Page 44 of Pretty Little Prey
“When I first saw you, my wolf growled, ‘Mine.’ My heart seemed to grow in my chest, to make room for you. With my every breath, I will protect and provide for you.”
His words softened Luna.For so long, I have wanted to hear something like that. Wanted to be protected, instead of always having to protect myself. “What are we going to do about Bastille?” she asked. “We’ll need to run away to be together.”
She hated using the werewolf’s feelings for her own purposes, but Bastille had threatened her. She needed to get out immediately, and if she could find an ally in Kobe on the basis that she would stick around with him after she escaped, so be it. Even if it might be a lie.
“We cannot run from him,” Kobe whispered, his low voice so gravelly and rich, it made her squirm on the bedsheets. “He will get used to you, Moonbeam. He will not always be so mean.”
She was just supposed to “wait it out” for Bastille to be less cruel?No thanks. She raised an eyebrow at that. “Um, are we talking about the same hyper-raging, murderous lunatic? There’s no way I can be around him. He’ll kill me.”
“He will not hurt you. He will threaten but never hurt you,” Kobe said.
Had he not heard theI’ll-cut-your-hand-offthreats? “You’re a lot more confident about that than me.”
“You are his mate,” Kobe shared. “He will not hurt you. Shifters are incapable of harming their mates”
Luna froze on the bed, flat on her back. “What? I’m the dragon’s mate.”
“The prophecy says, ‘the king of light and the king of dark shall share a mate,’” he grunted. “Bastille is king of the Dark Ones. If you are the dragon’s mate, then you are also Bastille’s.”
King of the Dark Ones? No…No.
Bastillewas king of the Dark Ones? The leader of the dark shifters: werewolves, basilisks, vampires, every big bad go-bump-in-the-night monster ruled by the moon? He wasthatinfamous basilisk shifter? Kobe, Nikolai, and Sly were his retinue? Shit, now she really needed to escape. How had they not murdered her already?
“Your heartbeat races,” Kobe said. “Do you need hot tea?”
“N-No.”
Shewas Bastille’s mate? Had anyone informed Bastille of that yet? Because the only warmth she got from him was lust. The rest was all cold front—like a harsh winter. If insults were snowflakes, he blew a blizzard at her.
“Sleep, Moonbeam.”
“The king of the Dark Ones will never accept a prey shifter as a mate. People would revolt.” Then again, the king of the Light Ones would never accept one either. Predators ruled the paranormal world. There was a reason why prey were near extinction. “Kobe, the only way I live through this is if you get me out of here.”
“You will live through anything because I will always be there to protect you. You will never know fear again. Now, sleep, Moonbeam,” he repeated. “Dream of me as I will dream of you.”
There was no way she would sleep tonight.
She needed to form a new plan.
“Moonbeam,” a masculine moan broke through her sex dream. “Please. Do not tease me,” he rasped, sounding tortured.
She blinked open her eyes, her sight adjusting to the dark of the morning. Her hips rolled, rocking her aching core against something firm and hard. Like warm steel.Mmmm. Her eyelids drifted shut once more.
“Moonbeam,” the deep, sexy male voice repeated.
“Mmmm.”
“Moonbeam, please.” The masculine pleading tore her from her dream-like state, fully waking her.
First, she became aware of the firm muscular pecs her palms warmed. Then, she noticed the thick thigh she ground her pussy against like a cat in heat. Finally, the hot bulging erection pressing against her stomach as she laid on Kobe.
Her mouth fell open. Had she rolled completely off the bed and onto him on the floor?
“Awake now?” he grunted. His erection throbbed against her like it wanted to ask the same question.
She had shifted in her sleep, moving the hem of the large sleep-shirt up her belly, so that her bare stomach and pussy touched the werewolf. “I…”
“My mate sought me in her sleep,” Kobe said softly, in awe, almost sounding proud of himself. As if her cuddling him in the night was a gold medal. It was…adorable. This predator was friends with the king of the Dark Ones, yet he was adorable?
