“Mace Llewellyn. You let me go! Now!” Her dogs bolted from under the table and ran up the stairs.

“Cowards!” she bellowed after them.

Mace watched Dez try to figure out how to get herself out of her handcuffs. The woman simply continued to confuse him. One second it seemed like she couldn’t live without his touch, the next he expected her to toss his ass out of the front door as soon as she came.

Full-humans were so freakin’ difficult to read.

“When I get loose I’m gonna kick your gringo ass all ova this fuckin’ kitchen!” Well that Bronx girl sure had come back with a vengeance.

Mace reached out and lightly brushed her breast with his fingertips. The woman’s knees buckled. He caught her around the waist, worried she might hit the floor.

She growled at him. “Get off me, Mace. And stop starin’ at me!”

“So confusing,” he muttered more to himself than to her.

He reached down and slipped two fingers inside her tight pussy. Her head dropped against his chest.

“Dammit, Mace!”

He ignored her and instead said, “Christ, Dez. You’re so wet.”

“I am not.” Except she moaned that statement. He pulled out of her and this time she moaned in disappointment. He slid his two fingers across one of her nipples.

“You tasted so good earlier.” He lowered his head to her breast and, before he even touched her, heard Dez’s sharp intake of breath.

“Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t, Mace.”

“Come on, Dez. Just a little taste.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth. Her whole body jerked and he had to wrap one arm under her ass to keep her from dropping to the floor.

Immediately Dez’s body responded. Her breath coming out in short, hard pants. Her chest rising to give him better access to her nipples while her juices flowed down her thighs and across the free hand he had between her legs.

“Tricky damn cat.”

Smiling around the hard flesh sitting comfortably in his mouth, he brought his free hand up and squeezed the other nipple. He didn’t have to get it hard, it already was.

“Shit, Mace!” that brutal voice cried out, and he realized he needed to be inside her again. He might as well have himself surgically implanted, because he couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d ever want to be again. Not if Dez wasn’t there with him.

“Still want me to stop, Dez?”

“God, don’t stop, Mace. Don’t—” He sucked harder and she began to break around him. “Don’t ever stop,” she begged. Then her whole body convulsed and she came hard, almost knocking him across the room. He held on to her, though. Kept sucking and tugging her nipples until she came again.

He released her and she sagged against him. He grabbed the handcuff keys lying with herbadge. He unlocked her and held her sagging body against his. Dez’s arms looped around his neck and he easily lifted her up, urging her legs to wrap around his waist.

With that, he turned and headed up the stairs.

“Don’t you dare fall asleep on me, Dez,” he whispered against her ear. “We’re not even close to done.”

Dez shivered in anticipation of the promises that statement held as Mace carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. And if she wasn’t so sexually overwhelmed at the moment, she’d kick herself in the ass. He was making her fall for him. She was, too. She was falling hard and fast. And when you fall that hard and fast, she thought desperately to herself, you usually break something.

Chapter Ten

I t couldn’t have been past eleven o’clock in the morning when he heard it. The most horrible sound. The kind of sound that drove men to kill, to destroy all they love, to destroy everything.

With a growl he stood up, went to the window, and threw it open. The carolers at the front of the house glanced up at him. They looked quite festive in their Santa hats and green and red sweaters, singing happily about Rudolph and his goddamn red nose.

Mace glared at the group and roared. A full-on, lion-protecting-his-Pride roar. The kind of roar that would travel up to five miles and let any other shifters know this territory belonged to him now.

The carolers stopped, screamed, and ran. He slammed the window down and turned back around. Dez kneeled naked on the bed, watching him with beautiful wide-awake eyes.

“What is wrong with you?”

“They woke me up. I hate that.”

“Mace, I gotta live here. And weren’t they from the church?”

“I thought I saw a priest.”

Dez buried her head in her hands. She wondered if it were really hot in hell or just a little humid.

“Don’t worry, Dez. They’ll convince themselves it didn’t happen.”

Her head snapped up. “Look, Mace. I know you’re a freak, but do you think you could be a little less freaky?”

Mace calmly walked toward her. All naked and glorious. Dez’s body responded immediately at the sight of him—her breath leaving her in a soft whoosh, her nipples tightening, and the evidence of her lust pouring from between her thighs.

“You like me freaky.”

She watched as he moved toward her with the grace of the animal he truly was, and Dez felt awe. Not only for what he could do, but for what he did to her. How he made her feel.

He stood at the foot of the bed. “Come here, Dez.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“You scared of me?”

She shook her head again. “No.” Her eyes traveled up his body until their eyes locked. “I just think you should work for it.”