"Stay away from me. I mean it. Go after that b.i.t.c.h if you need to nail someone. I sure as h.e.l.l won't allow you to touch me now that I know your dance card is full."

"d.a.m.n it!" He took a step back. "You're really hurting. I can smell your pain. You don't mean what you say. You're trying to wound me with your insults. We are attracted to each other. I realize you don't allow many males near you."

"I'm totally not your type and you aren't mine. I should leave now. I'll be fine with my mother.

Give me a cell phone number to reach you at and I'll call you within a few days. You can tell me when it's safe to leave her house."

"I don't want you to go."

"I'm not staying."

She glanced at the bed, the one she'd been on recently, allowing him to do things to her, and she wrapped her arms around her waist. The memory of it made her want to cry. She'd foolishly allowed him to get beyond her defenses, his touch going deeper than just her skin, and she'd started to fall for him.

"I need to leave." She met his gaze. "I heard what your brother said. No way am I sticking around, risking you going into heat. I won't allow you to ever touch me again."

"It's not...d.a.m.n. You're not listening to me. It wasn't just s.e.x, Shannon. I want you to believe me. It's the truth. My oldest brother, Grady, warned me that allowing my father to schedule meetings with prospective mates would bite me in the a.s.s one day. I guess it's today." Shannon watched him. She'd thought he looked handsome, still did, but now she knew what kind of life he led. He had s.e.x with a bunch of different women, often. She knew she'd always avoided one-night stands or allowing a guy to touch her too quickly in order to avoid these painful situations.

She'd bypa.s.sed her own rules because she'd just been too attracted to Anton Harris. She'd thought there was something special between them, something meaningful, but it had only been on her part.

A horrible thought struck. "Oh no. Tell me you've been tested. If you've slept with a lot of women, your chances of an STD are higher than normal."

"Shifters don't carry s.e.xual diseases."

"Good." Her shoulders slumped. "I guess that's one bright side to this, but it seems everyone you know wants to either kill me or spout dinner references about me. I'll a.s.sume that angering an alpha couple could be a death sentence. You keep telling me I'm in danger but you seem to put me in more of it than I'd find on my own."

"You're under my protection."

"Then just announce that and allow me to walk out the door."

"I need to guard you."

"That's bulls.h.i.t. If I go to my mother's, they won't find me there. I won't go to work until this is over. They tore up my apartment and my uniforms and paycheck stubs were there so they will know where I work. But they wouldn't have figured out where my mom lives."

"They may have found her address in your apartment."

"We see each other enough that we don't send mail back and forth. I never wrote down her address. I just drive there. She's remarried, everything is under her new husband's name, and I'll be safe."

Anton shook his head. "I won't allow you to leave me."

She stared at him silently. She didn't understand his persistence to keep her with him. It didn't make any sense. He should want her gone so he could sleep with lots of other women if he enjoyed that kind of lifestyle. It was unsettling how much he confused her.

"I won't touch you again, okay? I will be on my best behavior. That should alleviate your concern if you think I only want you for s.e.x."

She studied him. "What about when the next woman arrives for her appointment with you? Is she going to try to attack me too?"

His jaw clenched. "Rave has taken over those duties for me until I've established that you're safe from the males hunting you."

"And if you go into heat? Then what?"

He glanced away. "I've got a few days."

"Look at me."

He met her gaze.

"What happens if you go into heat and I'm still here in your apartment? Tell me the truth." His licked his lips. "You're f.u.c.ked, kitten. Often. By me." He dropped his arms to his sides where they fisted. "In the literal sense."

"You said it's hard to predict this mating heat thing. What if you're wrong and it starts tomorrow? Or worse, tonight?"

He hesitated. "Would it really be so bad?"

"Yes," she stated clearly. "I am not the casual type, Anton. You said you smelled my pain. I can't get involved with you. I'm grateful for all you've done, I owe my life to you, but I'm not willing to get my heart broken if something happens between us. You'll go on your merry way to someone else and I'll really get hurt."

He growled and then spun away. He put on a shirt, his boots, and a belt. He never looked at her while he dressed and stomped to the door. "I'll go hunt down those males and deal with this now. Don't try to leave, Shannon. You don't want me hunting you. Trust me on that. If you do..." He stopped at the door and turned his head to glare at her over his shoulder. "I'll finish what we started only I'll be too p.i.s.sed to care if I harm you because my wolf will be in charge. You wouldn't like me out of control. I gave you my word that no harm would come to you and I will protect you even if it's from me. I'll be back soon."

