“Andrea.”

He was right behind her, his warmth like sunshine on her back. Andrea stopped with her hand on the doorknob. Sean rested his palm on the doorframe above her, his tall body hemming her in. She remembered the feel of him on top of her on the floor, the tactile memory strong.

“Glory says something’s been troubling you,” Sean said. “Troubling you bad. I want you to tell me about it.”

Andrea shivered. Damn Glory, damn Sean, and no, she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Not now. Can we go?”

“It’s my job to listen to troubles,” he said, breath hot in her ear. “Whether I’m your mate yet or not. And you will tell me yours.”

Andrea’s tongue felt loose, her pent-up emotions suddenly wanting to spill out to this man and his warm voice. She clamped her mouth shut, but Sean stunned her by saying, “Is it about the nightmares?”

She hadn’t told anyone about the nightmares, not Glory, not Sean, not anyone, though Glory might have heard her crying out in her sleep. The nightmares had started a week after she’d moved in with Glory, when they’d risen in her head like a many-tentacled monster. She didn’t know what they meant or why she was having them; she only knew they scared the hell out of her. “How do you know about my nightmares?”

“Because my bedroom window faces yours, love, and I have good hearing.”

The thought of Sean sitting in his bedroom, watching over her while she slept, made her shiver with warmth. “There’s nothing to tell. When I wake up, I can’t remember anything.” Except fear. She had no idea what the images that flashed through her head meant, but they terrified her. “I really don’t want to talk about it right now,” she said. “All right?”

Sean ran a soothing hand down her arm, stirring more fires. “That’s all right, love. You let me know when you’re good and ready.”

From the feel of the very firm thing lodged against her backside, Sean was good and ready now. One part of him had definitely shifted.

Andrea deliberately leaned on the door and pressed back into him. A jolt of heat shot through her, the fear of the nightmares dissolving. After Jared, Andrea thought she’d be afraid of Sean, turned off, ready to run. Instead, Sean made her feel, for the first time in years ... playful.

“So, tell me, Guardian,” she said, lowering her voice to a purr. “Is that where you carry your sword, or are you just happy to see me?”

CHAPTER TWO

Damn but the woman could ignite the mating frenzy without even trying.

Andrea’s backside fit right into Sean’s groin, her wriggle of hips teasing his hard-on for all she was worth. She smelled good, better than good. Even her overlying Fae scent couldn’t change the sensory goodness that was Andrea.

The frenzy wasn’t supposed to start until they were officially mated in ceremony, blessed by the clan leader under sun and under moon. Then they would be a recognized mate-pair, similar to a human marriage, together until death. The mate-claim alone shouldn’t be enough to start the frenzy. But Sean’s libido and instincts were busily overriding the stringent Shifter rules drilled into his head since before he could talk.

Andrea had pulled her ringlets of dark hair into a ponytail tonight, baring her slim neck to his delectation. Sean leaned down and bit her skin, right above her Collar.

“Not now,” he growled.

“Are you implying that there will be a later, Feline?” she asked in that throaty, sexy voice.

“If you want one.” His own voice sounded thick, his tongue wanting only to taste her.

She had no right to smell this good. She was a bloody Lupine, like Glory. Sean had never understood his father’s fixation with Glory, but damn it, Andrea was getting under his skin. He couldn’t make himself stay away from the bloody woman. And then she did things like this.

Sean wanted to jerk Andrea back into him, peel off her clothes, make love to her on the sagging sofa or maybe the desk. He wanted to lift her in his arms, rush her home, and tell Liam he was ready for the mate blessing. Under sun and under moon; get on with it, man.

“Not now,” he said again, directing the words to himself.

Andrea straightened and turned, putting her back against the door, her stormy eyes making him wild with wanting. “You know I’m grateful for what you’ve done for me, Sean.”

“Aye, and your undying gratitude is what I live for.”

“Really?” She looked him up and down with a hint of a smile.

“Sure it is.” He heard the bitterness in his tone, but he couldn’t keep it out.

Her brows moved upward, her smoke-colored eyes looking straight into his heart. He had to wonder what she saw there.

Sean had pictured her, before he’d met her, as a submissive little she-wolf—shy and scared, grateful to him for making it possible for her to relocate to Austin. But what he saw in front of him now was a sensual, curvaceous female with eyes the color of smoke, who lifted her head and met his gaze without flinching. She didn’t glance to the side or bow her head, as someone low in a pack should. It was as though Andrea couldn’t be bothered to remember she was supposed to be a submissive little she-wolf.

“We should go,” Sean heard himself saying. “They’ll be wondering what we’re doing back here. You know how Shifter gossip is.”

“Rampant,” Andrea said.

So was Sean, at the moment. He leaned down and nipped her cheek. “I’ll walk you home.”

“That’s sweet, but Glory’s walking me home. She’s plenty scary. I’ll be fine.”

“And tonight, with humans running about shooting up places, I go with you.”

Andrea squarely met his gaze. She always did that, making it clear that she knew that Sean was dominant to her but she didn’t give a damn. Her mouth softened into a smile. “What an offer. A walk with something that worships a scratching post.”

Her teasing made him want to pin her against the door and nip her until she couldn’t speak for laughing. “Lupine humor, as inventive as ever,” he said, exaggerating his Irish lilt. “I’d offer you a doggie biscuit, but I don’t want to soil me dignity.”

“Not a rawhide bone? Stingy.”

He leaned toward her again, heart pounding. “If I were to offer you a bone, that’s not the type I’d be thinking of.”