Page 86 of Anders
For her, not him.More than any other shifter he’d ever met, she needed to know she was her own person.
No matter how much his inner wolf urged him to keep her safe.
Each step was a careful negotiation between guardian and mate, between rational thought and primal instinct.
His home wasn’t far.He’d personally swept the location for any potential surveillance multiple times since returning with Etta, but he’d do another pass to be certain.
I can guarantee this location is secure,he said, his voice low and precise.No unexpected visitors.No surveillance.
Etta raised an eyebrow, a hint of playful challenge in her voice.Guarantee?That sounds like a challenge to a journalist who’s made a career out of finding hidden stories.
Anders’s lips twitched.I’m not most people.And this isn’t most locations.
At the door, he turned to her.His hand rose, almost involuntarily, to carefully caress the side of her face.
Yet beneath that precise movement, his wolf howled with a desire to mark, to claim, to make absolutely certain every member of the pack understood she was his.
Safe,he murmured, the word more for himself than for her.
A promise.A prayer.
Etta’s scent changed subtly.Anders forced himself to regulate his breathing, to maintain the clinical distance that had defined his existence for so long, even as his wolf pushed against those carefully constructed barriers.
Their eyes locked, and for a moment, the world seemed to narrow to that single point of connection.Anders felt his tactical awareness—his constant threat assessment, his perpetual strategic planning—dissolve like mist, until there was only her.
Only them.
What are you thinking?Etta asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.The challenge in her tone was subtle, as if she was fully aware of the war raging behind his carefully controlled exterior.
He caught himself leaning closer, drawn by the cadence of her voice, by the subtle melody of her breath.
I’m thinking,Anders said, his voice rough,that everything I’ve trained for doesn’t prepare me for you.
Every movement was calculated—appearing nonthreatening while every instinct screamed to display strength, to demonstrate his capacity for protection.
You’re not a mission,he continued, more to himself than to her.You’re not a problem to be solved.
Anders felt the precise moment his professional mask began to slip—that infinitesimal point where strategy gave way to something more elemental.The guardian in him had always maintained absolute control, viewing emotion as a potential vulnerability.
I don’t need protection,Etta challenged, her chin lifting slightly.Not any longer.I need a partner.
Anders’s breath caught.The words shivered in the air between them—a declaration but also a dare.
In that suspended moment, something broke.
Anders closed the distance between them with a sudden, fierce movement, his hand sliding behind her neck with precise control that dissolved the instant their lips met.
His thumb traced the delicate curve where her neck met her shoulder, sending electricity racing through both of them.
The kiss was anything but gentle.His lips captured hers with barely contained hunger, a lifetime of restraint shattering in an instant.She tasted of wildness—sage and desert wind, underlaid with something perfectly her own.
Anders drew her lower lip between his teeth, a soft growl rumbling in his chest as her fingers dug into his shoulders.
Heat bloomed between them.Anders pressed her back against the door, one hand still cupping the back of her neck while the other found her waist, his touch both possessive and reverent.
Her breath caught as he deepened the kiss, his tongue tracing the seam of her lips before sliding inside.Anders memorized every detail—the soft sound she made, the way her body arched against his, the subtle shift of her scent from anticipation to pure desire.
When they finally broke apart, both were breathing heavily.