He slammed the door behind him. She heard something beep and ran for the door. She tried to open it but it refused to unlock. He'd managed to trap her inside his apartment. Her gaze darted to the window. It would be her last option to get out.

"s.h.i.t!"

Fury drove Anton to kick in a door to the house where some of the pups lived together. Three of them sat on a couch playing video games. He snarled when he met their shocked gazes.

"Where are they hiding?"

A blond teenager paled. "They didn't say."

Anton didn't have to mention names. He studied Kyle, the blond, and showed his fangs. "What do you know?"

"They decided to go after some cat and I know that's why you're here." He glanced nervously at two of his roommates. "They hang with some rogues who thought it would be fun to go after her."

"s.h.i.t," one of the younger males cursed. "I didn't know." He gave Anton a terrified look. "I swear. I would have reported it if I'd known anyone hung with rogues." Anton walked to Kyle, leaned over the frightened teen, and snarled, "Where do they meet? They must have somewhere they hang out together to avoid being seen by anyone in this area."

"In the woods at the north end but I swear that's all I know. I told them not to p.i.s.s you off. I warned them what would happen if they didn't obey your orders. I didn't do anything to that puma shifter. You made it clear about how angry you were and said to leave her alone." Anton glared at the three. "Go hunt them down and bring them back here. I want the rogues too. Call me on my cell when you have them."

The three nodded eagerly and bolted for the door. Anton left the house, still longed to beat on someone, but had to attempt to calm down. It wasn't so much that the pups had disobeyed him or that they were hanging out with undesirables that angered him. Pups did those things, needed to learn to obey orders, and it had just become part of his job to deal with them. It wasn't anything new. What irritated him the most, made him killing mad, had been Shannon's reaction to learning about his life.

My having a pulse is all it takes for you to feel drawn to me.

He couldn't get Shannon's accusation out of his head. Her words repeated over and over. He growled low under his breath. The sad thing, he admitted, was that it wasn't that far off the mark. He had allowed his life to become a parade of b.i.t.c.hes strolling through his life to fulfill his duty to find a mate to lead the pack when he had to take over the alpha position.

The scent of Shannon's pain and the look of betrayal in her beautiful eyes haunted him. He hadn't wanted to lie to her when she'd asked her questions but his answers had struck her as if he'd backhanded her across the face. She'd closed down on him, h.e.l.l, she had tried to leap out a second-floor window just to get away from him. Their touching had been incredible but now she believed it amounted to something meaningless and dirty. She'd asked about s.e.xually transmitted diseases.

He snarled, straddled his motorcycle, and fought the urge to throw back his head to howl in rage. He wanted Shannon unlike any other woman he'd ever known. It didn't make sense. He knew it couldn't work out with their bloodlines but he didn't care about logic or odds. Neither did his wolf. He ached to touch the mostly human shifter to the point of pain.

I should have taken her when I had the chance. Now she would never allow him to touch her again. He paused. Not unless she's really scared and wraps around me. A slow smile spread. It would be underhanded and wrong but he wanted her that bad.

"f.u.c.k!" He tore down the street on his bike to return home. "I can't do that to her. I'm not an animal. At least not totally," he muttered.

He parked behind the building and entered the back door. The noise from the bar drew him inside. The room nearly overflowed with shifters from his pack and visiting ones. He scanned faces, couldn't recognize about forty percent of them, and then located Glenda. She'd exchanged her bloodied white shirt for a blue tank top and snug black jeans.

Males studied his friend but few approached her. She intimidated most werewolves. She stopped at a table to talk to a few b.i.t.c.hes, not from their pack, and then spun toward the bar. She appeared angry when their gazes met. She changed direction and headed his way instead.

"You've got fans. They want to meet the Harris boys." She rolled her eyes. "I told them to pair up with someone else. Pathetic groupies. They don't even have alpha blood. Talk about trying to start a fight. They know d.a.m.n well that's all that gets your attention this time of year and that those women who come with appointments would kick their a.s.ses for even daring to draw your eye." He sighed. It seemed every year more females showed up in town hoping to hook up with him or his brothers. They tried to bypa.s.s the pack agreements their father made with other packs with the meeting appointments. "Great."

"Yeah. I lied and said all you guys had paired up already. You want shocking?" She jerked her thumb toward a far corner. "See the two redheaded males over there? You'll never guess where they've come from."

"I'm not in the mood to play games."

