by Katie Reus
Protective Instinct
Moon Shifter Series
Katie Reus
A woman worth fighting for…
Wolf shifter Teresa is blown away by her packmate Ryan’s honesty about his past and his rare empathic powers. She wants him in her bed—and her life. The only problem: Ryan insists they wait, because the last thing he wants is to recreate the hellish family he grew up in. Frustrated, Teresa jumps at the chance to assist a packmate off the ranch—far away from Ryan.
On the way, their vehicle is run off the road—and it wasn’t an accident. Ryan rushes to Teresa’s side, determined to protect her. But there’s a dangerous enemy lurking in the shadows, and if Ryan doesn’t break out of his old thinking and put his faith in his and Teresa’s love—and their ability to overcome obstacles together—it will be too late.
Protective Instinct
Copyright © 2015 Katie Reus
Cover Art by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs
Copy editor JRT Editing
Digital Formatting by Author E.M.S.
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.
Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload this book to a file sharing program. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
eISBN: 9781942447054
Dedication
For my wonderful Moon Shifter readers who have been asking for Ryan and Teresa’s happily ever after since book one. This is for you.
Chapter 1
This no sex thing was going to kill her. Teresa was convinced of it.
This had to be the longest courtship in the history of shifter courting. Ever.
Ryan had admitted he wanted her as his bondmate and he knew she wanted him too. Three freaking months later they still weren’t mated because he was apparently trying to drive her and her wolf insane.
After he’d admitted his secret to her, that he was an empath shifter, something she hadn’t even known existed, he’d confessed that his kind mated differently than normal shifters. He could accidentally make her his bondmate if they had sex. Unlike the typical shifter way, which was under the full moon with the male taking the female from behind, biting her, claiming her. That would bond them forever, a link stronger than marriage because death was the only thing that could part them.
Even thinking of Ryan taking her like that got her all hot and bothered. Unfortunately it seemed as if he was determined to make things between them sex-free. Well, to be fair, not completely. They’d explored each other’s bodies the past few months in so many fun ways but he always held back from full-on sex.
And now he wasn’t even letting her pleasure him at all. It was always about her pleasure. Which, yeah, she realized that sounded insane for her to be frustrated about, but his mouth and fingers weren’t…what she wanted. Well, not all she wanted. Not only did she want to experience everything with him, she wanted that connection that only bondmates had.
Hell, she needed it on the most primal level. Once he’d admitted his attraction to her and let those walls down it was like she’d allowed her wolf the freedom to accept her mate.
And all he kept doing was rejecting her on that most primal level. She wanted to please him as much as he was her, but he was keeping her at arm’s length and it cut deep.
Grabbing the pillow next to her she held it over her face and groaned. Maddening male.
She scented him returning to her bedroom before she heard him. They weren’t living together but he was here more often than not. Tossing the pillow to the side she found herself staring into dark eyes she could easily lose herself in.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, striding into the room—shirtless. At six foot four, the cowboy was huge and beautiful. He’d probably hate that word, but he truly was. All hard muscles and sleek lines of perfection she’d had fun exploring the past few months. Well, as much as he’d let her.
She slipped her hands behind her head as she stretched out on top of the sheets, not bothering to hide her nakedness. When she slightly arched her back, he sucked in a sharp breath, his hot gaze tracking every inch of her body so that she swore she could practically feel him touching her. His eyes were espresso dark, practically the same shade as his hair. But right now she could see his wolf flickering in his gaze. “What could be wrong?” she murmured.
With shifters you usually couldn’t flat out lie or they’d scent it. So when she didn’t want to answer something, she was careful with her wording. Asking a question in response to a question tended to work if she wanted to deflect.
Unfortunately he wasn’t buying it. Setting two water bottles on her dresser, he stalked toward the bed, looking every inch the predator he was. Without pause he climbed onto it and didn’t stop moving until he was on top of her, his forearms caging her in as he stared down at her.
She resisted the urge to reach up and glide her fingers over his chest, shoulders and back. Then through his thick dark hair, clutching his head as they…gah. Her inner wolf was clawing at her, not understanding why she couldn’t touch him the way she needed. Especially when she could feel how aroused he was, his thick erection pressing against her insistently.
“You’re mad at me.” A quiet, intense statement.
“Not mad,” she whispered. That at least was the truth. “I’m frustrated and…hurt.”
He flinched at the last word, making her feel like crap. But he didn’t move off her, didn’t put distance between them. She wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. “I just want you to be sure,” he said quietly, his scent wrapping around her. All shifters had a natural scent and his reminded her of the desert. It was just a little bit wild and untamed.
“I am sure.” They’d talked about it. More than once. He wanted her to be certain that she was ready and she was. She didn’t like the way he was acting as if she didn’t know her mind. Even though she looked like she was in her twenties, she was close to seventy years old and had been alive long enough to know what she wanted in life.
