Addie warmed, his touch bringing a wash of fire. “You’re good at flattery, I’ll give you that.”

“It’s the truth. All of it. Please help me, Addison.”

If Addison heated anymore, she’d dissolve into a puddle of goo. “You’re good at looking at me with your hot green eyes and making me melt too.”

Kendrick caressed her face. “Please.”

“Charlie’s wrong—you are evil.”

Kendrick looked briefly puzzled, but he only pulled her closer.

His mouth was warm as it came down on hers, his eyes a flash of green before he closed them to enjoy the kiss. His hand on her cheek held her steadily, his thumb at the corner of her mouth opening her to him.

Addie’s knees started to fold. She wrapped one arm around Kendrick to keep herself upright and let herself succumb.

His hand moved up her shirt—the Harley T-shirt that belonged to him. Addie loved wearing it, feeling close to him inside it. Kendrick’s large palm cupped her breast, reminding her how good it had felt against her bare flesh.

His hand was hot through the fabric, the rest of his body hotter still. His hardness pressed against her abdomen, the line of it rigid and so very long. Documentaries never said Shifters were bigger than their human counterparts, but that’s what rumor implied. Addie, feeling the evidence firsthand, believed it.

She slid her fingers between them and pressed the ridge inside his jeans.

A strong hand clamped around her wrist and pulled her away. Kendrick glared down at her, fire in his eyes.

“Addison. No.”

Addie sent him a coy look. “No? You’re the only one who can dole it out?”

His grip didn’t loosen. “Touching me is very, very dangerous.”

“For you or for me?”

Kendrick growled. “For both of us. Now go.” He shoved her from him.

Addie took a few steps back, rubbing her wrist. “All right, all right. No need to get touchy.”

Kendrick’s look turned concerned. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” Addie showed him her wrist, which wasn’t bruised, not even with a red mark on it. He knew how to mitigate his strength. If he ever lost it, he’d be powerfully strong. Addie shivered, but knew it was more with excitement than fear.

“I’ll go look after the cubs,” she said when he said nothing further. “You’re right—we don’t want anyone sneaking in to grab them. But the second you’re done with Seamus, you find me and tell me you’re all right. Don’t make me come looking for you now, you hear?”

*   *   *

Kendrick spent a long time trying to get his mating frenzy under control before he picked up the sword and moved off toward the meeting place he’d designated for Seamus.

Part of his mind was rejoicing. Her deliberate stroke along his cock told him that she was willing, that she wanted it as much as he did. The other part of his mind that lived in caution stopped him. She doesn’t understand what it means to be with a Shifter.

Sex with a Shifter could be straightforward and loving, or it could get . . . creative. Shifter women knew how to take the strength of a Shifter male. Some Shifter women only wanted to do it if both were in animal form, though Kendrick had found too much joy in human form to agree with that.

Addison in his shirt, her thick dark hair in her sloppy ponytail, made him crazy. Kendrick yearned for her, and he kept getting interrupted by Shifters stalking him, Dylan sending weird messengers, and worry that Tiger, a very perceptive Shifter, had made Addison and was even now searching for Kendrick.

One day, when his Shifters were rounded up again and safe in a new place, he would take Addie to a private room, post a guard, and not come out for days. Weeks, if necessary. He’d teach her all about Shifters and what they liked, and all about pleasure. He’d let her dark hair fall over his bare body, lick every inch of her, then hold her while she rode him.