"They have accents. They are Irish. They wanted to vacation over here to try out American wolf b.i.t.c.hes. I don't know who to feel sorrier for since they are kind of rough around the edges and our females tend to be a little too coddled. One of them hit on me." She grinned. "What do you think?

Should I go for it?"

Anton grinned, glanced at the two burly men, and studied them closely. "The one in the blue shirt would probably challenge you. He looks mean enough for you not to break him easily or scare him away."

"I was thinking about taking on both."

He chuckled. "Wolves aren't known to share well. They may fight over you."

"They are brothers. I figure they have to be used to doing that since they are from the same litter. They said they shared a woman's body once." She winked. "They can do it again."

"That's so wrong." He laughed though-couldn't help it. "Good luck. Don't do anything inside the bar. They look big enough to do a lot of property damage if you're wrong and they decide to challenge each other in an attempt to impress you."

"I haven't found any other prospects who appeal to me."

"What about Boris?" He remembered the Russian transplant she had spent the last few mating heats with.

"He had to go home. His father took sick." Depression settled on her features. "I'll miss him. I had a lot of fun with him and that wolf had serious s.e.x skills."

"He didn't ask you to go with him?"

She waved it off. "He asked. He loves me but he wanted a mate. Can you see me being his alpha b.i.t.c.h?" She snorted. "I'd make all the pups in his pack wet their pants." Sympathy welled inside Anton. "You'd make a good one."

"Been there and done that." She met his gaze. "Never again. Love sucks and I'm just glad you took me in when I showed up here. This is where I belong." He let it go. Glenda didn't talk about her past much but when she'd arrived in town she'd been in bad shape. Someone had obviously abused her. She'd been half dead when she'd been found hiding inside a motel room, nearly unconscious. The Harris family had nursed her to health, accepted her into the pack, and Anton had personally trained her to fight. They'd been fast friends ever since, nearly family.

"How goes it with the she-cat? I think you've lost your mind, by the way."

"She's upset."

"I would be too if I were a cat."

He shot her an annoyed expression. "She found out about how the packs send me women to test out."

"Oh. Yeah. If she's into you that would definitely p.i.s.s a woman off. Some don't like to share."

"I just want her." His voice dropped. "I feel things."

He wasn't able to block the surprise punch that slammed into his stomach. He grunted and shot Glenda a glare while he rubbed the spot. "What the h.e.l.l was that for?"

"Feel that? That's nothing compared to what your parents will do when they find out you're holed up with the enemy. Maybe I should deck you in the head to try to knock some sense into you.

You're not thinking clearly."

"She's unlike anyone I've ever known."

"I bet. She's a cat."

"She's mostly human."

"That's two strikes against her then. Why don't you allow me to take her to a safe house? Two birds with one stone. She won't be upstairs under your d.i.c.k and she'll be safe from the pups. I won't hurt her."

He knew Glenda would keep her word. It would be the perfect way to be rid of Shannon until he could track down the pups threatening her. He just didn't want to let her go yet. "No."

"Oh h.e.l.l, Anton. Do you know what you're doing?"

"Not a clue." He sighed. "But wish me luck. I'm about to go upstairs and she's not going to be welcoming."

"Got her hackles up, huh?" She laughed. "A hissy fit? Maybe she's going to cough up a hairball and throw it at you?"

He playfully snapped his fangs at her, his eyes flashing. "Cute."

"I'm not the one infatuated by a forbidden p.u.s.s.y. It makes me extremely happy that I will never have to say that I don't know d.i.c.k. I also think with the head on my shoulders." Anton groaned at the pun and left the bar. He had no idea how to handle Shannon's injured feelings but he wanted to make it clear that he didn't plan on hurting her in any way.

Chapter Eight.

Shannon paced. It left her unsettled to be alone inside Anton's home without him there after that werewolf woman had shown up. She'd studied the window and outside it but there wasn't a way to leave without dropping a good fifteen feet onto the pavement below. It would probably be painful when she landed if she tried to escape through that exit.

The door beeped and she spun in fear and frantically glanced around, searching for a weapon.

Anton stepped inside when the door swung open. He frowned at her, paused, and then quietly closed it firmly behind him.

"Did you find them? Is the problem handled? Can I go now?"

"No to all your questions." He watched her with those s.e.xy eyes. "We should talk."

"I really don't see a reason for that. I should leave."

"That's not happening any time soon. I have some of the pups looking for the ones who visited your apartment." He withdrew his cell phone from his back pocket and placed it on top of the table inside the door. "They will call me when they have located them."

"Why are you being so stubborn?"