Now he rolled off her, falling onto his back next to her. The bed shifted slightly under his weight. “I don’t want you to regret anything.”
Before they’d started officially seeing each other they’d bickered all the time. All that hidden sexual tension, she now realized. Though at the time she’d just wanted to strangle the male. For the last three months they hadn’t argued or anything. Maybe it made her a coward but she didn’t want to start now.
Shoving up from the bed, she grabbed her discarded clothes and jerked her T-shirt over her head. Next she pulled up her jeans. She didn’t bother with a bra or underwear, knowing it would get Ryan riled up. Good. He deserved to be on edge as much as she was. Before she could grab her socks, a big arm snagged her around the waist, pulling her back to the bed.
Ryan sat on the edge of it, and kept her in place with her back pressed up against his chest. He nuzzled his face against her neck, his breath warm. A pleasant shiver rolled through her. “Don’t be angry at me, sweetheart.” She started to melt a little at his touch and words until he continued. “You just need to be sure.”
She
snorted and wiggled out of his embrace, elbowing his rock hard stomach as she did. Like most of the Cordona women on the Armstrong-Cordona ranch, she wasn’t exactly blessed in the height department. If he didn’t want to let her go he wouldn’t have, but Ryan would never use his size against her. She knew it without a doubt.
Turning on him, she placed her hands on her hips, glad he was still sitting. “You keep telling me that I need to be sure, but I’m starting to think this is all your bullshit, Ryan O’Callaghan.” His eyes widened a fraction, but she continued, letting the steam that had been building inside her break free just a tiny bit. “I know what I want and I’m not going to beg you to mate with me.”
His jaw tightened. “Damn it, Teresa, you know why I’m concerned.”
“No, I know what happened with your parents, but we’re not them. Not even close. And if you think I don’t know my own mind or that I need some big, strong alpha male to tell me what’s good for me or to make decisions for me, then this is never going to work.” She knew she was probably being overly sarcastic with the ‘big, strong alpha’ comment but she didn’t care. Being on edge like this all the time, it was getting hard to function around the ranch without acting like a manic asshole. She’d even been snapping at her sisters, something she never did.
Her pack was her life and as the oldest in her immediate family, she’d been looking out for her sisters long before their parents had been killed in a mass poisoning last year. What she needed was some distance from Ryan. It would help clear her head. When she heard him moving behind her, she stiffened.
“I’m going to Ana’s. Please don’t follow me,” she said, her back to him as she headed for the door.
He didn’t respond, but he also let her go. Once she was outside, she inhaled the crisp spring air. Winter was finally gone and the scents and sounds of various packmates active on the ranch soothed some of her tension. She loved the home they’d made in North Carolina. The houses and cabins were in the center of the ranch, surrounded by fields and forest. Their homes looped out in a big circle, all encasing the main house where her cousin Ana lived with her bondmate Connor—their new pack Alpha.
The setup of the homes was far enough apart that the pack had some privacy but close enough to alert the rest of the pack if there was trouble. It was a perfect little village of activity. And since coming out to humans twenty years ago, they no longer had to move every decade or so to cover the fact that they didn’t age like humans.
The second she stepped through Ana and Connor’s door, she smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen. She found both her cousins; Ana and Noel, and Vivian the young she-cat Ana and Connor had adopted in the kitchen all laughing about something. The jaguar cub was adorable, but even seeing Vivian couldn’t alleviate Teresa’s simmering annoyance.
“Uh oh, someone’s in a bad mood.” Noel’s eyes widened when she saw Teresa.
Flushing, she tried to fake a smile. “What?”
Ana glanced up from where she was helping Vivian with some sort of art project on the kitchen table. Her eyes widened too. “Your wolf is in your eyes, cuz.”
She inwardly cursed. Teresa gritted her teeth and took a deep, calming breath, pushing her wolf back. “Sorry, I’m just…” She didn’t want to say sexually starved in front of Vivian.
As she floundered for the right word, Noel grinned. “Frustrated? You and me both.” At that, Noel left the kitchen.
Teresa raised her eyebrows at Ana, asking a silent question, knowing her cousin would understand the look. Was Noel seeing someone in the pack?
Ana just shrugged.
“You two are doing that weird thing again,” Vivian murmured. “Where you don’t actually say any words but I know you’re having a conversation. Hey, check this out, Aunt Teresa,” she quickly changed subjects and held up a handmade sign that said ‘It’s a Girl!’ in sparkly purple and green glitter.
“Nice job. That for the baby shower?”
“Yep. I’m gonna go show Lucas.” She snatched it and a handful of cookies from the table and hurried from the room.
