Dropping to her knees, she made quick work of his jeans, shoving them down and grabbing the bounty within. Oh hello, penis.

Breathing deep, she took his scent into her lungs, the elemental musk of his body, of his sex, tightened her ni**les. Nipples he had between his fingertips, twisting and pulling just shy of pain.

With a grunt, he flexed his hips forward, bumping his c**k against her lips and she opened up to take him inside. Her tongue slid across the slick, salty eye, dragging over the crown and down the heavy stalk of him and down to his sac.

Those clever hands moved from her ni**les to her hair, grasping, guiding but not hurting. His dominance was subtle, not cruel or painful, he took control and used it well.

He played her body as well as her brain.

Nothing sexier than a man who understood the key to a woman’s cunt was between her ears.

There was something so comforting about being there on her knees, pleasing him.

She turned off the warrior in her head, let go of the control she had to exert every other moment in her life and gave it all up to him.

As he came, his taste filling her, he said her name so tenderly it brought tears to her eyes and a tiny bit of fear rose along with the love. Fear of losing him now that she’d found love again.

Tegan awoke refreshed and relaxed. For one brief moment she didn’t know where she was but Ben’s scent reassured her, and she opened her eyes to see the outline of his bedroom. Sleeping over took some getting used to, but she was slowly growing accustomed to it.

Carefully, she eased out of bed and threw on clothes to quickly run to his truck to grab her duffel bag. The air was frosty and crisp as the quiet of the pre-dawn hour wrapped around her senses.

It was then she felt it. Being watched. Feigning nonchalance, she went back into the house and closed the door, locking it. On swift feet, she went to Ben’s side and leaned over to whisper into his ear.

“Mmmm, morning.” His arms encircled her and pulled her back to bed. “You’re dressed. And cold.” Perceptive blue-gray eyes opened and she pressed a finger to his lips, shaking her head.

His body went on alert, tensed, coiled up and ready for action. Her wolf responded and she had to push that aside for the time being. In a very quiet voice she whispered, “There’s someone out there. Does your garage have a door into your back yard?”

He nodded.

“I’m going to go out there and change. Take a look. I can sense a lot more as a wolf.

Stay here. You may be able to see something if you’ve got binoculars or night vision goggles but be careful that they don’t see you when you look out the windows.”

“The hell you are!” he hissed. “You’ll stay here. I’m a cop, I’ll deal with it and you’ll keep safe.”

Her head whipped up and one eyebrow rose. “This isn’t sex. You can’t tell me what to do. I’m not a fragile flower, Ben. I’m a werewolf bodyguard. I’m perfectly capable, in fact more qualified to do this than you are. I just did you the courtesy of telling you so you didn’t walk out to see a werewolf in your garage and get spooked.”

She pulled away and peeled clothing off as she walked out of the room.

With a muttered curse, he opened the drawer next to the bed and pulled out his handgun, removing the trigger lock. Quickly, he pulled jeans on and followed her.

Nothing could have prepared him to see her transform. He’d seen werewolves in wolf form before but he’d never watched a human change into a wolf. He stood there in his garage and watched, speechless as she knelt and a sharp, electric feeling whipped through him, making his eyes water and his teeth hurt. When it eased, a wolf, a red wolf that on all fours came to his chest took a look back over its shoulder and eased out the already opened door to his backyard. She was beautiful. Otherworldly, fierce. It made his chest constrict to see her there, so not human but his.

“Be careful,” he whispered softly.

He’d wanted to argue with her but if they spooked the watchers, it would have been his fault for blowing it. He’d kick her ass when she came back. He just had to trust she’d be all right.

For a big wolf, she was surprisingly stealthy. Tegan put her nose up, scenting the air.

Dogs, cats, garbage, perfume and cologne, motor oil, coffee—all normal things to smell in a neighborhood at that time of day.

But gun oil, that wasn’t normal. She knew what Ben’s gun smelled like, and what hers did. This was different, distinct. The man who carried it was nervous and smelled of stale sweat as he sat up the street in his late model sedan.

Running, she went down the block behind the house, circling around to approach the car from the rear before going back to the house.

Ben waited for her in the living room, looking first relieved to see her and then pissed off. She held her hand up to stall his tantrum. “Two blocks down, dark, late model sedan. License number one, four, seven, Charlie, Echo, William. One man, he’s carrying.

Nervous. He’s not healthy. Didn’t seem to have any special equipment. I didn’t sense or see any electronics. I say we head out there and ask him what’s what.”

He stood. “You say? What the f**k? Tegan, you could have gotten yourself killed!

I’ll go out there after I call his plates in. Sit that pretty ass down right now.”

He picked up the phone and called the plate in while she laced up her boots and strapped on her under-arm rig, holstering her weapon and waiting.

“Car is stolen. They’re sending over an officer now. I’m going to go make an arrest.