Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

gathered her stuff and shoved it in her purse. Afterchecking the glove compartment to see if he could find some paperwork with an address on it, he came up empty, so he headed back to the road.
    Ryan had already taken her back to the truck. From their silhouettes he could see December sitting in the middle of the bench seat and Ryan in the driver’s seat. Normally Liam preferred to drive, but right now all he wanted to do was comfort her.
    She kept pushing him away, but he didn’t think she would now. She might try to deny she wanted him, but every time she fixed those baby blues on him, he could see lust and confusion battling inside her. He didn’t care that she was human and he was a lupine shifter. Differences like that didn’t matter. At least not to him. Obviously some people cared enough to want to hurt her.
    At the moment she was vulnerable and he knew she might actually let him comfort her. Maybe he should feel guilty about taking advantage of her emotional state, but he didn’t. He’d touch and hold her any way he could get her.
    As he slid into the seat next to her, she immediately scooted closer to him. Reaching out, he tucked a red curl behind one of her ears. Her ivory skin was soft and slightly flushed, and her breathing was still erratic. Brushing his hand against her cheek, he let one of his fingers stray to her pulse point below her earlobe. Still erratic. Not good.
    “Honey, look at me.” He waited until her eyes focused on him. “Have you called your brother?” He might not get along with the sheriff, but Parker loved his sister and had more resources than Liam did at the moment.
    “No. And I don’t want to.” Her voice shook but it was still strong.
    “Some guy just attacked you. We need to report this.”
    She stuck her chin out mutinously, but he didn’t miss the raw fear that had bled into her eyes. “I’m
not
going down to the station.”
    He sighed and looked at Ryan over her head. “Go to her store,” he murmured. Then he refocused his attention on December. “We’re still calling him, Red.”
    “Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
    The burst of annoyance that rolled off her was exactly what he wanted. She didn’t seem to be in actual shock, but after what she’d been through, she’d be coming down from an adrenaline high. She needed to find a balance. And he needed her to answer some questions. “Where did you meet this guy?”
    “Uh, my store. He’s just a tourist on a short ski vacation—or he told me he was. I’m sure that was a lie. I thought it would be a harmless date and a way to…” Her blue eyes widened as she trailed off.
    “A way to what?”
    “A way to convince you to leave me alone.” Her cheeks flushed, staining her ivory cheeks a deeper shade of red.
    Her words stung. He didn’t want them to, but they did anyway. All he wanted to do was protect her. Yeah, they came from different worlds, but it shouldn’t matter. His inner wolf growled at him and in that moment he hated his primal side. The side that told him to just take what he wanted. His human side cared a hell of a lot more about December to ever hurt her and he didn’t like the turn his thoughts were taking. Veering the conversation in a different direction, he said, “Your purse had been dumped out and I didn’t see a wallet. He probably has your address anyway, but you’re going to need to cancel your credit cards.”
    “I don’t carry a wallet. I keep my driver’s license, cashand a credit card on me. Parker drilled that into me years ago. In case I ever got mugged or something. He’s really particular about stuff like that.” She patted her coat pocket, then stilled, presumably as the rest of his words sank in. “What do you mean he probably has my address? He picked me up from my store.”
    “You were attacked in your house a few weeks ago.” Even thinking about that got his heart racing. If her brother hadn’t been there and scared off the guy, anything could have happened.
    “Yeah, so?”
    “Your date and that guy are probably part of the same organization.”
    She lifted an eyebrow. “Are you going to start in with that APL stuff again?”
    “After tonight I wouldn’t think you’d need as much convincing. This is a small town and it’s not hard to find out where someone lives anyway.” With enough money anything was possible.
    She started to say something, then snapped her mouth shut. A frown marred her pretty face as her eyebrows knit together in