Tailing Her by Celia Kyle Page B

I’m a child. It’s a damned bullet hole. Besides, there’s only two.”
    Two? Jennifer swung her gaze to her mate, anxious to look him over but froze when her gaze collided with his. Blue. That was all she could think. Bright, bright blue. She had totally struck the “mate” lottery.
    “Damn, you’re pretty.”
    Her lion preened at her mate’s words, thrilled their other half thought they were pretty. Then she inhaled and was reminded of his injury.
    She snapped her attention back to the clerk and curled her lip, jerking her head toward Brett at the same time. The man needed to get to work, already. The stranger skirted Jennifer, moving around them and coming at Brett from her mate’s other side. That allowed her to keep her attention on the rest of the crowd.
    She glared at anyone who dared meet her gaze, and growled when one particular male tried to stare her down. She was the daughter of an alpha, she was the sister of an alpha, and she’d be damned if she backed down against anything but an alpha. The male attempting to assume dominance over her was definitely not an alpha. If anything, his appearance, the lack of bulging muscles and above average height, told her he wasn’t a shifter of any type.
    So as far as Jennifer was concerned, the man was first in line to get her claws in his gut.
    It wasn’t until Brett stroked her fur, his fingers gliding over her while he murmured low, that she realized she was growling. “Shhh… Leave the puny humans alone, baby. I promised Marcus I wouldn’t let any of our lions eat anyone while he’s traveling. You don’t want to turn me into a liar, do you?”
    Jennifer flicked her ear, focused still on the inadequate male while she listened to Brett. Obviously he knew Marcus, but it seemed he was more familiar with the North American Alpha than the average werelion.
    She tried to sniff past the overwhelming scents in the hallway, the sting of fear and anger invading her nose, and sought out the pure flavors of her mate. Perhaps it would tell her more… The truth finally slapped her and she nearly groaned aloud.
    Yes, he was her mate, but he was also Marcus’ brother and the North American pride beta. Which resulted in two things: One—she would be able to spend a lot more time with her best friend since Penelope was mated to Marcus. Two—she had just been saddled with a male who was almost as dominant, protective, and possessive as her best friend’s mate.
    Goody.
    *
    Despite the pain that had taken up residence in his back, Brett was rock hard from wanting her. Sitting in the middle of the courthouse hallway, bleeding all over the pale marble, and all he could think about was stripping Jennifer bare and claiming her for all to see. Maybe not completely bare. She’d be wearing him, after all.
    Brett almost laughed at his own joke but that was about the time Nash decided to stick damned forceps into his flesh. “What the fuck, Nash? Where’d you get those?”
    His snarled words were echoed by a roar from his mate. She was fucking gorgeous when pissed off. He didn’t have much to compare it to, but he was thinking about keeping her mad all the time. Unless she was more beautiful when he was balls deep inside her. Then maybe he’d keep her naked all the time.
    “I just gotta get this one out before you heal over it. It’s better to pull it now rather than cut you open at the safe house later. You know that.” Nash’s voice was matter of fact and held a hint of annoyance.
    If he wasn’t in so much pain and worrying about Jennifer eating some stray human, he would’ve knocked Nash on his ass for being such a dick. Damn disrespectful kids these days.
    Oh well, he’d do it later when the boy was least suspecting.
    “Get it done, already. I don’t like being out in the open like this.” Not when there was a chance someone else on the Colletti payroll still hung around.
    “Yeah, yeah…” Nash dug deep. “Got it.”
    His touch vanished, leaving lingering