Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Whatever. Eli bent over and carefully lifted his mate. “I’m guessing the only reason you didn’t attack the cat is that you recognized a kindred spirit in those crazy eyes,” he said, walking back to the lodge. “And yes, that does disturb me.” He should have expected that the two vicious creatures would become fast friends.
Reaching the porch, he asked, “Are you going to shift back? You’ve been out here for hours.” Okay, maybe not hours, but it felt that long.
She let out a hiss and jumped out of his arms.
He sighed down at her. “Come on, Casey, we said we’d have a relaxing day together. Come back to me.”
The mink made a sound of irritation, but then bones cracked and popped as she shifted back to her human form.
Eli smiled at Casey. “There you are.”
She curled her arms around his neck. “You say that like I’ve been gone half the day. I was forty minutes tops.”
“Too long.” He kissed her softly, flicking her tongue with his. “Damn, I’ve had far too many fantasies about this mouth. It’s not fair that you won’t give my cock a kiss. It’ll give you one back.”
“Ha. I’ll bet it will.” She pulled on the tee and shorts she’d left on the porch bench before she’d shifted. “By the way, Bracken wasn’t the only one to come by. Don’t know if Zander intended to go to your lodge, but he stopped when he saw my mink. He asked me to tell you that, yes, he’ll cover your shift at the Velvet Lounge tonight. I don’t want you to neglect your duties for me, Eli.”
“I’ve covered for Zander countless times so that he can have quality time with his mate. He has no problem returning the favor. Gwen will probably go with him and then just hang at the bar with Madisyn while he works—it’s what she normally does. You should come with me next time I work a shift at the club.”
“And hang at the bar? I’d probably get bored and start a fight.”
He chuckled. “Coming to the club with me would be a good way for you to meet the Phoenix Pack females. They keep pestering me to bring you to their territory, especially since Roni sang your praises to them—my sister doesn’t like many people. But you might feel more comfortable meeting them on neutral territory.”
“You mean you’d feel better if I met them at a place where you and your pack mates were there to defend me if anything went wrong.”
Eli felt his mouth hitch up at the corner. “Busted.”
She rolled her eyes. “I won’t bother pointing out I don’t need you to be so overprotective—it’s not something you don’t already know. Why don’t you just invite the Phoenix Pack females to your territory one day while I’m here?”
“Because, in case you haven’t noticed, I like having you all to myself when you’re here.”
“Considering we never linger at the main lodge after dinner, yeah, I’ve noticed. So, you want to spend the day relaxing?”
“Yeah. I want us to have time to ourselves. No interruptions, no meals with the pack. Just us.”
“Doing what?”
Curling an arm around her, he pulled her close. “Relaxing. Fucking. Eating. Fucking. Binge-watching movies. F—”
“Fucking, yeah, I got it. So, what relaxing activity do we start with?”
Eli jerked back to avoid the fist that came swinging at his face. He didn’t move fast enough. The fist slammed into his jaw so hard his head almost snapped to the side. “Fuck, that hurt.”
Casey’s mouth twitched. “Pussy.”
He raised a brow as they circled each other. “Oh, it’s like that, is it?”
“You said you wanted to spar with me. I get that sparring means pulling my punches and keeping my claws sheathed, but I didn’t think you wanted me to go easy on you. I can if you want, though.”
Eli smiled and invited, “Keep it coming.”
She lunged. Just like when she’d fought against the fox at The Den, she moved with a blinding speed and deadly accuracy that he couldn’t help admiring. She didn’t put as much power behind her blows, keeping the spar light and fun, but Eli wasn’t gonna lie—they still hurt.
He also wasn’t going to whine like the pussy she’d accused him of being, though, so he kept the pained grunts to himself as he dodged and deflected. He also dealt his own blows. It wasn’t always easy to land them, since she moved like goddamn lightning.
When he did land a decent blow, she smiled. Didn’t grunt. Didn’t curse. Didn’t complain. She. Smiled. Crazy bitch.
Eli did what he did with every opponent—observed her style, watching for patterns. But her trainers had obviously taught her to be instinctively prepared for that, because the awkward mink didn’t have patterns. She didn’t repeat the same combinations, favor either fist, telegraph her moves, or consistently use the same defensive move against the same strike.