Sean shouldered past Andrea to the spot where he’d seen the Fae. He watched as Andrea, doglike, sniffed the dead leaves, pawing at them with one large foot. She looked up at Sean with her smoke gray eyes, again meeting his gaze without fear.

The dominance roles of Shifters were more obvious when they were animals, when verbal communication didn’t interfere. A thorough discussion of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle was out of the question, but Shifters could communicate basic emotions, the most simple signals being dominance and submission.

A submissive Feline or Lupine would keep his head lower than the dominant’s, or run a few paces behind them, or move aside for those more dominant in the pride. That was survival—the leader kept an eye out for enemies, and one growl sent the pride or pack either into hiding or into defensive positions. Stragglers or wanderers couldn’t be guarded. The leader protected, and the rest stayed out of his way or obeyed his commands without question, for their own safety.

What they didn’t do was stand in front of the dominant and look him straight in the eye. They didn’t deliberately turn away and start investigating the area of danger, not letting him take the lead. They didn’t twitched their tails derisively when the dominant growled at them to stay back.

Sean didn’t want Andrea walking across the place that the Fae had occupied. The line between the real world and Faerie blurred in places, and who knew whether that doorway would open suddenly, the warrior Fae ready to drag her in. He shouldered Andrea away from the spot, rumbling a long lion growl.

Andrea gave him a glare and curled her lip. The words bite me might as well have been stamped on her forehead.

So, Sean bit her.

Andrea whipped out from under him, whirled, and clamped her jaw around his throat. Sean snarled and shook her off. He shoved her to the ground with one big paw, the temper of his beast aroused.

Sean had wrestled with his brothers growing up, but he’d never fought with Lupines. The interspecies truce that kept them from tearing each other apart cautioned against even playful wrestling matches. Sean guessed Andrea had never read the pact or wouldn’t care if she had.

Andrea squirmed out from under him, rolled to her feet, and sprinted away. Sean sprinted right after her. Andrea stopped, then spun and faced him, down on her forepaws, rear in the air.

Oh, she wanted to play, did she? Sean let out a roar as he leapt at her. At the last moment, Andrea sidestepped, and Sean tumbled through air where she’d been. He scrambled to regain his feet only to find her behind him, her teeth in his tail. He yelped, whipped around, and this time sent her to the ground with him on top of her.

Under him, Andrea shifted back to human. “Get off me, you great big hairball.”

Sean held her down, her scent in his nostrils, her warm body writhing beneath his. You shouldn’t do that to a horny Shifter.

Andrea wound her bare arms around him, hands in his mane, with a smile that would melt stone. “You’re so warm. Like a fur coat.”

Sean’s growl softened. He nuzzled her cheek, liking the feel of her human body against his furry one. He licked her gently between the br**sts, her salt taste heady.

He couldn’t take this. He had to have her. He licked her again as he let his body shift back to its human form.

Andrea found herself holding a very naked, very aroused human male. Sean’s eyes changed from pale, slitted cat’s to dark blue, but the look in them was still untamed. He brushed his mouth over hers, then again and again. Her own longing coiled through her body, and she kissed him back with matching hunger.

Sean’s skin was slick with sweat under her hands, his mouth hot, body heavy. Excitement gripped her as Sean’s kisses opened her mouth, tongue sliding in, tasting, seeking.

Andrea’s blood pounded, her body singing as his hands heated her skin. His knee parted hers, his penis touching the opening that was wet and ready for him. She’d be lying her ass off if she said she didn’t want him.

His body enclosed hers as he kissed her, a Shifter protecting his mate even as he devoured her. Clouds shrouded the moon again, and it was dark under the trees, hiding them from watchers.

Sean bit her neck. He was silently urging her to raise her hips so he could slide inside, but at the same time he was holding himself back, every muscle shaking with the strain of it.

“Sean,” Andrea murmured, and it wasn’t a murmur of protest.

“I need to stop.” Sean’s voice was tense, his eyes flicking again to white blue. “But I can’t when you say my name in that f**king sexy voice.”

“I could always hit you with a stray branch.”

He growled deep in his throat. “Don’t. Let me fight this, or I’ll take you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m not screaming and trying to get away,” she said softly. “You might have noticed.”

“I want this mating. I want it fierce. I want to be inside you and not come out for days.”

That could happen. If the mating frenzy was hard enough between Shifters, they could hole up and screw until exhaustion sent them into a weeklong slumber. Right now, that didn’t sound like such a bad thing.

Sean was damn big. Big body, big cock. Nice. Andrea was smaller than most Shifter women—she wondered with a touch of both fear and excitement what would happen when they joined.

She touched his lips. “Sean, I’ve never ...”

Sean’s eyes snapped back to blue, forcing the savage in him to calm. “Never what?”

“Gone roller skating.” She wriggled against him. “What do you think?”