Lucas was a ten-year-old lupine cub that Ryan had adopted. Ryan’s love for the little boy, the way he’d taken him in and been a father to him, made Teresa love the male even more. If only he wasn’t being so stubborn right now.
As soon as Teresa heard the front door bang shut behind her, she growled. “I’m losing my freaking mind, Ana. Seriously, losing it. If he tells me I need to be sure one more time I’m going to punch him in the nuts.”
“Such violence.” Ana shook her head, clearly fighting a smile as she pushed up from the table. “You feel like getting away from the ranch?”
She eyed her cousin curiously. “For what?”
“Connor’s sending Rafael to look at some property not far from here. Just a couple hours north. This evening was the only time they could get the listing agent to show it this week before he goes out of town for a few days.”
“Why isn’t Liam going?” Connor’s brother normally did anything real estate-related for the pack.
She snorted. “December’s got one month to go before she pops and he’s acting like an overprotective father already.”
A grin tugged at Teresa’s lips, some of her own frustration fading. “I bet she just loves that.”
Ana shook her head, her dark eyes filled with amusement. “He tried to forbid her to go to work at the bookstore. Forbid. His word, not mine.”
Teresa’s mouth fell open. “I wish I’d been there for that conversation.”
“Right? So…why don’t you head out with Rafael? He’s leaving in an hour. Maybe sooner. I’m sure he’d love the company.” Rafael had been part of a pack out west but when their Alpha had been killed Connor had taken him and five of his packmates in at the request of Jayce. The two females were pregnant. One with twins.
The thought of staying cooped up on the ranch right now was enough to make her scream. “You think so?”
“Of course. Besides, he’s still getting to know everyone. It wouldn’t hurt to make him feel more included.”
“Okay, that sounds great. Is it an overnight thing?”
Ana nodded. “Yeah. Connor wants him to look at some more properties tomorrow but he really wants him to check out this place.”
“I’m surprised your mate isn’t going.”
Ana just snorted again. “He’s as bad as Liam, worrying about December. It’s kinda sweet, though I don’t think he wants to leave Liam right now when he’s all freaked out.”
Yeah, the two brothers were close. And Connor was a good Alpha. “I’m going to go. Thanks for this, I need it.” Did she ever. After talking with her cousin for a few more minutes and snagging some cookies for herself, she headed back to her place.
Getting away right now was the best idea ever. If she didn’t have to see or even scent Ryan maybe she could actually think straight for a little while. And just maybe, a little distance would help him to pull his head out of his ass.
* * *
Connor waited until Teresa was gone before stepping into the kitchen. “What are you up to?” he murmured, stalking toward his mate.
Ana gave him a look she probably thought made her appear innocent. But he could see the mischievous glint in her dark eyes. Needing to touch her, he slid his hands down over her hips and pulled her close, inhaling her sweet scent that always made him think of raspberries. Shit, if he even smelled the fruit he got aroused. It was messed up, he thought, as he ran his nose along her neck.
She arched into him, letting out a soft groan as she linked her fingers behind his neck. “What are you talking about?”
He nipped at her earlobe as he hoisted her up onto one of the counters. “Answering a question with a question. A sure sign my sexy mate is holding something back.”
Ana spread her thighs wider as he slid in between them. “Ryan is going to lose his mind when he learns Teresa’s gone off with Rafael, a single sexy wolf.” She let out a low laugh that sounded a little evil.
And was a lot fucking hot.
Except… “You think Rafael’s sexy?” he asked, pulling his head back to look down at her. Even sitting on the counter she was a lot shorter than him. He’d never understood how males could get so insanely jealous until he’d met Ana. He knew she loved him, was completely committed to him, but to hear her call another male sexy made something dark inside him scrape against the surface.
Rolling her eyes, she playfully smacked his chest. “Don’t change the subject. Trust me, this is for the best. Those two just need to mate and get it over with. I thought for sure Ryan would pounce after what happened a few months ago. He’s got more patience than I gave him credit for. Once Teresa gets back, he’ll be ready to mate. I give it two days.”
He narrowed his gaze at her as he heard the front door opening. He immediately scented half a dozen packmates. Probably here for food. “Did you place a bet on them?”
To his surprise, her cheeks flushed pink. “Yeah. I picked two days from now. It’s a pretty big pool and I want to win.”
God he loved this female. Laughing, he leaned down and brushed his lips over the woman who had completely stolen his heart. For the past eight or so months their pack had been dealing with one issue after another from violent anti-paranormal maniacs to crazy vampires. It was nice that the only thing they had on their plate now was a bet for how soon two of their packmates would finally get together.
As old as he was he knew this peace wouldn’t last. It never did. So he was going to take full advantage of the calm while he could, and spend every waking second possible with his perfect mate.
Chapter 2
Feeling like a giant stalker, Ryan knocked on the door of Teresa’s home.
