Past My Defenses (Taming the Pack series) (Entangled Ignite) by Wendy Sparrow

similar scents, and she might be hiding in a closet right now instead of meeting Dane’s sister wearing only his shirt.
    “Uhh,” Vanessa said.
    Dane’s sister gestured over her shoulder. “I’m, uhh, looking for a cat, but clearly he isn’t here…I mean…in this room…where you are…”
    “Dane put him downstairs in the mudroom. I’m allergic. Deathly allergic.”
    Most people wouldn’t have reacted to this with a wide grin. It concerned her that Dane’s sister did. Was she hoping to kill her off via cat later on?
    “My name is Christa,” his sister said, striding forward with her hand out.
    Oh, they were shaking hands now. Okay. His sister had a nice firm grip for someone shaking hands with a mostly naked person whom she’d found in her brother’s bedroom on this giant bed.
    They were still shaking hands…and now Christa raised her eyebrows.
    She winced in embarrassment. “I’m Vanessa. I’m your brother’s…” Mate. Shifter. Bed-buddy. “Friend.”
    “How did you know I’m his sister?”
    “You look alike.” They did. Mostly. His sister’s eyes were green, and she wasn’t nearly as…hot. Also she was thin—really thin—like she’d blow away in a good breeze. But they had the same color brown hair, which Christa had twisted into a haphazard knot that matched her Grateful Dead T-shirt and jeans with holes in the knees. Younger sister. Early twenties if she had to guess. And she’d just walked in and found Vanessa in her brother’s bed.
    Wow, this was awkward. At least his sister had stopped shaking her hand. Vanessa crossed her legs and tried to act like she was in a dress and not just a T-shirt. The shirt covered all the important bits, but it wasn’t how she’d have chosen to meet her mate’s sibling.
    Christa nodded. “We do look alike.”
    The silence had teeth. Big teeth. Sharp teeth. Dane might rescind his offer to let her come over whenever she wanted.
    His sister cleared her throat. “So, I’m going to go collect my cat and get out of your way.” She started backing from the room. She nodded one last time and, well, she didn’t run, so apparently she wasn’t too freaked out. She was even whistling as she moved down the hall toward the downstairs.
    Jumping up, Vanessa went to Dane’s dresser and opened drawers, looking for something. Thankfully, he favored boxer shorts, and she pulled on a pair so at least she wasn’t commando in front of his sister. Another drawer turned up black biker shorts—which, really, Dane? No. Just no. She pulled those on, partly so he couldn’t have them, but they also weren’t such a bad fit.
    Since she didn’t find a bra—which was good because that would be gross and need to be killed with fire—this was the best she could do under the circumstances.
    Lucifer was yowling his way up the stairs.
    “Oh, quiet. You’re fine. I swear he’s been feeding you too much if anything. You weigh twice as much as when I dropped you off.”
    Vanessa stepped out of the hall as Christa came through the door leading to the mudroom. Lucifer was in her arms, but putting up a decent argument. Then, in a classic horror movie moment: he stopped moving and complaining, his head swung to stare at her, and his eyes narrowed.
    Here she was, more than ten times his size and a wolf in her spare time, and she froze at that look. That spawn of Satan knew he could kill her. He knew it! You could see it in his eyes…and in that satisfied smirk.
    “Oh, hey, he just wanted to say good-bye, I guess,” Christa said, misinterpreting the cat’s smug moment of triumph. “It’s a shame you’re allergic. He seems to like you.”
    “Yeah. It’s too bad.” It was the biggest lie she’d ever told, but how did you tell an owner that their beloved pet was more than aptly named? That thing was the reincarnation of the devil.
    Just as they were to the door, Lucifer jerked toward her. Vanessa jumped back, and for a moment, the wolf in her panicked and tried to force the