She remembered the basics though it had been years since she’d given a guy head. She hadn’t enjoyed it the few times she’d tried. Her ex-boyfriend had always choked her by grabbing the back of her head to try to make her take more than she could handle. Anton didn’t do that. He had her hair but he just held it out of the way. His h*ps didn’t thrust forward. He held very still.

“Go slow,” he urged.

She started to move around him, lightly sucking, and licking at him. His c**k seemed to grow stiffer and his breathing increased but he held still. She took more of him, feeling more secure that she could handle his girth. A taste filled her mouth, a wonderful masculine flavor, and she moaned, moving faster, wanting more. It surprised her and her body responded. Her ni**les grew taut and she started to ache for sex. Wetness started to spread down her inner thighs.

“Fuck,” Anton moaned. “Slow down, Shannon. I can’t come inside your mouth. I’m afraid I’d make you choke. We tend to ejaculate harder and longer while in heat.”

She wanted to taste him enough to take that risk and ignored his warning. She moved faster, took him deeper, and sucked with gusto. Anton suddenly gripped her jaw, his hand tightening on her hair, and jerked back. His c**k pulled free from her hungry mouth and she cried out. She stared at him with confusion.

He fell to his knees in front of her, grabbed her around her waist, and lifted her easily to turn her around. “Bend and grab the edge of the sink now,” he snarled.

Her hands clutched porcelain and she cried out when he entered her fast and hard from behind. His c**k stretched her, sent rapture straight to her brain from the nerve endings he pressed against as he surged into her deeply as his hands steadied her hips.

“Hang on tight,” he rasped.

He pounded against her ass, f**king her furiously, and the sound of their panting and skin slapping skin filled the small room. Shannon hung her head, pleasure swamping her, and her vaginal muscles tightened in anticipation of the cl**ax that built. No one had ever made her feel the way Anton could.

Anton’s hands moved. One released her hip to grip her shoulder while his other hand delved between her parted thighs. Two fingers pressed against her clit. He rubbed her while he f**ked her. Shannon screamed when she started to come. The world exploded around her in ecstasy. A heavy body pressed against her back and teeth gripped her shoulder on the side he didn’t hold. His teeth pinched her skin, sent more rapture throughout her body, and he snarled.

His teeth pulled away and then he roared loud enough in her ear to deafen her while his body jerked violently. Inside her, she could feel him filling her with his release. Each jerk of his h*ps spilled more of his cum inside her. The warm jets of his se**n spread inside her and it made her smile at the rightfulness of the sensation.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “I nearly did it. We have to talk after we get back from my parents.”

She turned her head to stare into his beautiful eyes. “You were going to mate me, weren’t you? We didn’t use a condom.”

He didn’t look away. Their faces nearly touched with him bent over her, their bodies still joined, and his fingers eased away from her throbbing clit. “Yes. I wanted to mate you and I’m aware that we didn’t use one this time when we could have.”

She didn’t know what to say. Disappointment that he hadn’t bitten into her wasn’t something she wanted to share. Staying with Anton, despite the fact they didn’t know each other well, wouldn’t be a bad thing. She was falling in love with him. She kept that bit of news a secret, sure he would do the normal guy thing when he heard a woman say the “L word”¯run.

It’s just sex, she told herself. He made a commitment to me during mating heat. When it’s over, he’s going to want me gone. He’s a werewolf and I’m not. He’s the future alpha of his pack and I can’t forget that.

“We need to shower again and then go.” He hesitated and then a look of regret crossed his features. “We’ll talk when we return.” He lifted up and carefully withdrew from her body.

She hated it when their bodies were no longer connected. She loved feeling a part of Anton. She just loved him. He’d saved her from his pack, from a puma pride, and he always took care of her. In other words—he’d done more for her than any other guy ever had. He made her feel safe and protected. Special. Sexy. All the things she’d always longed to feel. He also knew she wasn’t fully human, accepted her despite it, and had given her amazing, mind-blowing sex. A lot of it too.

Anton stood and held out his hands. “Come on.”

She allowed him to pull her to her feet. He released her, turned the water back on, and stepped inside the shower. She hesitated. When we come back here, will he tell me that we could never work out, long term? Remind me that a cat and a wolf can never be anything more than temporary lovers? It hurt her to even consider those possibilities.

“Come on in. The water is warm.” He smiled at her.

Her heart melted even more. She stepped into the shower with him and allowed the water to flow over her body. In minutes they got out, dried off, and Anton lent her a pair of sweatpants and one of his oversized T-shirts.

“It’s going to be fine,” he assured her, his dark gaze holding hers. “You know you’re safe with me and I’ll never allow anyone to hurt you. I don’t know how many of our pack may be there but my mother will be there for sure. She won’t get near you.”

“Okay.” She believed him. “I know she hates me after the scene she made when she visited earlier. Is your father okay?”

“We need to go. My father wasn’t hurt. My mother lied about that to lure me away from you. She is the reason those pride males knew where to find you.” He grimaced. “She called them to come get you. It’s fine now. My father will handle this and make certain it never happens again. She’s in deep shit right now with everyone. I need to speak to him and he’s waiting for us.”

