Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
I’m sweating and cold at the same time.
“Close your eyes, Lotta.” His growl is a low rumble now.
I stare at him in confusion. What?
“Close them and take a deep breath. Then tell me why I’m here.”
I don’t move. I’m still holding my breath, trying to decipher what in the hell he’s saying. What does he want from me?
“Breathe.” There’s Alpha Command in his voice, and my body instinctively responds.
I suck in a deep breath, searching his face for a clue.
“Close your eyes.” Alpha command again.
My lids snap closed. The heat of his breath whispers across my face. His forehead touches mine.
“Why am I here, Carlotta?” The growl is low now. Taunting.
With my eyes closed, my other senses sharpen. I hear the pounding of my own heart. The wheeze of my breath. The scent of my fear mingled with the deeper notes of hi–
Oh!
My eyes fly open.
Leather and spice.
Oh no.
No, no, no.
It can’t be.
Asher Martin cannot be my lover from the full moon run.
Oh. Fuck.
I thought it was an older man. Someone who couldn’t claim me because he already had a mate. Not a student.
But there’s no denying his scent nor my body’s response to it.
Fate sent me an impossible match. Fate is seriously fucking with me.
Because Asher Martin–one of my students and a bitter enemy–cannot be my mate.
As soon as I figure it out, Asher releases me, and my feet drop softly to the floor. He stares down at me with a considering look. “So.”
Damn him. How dare he fuck with me like that? He didn’t allow me to see his identity because he knew it wasn’t right. That I never would’ve consented to having sex with him. He put my job in peril.
I slap him across the face. It’s challenging because he’s so much taller than I am. The slap stings my hand and seems to have zero effect on him. I slap again, harder. Then, a third time. Still zero effect. I crank my arm back to hit him a fourth time, but he grabs my wrist and spins me around, pinning it to my waist, with my back yanked up against his front. “Slap me again, and I will spank your ass pink,” he growls in my ear.
Fate, help me. Heat blooms between my legs and suffuses my neck and face. All I can think about is that spanking he gave me out in the woods. How wonderful it felt to be mastered by his strong, commanding body. How much I want him to repeat it.
No. Fate, no. This is wrong on every level.
Asher releases me, and I immediately bolt, my hand reaching for the door handle to the casita. I throw open the door and rush inside, but he’s right behind me. He picks me up and tosses me onto the center of the bed. He’s just showing off his physical dominance now. Making sure I remember how big and strong he is and how small I am.
I scramble to my feet, standing on the bed where I can tower over him for a change, like a little dog standing on a chair to bark at a bigger one.
Of course, Asher is not intimidated by me in the slightest.
“So.” He advances to the edge of the bed. “I will tell you why I came here.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out my panties.
Damn him. Of course he has them.
Why didn’t it occur to me to demand them back after the fight?
He holds up the slip of red silk dangling from his thumb. I try to snatch them away, but he lifts his hand out of my reach. “I want to know why the fuck Eric Damonella had my mate’s panties.”
“I’m not your mate!” I blurt even though it’s so obviously not true. What I mean is I didn’t consent to be his mate. I’m not going to let him claim me. This isn’t happening. Even if we weren’t complete enemies, he’s my student and five years younger. It’s an impossibility.
He arches one brow. Which I, unfortunately, find incredibly sexy.
Wait. No.
I can’t be attracted to this guy. He’s a boy.
Except nothing about Asher Martin is boyish. He’s six feet five inches tall, two hundred fifty pounds of solid muscle, and eighteen years old. Asher is all man now. Alpha wolf. The looks that were heartbreakingly beautiful on him when he was still a scrawny thirteen-year-old now make him drop-dead gorgeous.
“You know that’s not true.”
He waves the panties. “Tell me he didn’t touch you, so I know I’m not committing murder tonight.”
Chapter Eight
Asher
Lotta puts her hands on her hips and glares down at me. “It’s none of your business.”
I bare my teeth. “Tell that to my wolf.” A deadly strain to my voice makes the hairs on her arms stand up.
She has to know my wolf will want blood. He couldn’t help himself from attacking Eric in her classroom last week for disrespecting her. I may hate her, but my wolf will defend her to the death. It’s just simple shifter biology.