his boyfriend’s house, so that was one less person for Gwen to worry about. “What breed of shifter are we dealing with, Ally?”
“Multiple,” she replied. “Seems like Moore hired himself a group of mercenaries. In my vision, they were coming from the east.”
As they hurried down the stairs, Dante said, “Then we go east, cut them off.”
Their priority was to make sure the trespassers didn’t get near the house. Gwen and Yvonne would be hiding in the attic. But if any shifters got into the house, they would be able to follow their scents up there; they’d find them eventually. Zander needed to be sure that didn’t happen.