My mate. Mine.
She slid her hands behind his neck and dragged him against her. Bowman bit down on her lip, the kiss taking over her mouth.
Kenzie gasped for breath, but Bowman wouldn’t let her breathe. He wouldn’t let her move, or go, or do anything but frantically kiss him back, watery need flowing through every limb, as snow danced around them.
“Goddess,” came the irritated voice of Pierce, the Guardian. “Would you two get a room?”
His voice jolted Kenzie out of her building frenzy. Almost. She remained plastered against Bowman, feeling the hard ridge of his cock against her abdomen even as Bowman turned his head to glare at Pierce, his eyes hot with anger.
When they’d first moved to this Shiftertown, Kenzie and Pierce had gone out together for a while. Before that, neither of them had ever tried a cross-species relationship, and Kenzie knew that most of what they’d shared had been curiosity.
They’d gone their separate ways by mutual agreement not long after, and Kenzie and Pierce had remained friends. This had been a few years before Kenzie and Bowman had mated, but their past relationship always drove Bowman crazy.
“What do you want?” he snapped at Pierce.
“The ritual is done,” Pierce said, giving Bowman a hard stare in return. Guardians were the few Shifters who could look a leader in the eyes without fear. “The creature has already turned to ash.”
“So quickly?” Kenzie didn’t back away from Bowman, but she blinked in surprise. “I thought something that big would burn for a while.”
Pierce shrugged, which moved the Guardian’s sword on his back, its hilt rising above his left shoulder. “It’s a magical being, like Shifters. Ashes to ashes, very fast.”
“Interesting,” Bowman said, his body starting to relax. “Save me a sample of the ash, and bury the rest.”
“Right.” Pierce nodded to Kenzie—not Bowman—and turned and walked away.
Bowman carefully stepped away from her. “Take Ryan home,” he said.
Kenzie didn’t move. “You can’t kill Pierce, you know. You’d have to hold a Choosing for another Guardian, if the Goddess even let you live after that.”
Bowman gave her an annoyed look. “I know.”
“Seriously, it was over a long time ago. I don’t think we had anything to even be over.”
Bowman had started to turn away, but at her words, he swung back, gripped Kenzie by the arms and pulled her against him again.
“You think I can stand knowing any second you could walk away from me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop you?” His fingers bit down. “That if you feel the mate bond with another male, you’ll go—and you won’t care? Do you know what that does to me?”
Bowman released her to put both his hands to his chest, digging into his sweatshirt. “It tears me up inside, right here. It messes with me until I can’t sleep, or think, or feel anything but wanting to grab you and keep you with me no matter what. I’m fucked up because of you, and every time you smile at another male, it fucks me up even more. So have a little pity, all right, Kenz? You’re killing me—a little bit every day.”
Bowman twisted his shirt while Kenzie stared, openmouthed, at him, Then he made a sound of disgust at himself, swung on his heel, and left her.
* * *
Bowman stayed out until very late that night, on into the small hours of the morning. Kenzie heard him return, entering the house quietly.
He did this sometimes when he couldn’t keep his anger down around Kenzie. He’d never disappear for good, she knew, because he wouldn’t leave her or Ryan unprotected. He and Kenzie had to present a united front, no matter what they felt in private, so the other Shifters would remain stable and calm.
The Shifters picked up on any dissonance between the two, instincts making them edgy. After a while those instincts would cancel out any good that Kenzie and Bowman’s mating of convenience had wrought. Shifters could split themselves again between supporting Bowman’s pack or Cristian’s, or splinter into individual clans, each species shutting the others out.
As much as the world tried to humanize Shifters, as much as Shifters presented themselves as human in order to reassure the world, they were still animals. As animals, they had a heightened instinct to survive and to protect their immediate families, at any cost.
Kenzie sat in the dark in bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, as she heard Bowman go into Ryan’s room. She knew he’d cross to the bed and look down at Ryan asleep for a moment, then smooth his hair or press a kiss to his forehead before leaving the room and softly closing the door.
Bowman entered their bedroom, where Kenzie waited, and halted on the threshold. All the lights in the house were out, but Bowman could see fine in the dark.