anything you aren’t ready for.”
She tried to jerk free from his hold because his touch was causing a riot inside her body as her hormones stood up and screamed for his attention. Unfortunately, he did not release her.
“You are forcing me—to stay here. I had a life before I met you, you know.” Not one worth mourning but it was hers nonetheless and she’d been working hard to make it better.
“I can’t help that you ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, babe. Although in a way I’m grateful for it. If you had stayed inside and minded your own business, I wouldn’t be standing on the bank of my favorite swimming hole with the most gorgeous woman I know, trying to seduce her with my many charms. Under different circumstances I might have wasted time trying to deny nature and what it intended.”
She tilted her head back and gazed up at him. “You really think I’m gorgeous?”
“What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I do, isn’t it obvious?”
She bit her lip. It kinda was, but it was still hard to believe. “I thought it was just my birthing hips you were attracted to. They seem to be a shifter obsession.”
“It is. Our animal instincts are always close to the surface and the drive to procreate is part of that. So the lack of shifter children being born is a serious crisis. And I’m not even going to try and deny that seeing you with my child inside of you would be one of the most amazing miracles. But it’s not all I see when I look at you. That’s just one piece of Sienna as I know her. I see beauty on the outside as well on the inside and that’s not easy to find. Shifters are by nature sneaky and secretive, especially outside their family unit. And don’t get me started on the humans I’ve met. They may not all be malicious but they love manipulation.”
She couldn’t disagree with that most of the time. It seemed second nature for most people to want to get their way and many would go far and above normal to get it.
“You’re honest. You tried to get in the middle of a fight outside a biker bar simply because you were worried someone over tipped you. Do you think many others would have done the same thing?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“You love your family as much as I love mine. Even though I don’t understand at all why humans choose to live away from their loved ones. Shifters stay close because they draw strength from the bonds of their family. To be too far apart makes us weak.”
“Were you an only child?” she asked.
A pained look crossed his face and immediately disappeared. She didn’t know what to make of it.
“No. My mother had me and then never conceived again before she died. Conception has truly been difficult for decades and likely the only reason she had me was because of my father.”
“I thought you didn’t know who you father was?”
“I don’t. But I do know what he was. I got my wolf from him because my mother was a feline.”
His quiet words sliced through her as easily as a knife through butter. The pain etched in each one scraping across her nerves. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to pry.”
His thumbs touched her lips. “Don’t be sorry, Sienna. You have the right to know what you’re getting into. Prejudice is alive and well in shifter clans and half-breeds are looked down on as well as segregated. Some people can’t handle that well. Fortunately, I have Dark Moon. The family I have there may not be blood, but I love them more than blood and they’ve meant everything to me until now.”
“Until now?”
“Until you.”
Oh wow. Her stomach fluttered again. There was no such thing as a defense against that kind of brutal honesty. She was falling fast. Although if she really wanted to be truthful, she’d fallen the first time she saw him, and again at the cabin when he’d cared more about her pleasure than his, again when she saw him with the family he loved so much, or when he growled at Simon
She tried to jerk free from his hold because his touch was causing a riot inside her body as her hormones stood up and screamed for his attention. Unfortunately, he did not release her.
“You are forcing me—to stay here. I had a life before I met you, you know.” Not one worth mourning but it was hers nonetheless and she’d been working hard to make it better.
“I can’t help that you ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, babe. Although in a way I’m grateful for it. If you had stayed inside and minded your own business, I wouldn’t be standing on the bank of my favorite swimming hole with the most gorgeous woman I know, trying to seduce her with my many charms. Under different circumstances I might have wasted time trying to deny nature and what it intended.”
She tilted her head back and gazed up at him. “You really think I’m gorgeous?”
“What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I do, isn’t it obvious?”
She bit her lip. It kinda was, but it was still hard to believe. “I thought it was just my birthing hips you were attracted to. They seem to be a shifter obsession.”
“It is. Our animal instincts are always close to the surface and the drive to procreate is part of that. So the lack of shifter children being born is a serious crisis. And I’m not even going to try and deny that seeing you with my child inside of you would be one of the most amazing miracles. But it’s not all I see when I look at you. That’s just one piece of Sienna as I know her. I see beauty on the outside as well on the inside and that’s not easy to find. Shifters are by nature sneaky and secretive, especially outside their family unit. And don’t get me started on the humans I’ve met. They may not all be malicious but they love manipulation.”
She couldn’t disagree with that most of the time. It seemed second nature for most people to want to get their way and many would go far and above normal to get it.
“You’re honest. You tried to get in the middle of a fight outside a biker bar simply because you were worried someone over tipped you. Do you think many others would have done the same thing?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“You love your family as much as I love mine. Even though I don’t understand at all why humans choose to live away from their loved ones. Shifters stay close because they draw strength from the bonds of their family. To be too far apart makes us weak.”
“Were you an only child?” she asked.
A pained look crossed his face and immediately disappeared. She didn’t know what to make of it.
“No. My mother had me and then never conceived again before she died. Conception has truly been difficult for decades and likely the only reason she had me was because of my father.”
“I thought you didn’t know who you father was?”
“I don’t. But I do know what he was. I got my wolf from him because my mother was a feline.”
His quiet words sliced through her as easily as a knife through butter. The pain etched in each one scraping across her nerves. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to pry.”
His thumbs touched her lips. “Don’t be sorry, Sienna. You have the right to know what you’re getting into. Prejudice is alive and well in shifter clans and half-breeds are looked down on as well as segregated. Some people can’t handle that well. Fortunately, I have Dark Moon. The family I have there may not be blood, but I love them more than blood and they’ve meant everything to me until now.”
“Until now?”
“Until you.”
Oh wow. Her stomach fluttered again. There was no such thing as a defense against that kind of brutal honesty. She was falling fast. Although if she really wanted to be truthful, she’d fallen the first time she saw him, and again at the cabin when he’d cared more about her pleasure than his, again when she saw him with the family he loved so much, or when he growled at Simon
Similar Books