She nodded, lifted her chin, and gave him a brave face. He led her out of the apartment, down the stairs, and they left the closed bar by the back door. They didn’t speak, though she had questions.

The white van waited outside with his brothers and cousin. She refused to meet their gazes. It made her embarrassed that these men knew she and Anton had sex in the same van she climbed into again. She also wondered how Anton had gotten her from the van up to his apartment. She really didn’t want to know, for fear the answer would make her more uncomfortable, but she hoped he’d covered up her body somehow instead of carrying her na**d in front of his family. Witnessing her tied na**d to that log had been bad enough.

Anton sat next to her and took her hand in his. She clung to him as the van started. Meeting his mother had been an unpleasant experience and now she would meet his father. Alphas were the most feared of all werewolves, known for their viciousness and brutality. They used fear and violence to keep their pack in line, according to what her father had told her mother.

Guilt suddenly struck her. She hadn’t called her mother in days. She’d wanted to avoid lying. Stating the truth, that she currently lived with a werewolf, under his protection, would probably send her mother into heart failure.

“What’s wrong?” Anton looked concerned. It made her smile that he seemed so in tune to her feelings that he noticed her distress.

“I was just thinking about how my mother would freak out if she knew where I am and where I’m going. She’s feared me meeting other shifters all my life.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Rave offered from the seat in front of them. He turned his head, and grinned. “No one is going to hurt you. You have five of the best pack fighters here. Think of us as your personal bodyguards.” He winked. “Of course, only Anton gets to really hover over you.”

“Rave,” Anton warned softly.

He laughed. “What? I’m just trying to let her know she’s got nothing to worry about. No way will anyone start any shit with us surrounding her.”

Annoyance made Anton scowl. He squeezed Shannon’s hand. “It will be fine. My father is actually a lot nicer than my mother. My older brother mated a human and he backed Grady’s decision. My mother didn’t like it one bit, but then, there’s not much she doesn’t hate.”

“You can say that again,” Rave muttered. “I was forbidden to even date human women.” He made a face at Von. “Thanks to him.”

Von’s grin faded. “Drop it.”

Shannon glanced at Anton. He hesitated. “Von fell for a human but it didn’t work out.”

“I said drop it,” Von demanded. “We don’t discuss it, ever.”

Curiosity piqued Shannon but obviously no one would discuss the subject. It had to be a sore topic for Von. She got the impression the human woman had hurt him. No one spoke the rest of the drive to a secluded house surrounded by woods.

The house looked nice and very normal. Shannon wasn’t sure what she’d expected to see but a middle-class ranch house wasn’t it. The van stopped and they all got out. Anton kept a tight hold on her hand.

“If you get scared,” he dipped his head to peer into her eyes, “don’t bolt away from me. Grab me. I’d rather hold you than have to get you down from a ceiling beam.” A grin softened his words. “There are some pack members here. Not too many but I smell at least ten. There’s nothing to fear, kitten. You’re perfectly safe with me.”

She winced. “Don’t let me go, just in case. I swear, I’ll die of embarrassment if my instincts make me do something humiliating in front of your father.”

“You’re getting better at controlling it. You’ve done great in a van full of us.”

“You’re right!” That cheered her up and made her feel more confident that she wouldn’t do something she’d regret.

He chuckled. “Maybe your puma is starting to think it’s part werewolf from adjusting to my scent.”

“I don’t think so. When those pride guys came into your apartment after me, I was scared but my instincts didn’t respond the way they do around your kind. It really pissed me off. I wanted to flee and tried but I didn’t go all ninja climbing skills.”

Anger darkened his handsome features. “It had to be the heat you’re in. It recognized them as other pumas.” He snarled that last word, really getting worked up.

Shannon gaped at him, unsure what had set him off but he totally had gone off the deep end, furious.

He took a few deep breaths. “I’m jealous.” He calmed, getting control of his temper. “I feel my wolf, what it wants and how it reacts to things, even when I’m in skin. It makes me wonder if the cat inside you prefers it if you were with one of those ass**les who kidnapped you. You are too human to control those puma genes of yours but only react to whatever instincts come with them.”

Understanding dawned and she stepped into him, gazing into his eyes. “As you pointed out, I’m too human. I can’t feel a cat inside me. It’s just me in here with some crazy fears that I react to. You’re the only man I want, Anton.”

His arm slid around her waist to pull her against him and he lifted her hand to brush a kiss over her knuckles. He smiled.

“I hate to break this up,” Von interrupted softly. “We need to go inside. They are waiting.”

“I know.” Anton lowered her hand. “Let’s go.”

He released her waist, stepped back, but gripped her hand tight enough that she knew even if she panicked, she wouldn’t be able to jerk free. She followed close behind him as they entered a nice living room and then walked to the back of the house to a doorway that had stairs leading downward. Rave and Von kept in front of them with Braden and Brand behind.