Hunting Season: Werewolf Bodyguard Romance (Guarded by the Shifter Book 1) by Kate Rudolph (new reading TXT) 📗

She didn't like the tone of her sister's voice. She and Tabitha had never really gotten along. Her father had dumped Stasia's mom for Tabitha's mom and Stasia hadn't yet known that that was just what Armand Selby did. But by the time she figured that out, the resentment was already in place and she and Tabitha had never been close.

"Mob muscle, what do you think?" Anyone else, and Stasia probably would have had a normal conversation. Or as normal as any conversation went with any of her siblings who weren't her.

"You're not still having trouble, are you?" AR came up beside them and shook Owen's hand. "I thought the contract was over. "

"We're dating now," Stasia told her siblings.

"And you brought him here? It must be serious." That was from Tabitha.

"That it is. And I think this counts as doing our duty. Owen and I are going to cut out."

"Dad won't like that," Tabitha warned. Beside her AR was nodding in agreement.

"Dad doesn't like anything. And he's not even going to notice." She'd said hi, she’d done her duty. There was nothing else to worry about.

Tabitha shrugged. "See you at the wedding."

"What wedding?" Had Stasia missed something?

That actually made Tabitha laugh. "Yours. Obviously."

Stasia's eyes got wide and she didn't know how to react to that.

Werewolf, she could handle.

Mate, she could handle.

Bride? That was a bit of a stretch.

Owen put a hand on her back and led her out of the penthouse. They made it all the way to the elevator before he burst out laughing.

"What?"

"That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be." He gasped it out between bouts of laughter.

"It was worse, right?" It had to be worse. Stasia felt like she needed to shower just to get the awkwardness off of her.

"We survived."

The elevator counted down the floors as they headed to the parking garage, and just as they were about to get to the last floor, Stasia wrapped an arm around Owen and leaned into him. "I love you."

Owen smiled and kissed her.

Chapter Thirty-Five

They ran as wolves for hours. It wasn't Stasia's first run, but every single time her paws padded across the soft forest floor it felt new. Scents swirled around her and the night was alive with possibility.

Owen ran, she chased. And then when she overtook him he was the one chasing, barking and pouncing at her, determined to win in a game with no rules and no losers. But eventually the run had to come to an end. There was a sweet temptation that called to her to stay on four legs and forget about her old life.

But that temptation was weak compared to the thought of waking up next to Owen in human skin.

They made it back to the cabin and went through the process of shifting and washing and eating. Wolfishness burned a lot of calories, and Stasia was eating more than she'd ever eaten in her life. Yet she still felt like she could eat more.

Werewolf life had its perks.

She'd had big plans for her mate following their appearance at Emmy's birthday party, but with the run over and her stomach full, all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep for a week. And judging by the way Owen's eyes were drooping, he felt the same.

They ended up snuggled together in one of the beds in the room they were using. It was a tight fit, but Stasia wasn't sleeping apart from her man if she didn't have to.

"I had fun," she murmured as she teetered between wakefulness and sleep.

"It wasn't so bad," Owen agreed.

"Wait. What? What wasn't so bad?" She could still smell hints of the green night air and her body hummed with sated excitement from running as a wolf. There was nothing bad about it.

"The party." Owen turned a bit, pulling her closer. "Your family was nice."

"Nice?" Clearly he was delusional. "They were polite, I guess. I still don't see why we needed to be there." Did that make her a bad sister? Maybe. But she was pretty sure little Emmy had no idea who she was.

"They're family." Owen said it like that explained everything. "Can't wait for you to meet mine."

"What? When?" Yeah, that was a thing couples did. Stasia knew that. But it wasn't something Owen could just spring on her like that. "When, Owen?" she asked again when he didn't answer. But he had slipped into sleep and none of her prodding could wake him.

Luckily Stasia's own exhaustion was too strong for her momentary panic to override it, and she soon followed her mate into sleep.

Kisses trailing down her stomach woke her up and Stasia stretched into Owen's caress. Her made knew exactly how to wake her up and she loved it. She'd never been more sated, more in tune with another person. She didn't know how she'd been blessed with Owen, but she wasn't going to take him for granted.

Not ever.

She arched up as his tongue found her core and delved in, waking her to pleasure and letting her neurons explode with it. She moaned and said words she'd probably want to take back at some point, filthy promises she'd never be able to repay.

Or maybe she would. With Owen, the possibilities were endless.

She let out a curse as her mate did something particularly wicked that had her eyes rolling back in her head. "God, yes." She needed him to never stop, not ever.

The sensations overran her and Stasia surrendered to them. At some other time she might have felt self-conscious from feeling this much, but Owen brought her the freedom to experience everything with no shame.

He knew what she wanted and he wanted to give it to her. He wanted her writhing above him or beneath him or beside him. Any configuration so long as it was the two of them. He was her partner in every way, her mate.

Did she believe in fate?

Stasia couldn't focus on believing in anything besides