Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

and her eyes filled with undeniable heat. When her tongue moistened her lips, it took all his restraint not to crush his mouth over hers.
    Slowly, he started to lean closer to her. He was fully aware there were eyes on them, but he didn’t give a shit. Apparently she didn’t either. As she leaned toward him, her eyes started to drift shut. And his cell rang in his jacket pocket. “Son of a bitch.” Even though he wanted to ignore it, when he heard his brother’s unique ring, he simply couldn’t. Brother or not, Connor was his Alpha and he always had to be on call for him.
    December’s cheeks flushed a deeper crimson thistime and it was definitely because she was turned on. And embarrassed. She stared at her glass while he fished out his phone.
    “Yeah?” he practically barked at Connor.
    “Is Jayce with you?” his brother asked.
    “No, but he’s not far.”
    “Ryan got a hit on a possible address for a Mike Taylor. Could be nothing.” Connor’s voice was cautious.
    “But it could be that asshole.” If Liam got the chance to kill the bastard who’d dared to touch December, he was taking it.
    “I need you and Jayce to check it out.”
    “Text me the info. We’ll head over there now.” At his words December’s head snapped up, but he ignored her curious stare.
    As soon as he disconnected, December asked, “What’s going on?”
    “I’ve got to take care of some pack business. I’ll have the waitress wrap up your food.”
    “Oh, will you?”
    Shit, what had he said? Her tone had gone from concerned to annoyed in seconds. “Uh, yes?”
    “Just because you’re leaving doesn’t mean I’m not going to stay and finish my meal. And if you give me some line about walking me back to my store for my protection, I swear, I’ll scream.” Her chin jutted out mutinously.
    She was right. He knew it. Even if he didn’t want to admit it. The walk back to her bookstore was less than thirty seconds. Barely a block down the road. But his inner wolf didn’t care.
Pick your battles.
His sister-in-law’s voice sounded loudly in his head. This was one of those times he needed to restrain his protective nature. If he didn’t, he was going to drive an even bigger wedge between him and December. “You’re right.” He grabbed afew bills from his wallet and laid them on the table. “Will you get my food to go and I’ll meet you after work to take you home?”
    For a moment, she looked shocked. Then concerned. “Where are you going so suddenly?”
    “I…I can’t say.”
    “You just got
stabbed
today. What’s the matter with you? Is this something dangerous?”
    He couldn’t be sure, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. “No.”
    Apparently he paused too long for her liking because she glared at him. “You’re so full of it.”
    “Okay, I don’t
know
if this will be dangerous.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Answering to someone about his daily business wasn’t something he was sure he could get used to.
    “And you’re not going to tell me what ‘this’ is?”
    “I’m sorry, December.”
    Her lips pursed as she looked away. “Fine, do whatever it is you’re going to do. Just don’t think you can keep pushing me out of your life and think we have a future together.”
    “I thought you said we
didn’t
have a future. Are you saying if I open up more, we will?”
    She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. Seeing that combination of confusion and annoyance on her face soothed every part of him. He wasn’t sure why, but it did. Before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers. A soft, almost chaste kiss that made him want to turn off his phone, forget about what he needed to do, and find a secluded place where they wouldn’t come up for air for days.
    Without glancing back at her, he hurried from the restaurant and tried to catch his breath. While he wanted todominate and make love to her every way possible, the woman had such a stranglehold on him it scared the shit out of him. Mated males could turn into fools because of their females, and he and December weren’t mated or even bondmates yet.
    Liam zipped his jacket up higher as he and Jayce strode up the walk to the place his brother had sent him. It was a run-down mobile home in a trailer park on the outskirts of Fontana. The bottom half of the home was rusted and pieces of siding were completely missing. The entire park was quiet and Liam didn’t scent too many people around.
    As they