Page 82 of Shifters' Fated Summer
“Are you safe to be around now?” Archer shouted from behind Lux.
“He’s never safe to be around,” Luca answered, grinning. The tension relaxed, and they gathered around, updating Luca on everything he missed during our cabin stay.
Cade pushed past everyone, headed for the lake house. The pack knew better than to bother him. I, however, lacked that common sense.
He stalked around the kitchen to the hallway and his office. I padded after him, my stomach churning withanxiety.
“Cade?” I asked.
He paused in the doorway, turning to scowl at me.
“What should I do? I’d like to help?”
Several emotions flickered over his face, and I tried to read our bond, but he locked them down too fast. His expression hardened.
“Nothing has changed.”
I drew myself up, squaring my shoulders. “You don’t have to dote on me at all, say you love me, or anything else. But at least respect me and give me something useful to do.”
His lip curled, showing his teeth. Teeth that had claimed me as his mate. My hand went to the mark, covering it with my palm.
“I might be stuck with you as a mate, but I don’t want you anywhere near our missions. You haven’t earned that trust yet. You can’t even manage to obey simple directions, like leaving me alone.”
He glared at me, his eyes blazing. I pushed my own anger back and reached for his emotions, finding a tangled mess of desire, self-loathing, worry, protectiveness, and something warm and gooey. This man had a lot of feelings for someone who acted like a pissy robot most of the time.
As I watched, his lip curled. “You should go, wait for Luca to need some entertainment. I don’t have a use for you.”
“You are such an asshole,” I growled, my voice breaking. He loomed over me, chest heaving, our eyes meeting in a staring contest.
The tension exploded.
Cade was so fast, I didn’t see him move. One second, he was framed in the doorway; the next, he was on me. His hand collared my throat, shoving me back into the wall hard enough that the air whooshed from my lungs.
Gasping for breath, I whispered, “Cade.”
He loomed over me, his other hand slamming into the wall beside my head. With a long, deep groan, he buried his nose in my messy hair.
“Why do you always smell so good, you treacherous little thing?” He sucked in my scent, his chest expanding under my hands as they weakly pressed against him.
“I swear you’re here to destroy me. You took Luca, and now you’re controlling me.”
“Fine, let me go. I’d happily never see you again.”
“It’s too late for that,” he said.
Muscles flexing under my fingers, he slid down until he was on his knees. He was so tall, I was forced onto my tiptoes when he hooked an arm between my legs and slid my thigh over his shoulder.
“Oh,” I gasped, my mouth falling open.
His eyes flashed golden with his wolf, and I could feel claws against the delicate skin of my inner thigh. My skirt was bunched up, and he tore my soaked panties easily. The cool air washed over my core, followed by his warm breath. It was disorienting.
Before I could make sense of it, he angled his head and licked my slit from bottom to top. Stars exploded behindmy eyes. Nothing had ever felt as good as Cade running his tongue over me.
I wanted to question him, rage at him, but he had reduced me to a whimpering, compliant mess. All I could do was let out a low whine and squeeze his shoulder muscles under my hands. I was aching to touch his thick, beautiful hair, but I was terrified to shatter this moment of connection.
Self-hatred twisted my stomach, but the intense need for my mate overrode all the rage boiling in my veins. I would have done anything in that moment if it meant he kept touching me.
Another long, slow lick, and he paused at my clit, swirling his tongue. And then, with more gentleness than I expected from the angry Alpha, he sucked.
