From what he’d told her, she owned him too, so maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Going to come, Cyn. Going to make you come with me, come so hard.” His teeth sank in, breaking the skin. Cyn screamed out a pleasure so intense her vision turned black, her breath catching in her lungs. Her whole body seized, her toes curled. Her fingers scrabbled for purchase in the sheets. He grunted behind her, warmth flooding into her as he came, her name a broken, reverent whisper.

Chapter Thirteen

“So, how did it go last night?”

Cyn propped her chin on her hand and sighed dreamily. “He makes the best waffles.”

“So…you guys made waffles last night?” Glory tilted her head, her expression turning sweetly innocent. “Did he get butter in all the nooks and crannies? Did he heat your syrup just right? Did you order some sausage on the side?”

Tabby began to giggle. “Do you think he toasted her muffin before he ate it?”

“I hate you guys.” But even their stupid banter couldn’t wipe the stupid smile from her face. Julian had been everything she’d ever hoped for and more, but no way was she sharing that with these morons.

Glory squealed and clapped her hands. “He did! He did toast her muffin.” She leaned across the counter until she was nose to nose with Cyn and gave a wide, toothy grin. “Deets, please!”

Cyn snorted and pushed Glory’s face away. “Get your own Bear. Oh, wait…”

“Aw, come on. Just one little tidbit of information? Please?” Glory batted her baby blues, but Cyn was immune to her ways.

“Fine. He has a really…”

“Uh-huh…”

“Big…”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh!” Glory’s eyes had gone so wide Cyn thought they might pop out of her head.

“Toaster.”

Glory blinked, trying to make something dirty out of that in her head, no doubt.

Cyn held her hands about a foot apart. “Seriously, he’s got one of those big industrial suckers that can do, like, six bagels at a time.”

Tabby’s giggles turned into outright laughter as Glory growled at Cyn.

“You should see his kitchen. It’s like Martha Stewart’s wet dream. Emeril would walk in and say ‘Dayum’.”

Glory glared at her, but Cyn could tell she wasn’t really angry. The corners of her lips kept twitching upward, a sure sign she was holding back a laugh. “Did you do it on the counter?”

“No.” Although that was something she wouldn’t mind testing out at some point. Did Julian like the thought of sex in the kitchen? She’d have to ask him when she saw him later. Some of those counter-height stools would be perfect for—

“Then why do you think I care about his kitchen?”

“You guys are the ones that brought up muffins.” Cyn shrugged and yawned. She was still tired after her ordeal in the spirit world and the incredible sex she’d had. Maybe she should’ve listened to Julian and just stayed home today, but she’d been too worried about leaving the girls alone. What if whoever was trying to hurt them came back and Cyn wasn’t there? She had to be there to protect them whether they liked it or not.

The door to the shop opened, the bell tinkling merrily. Cyn stood up straight and grinned at their customer. She recognized him as the college kid who’d come into the shop to get a tattoo of a wolf a few months before. Little had he known that it had been a picture of Gary, Tabby’s stalker, in his Wolf form. Tabby had talked Tim into getting a different tattoo, and they’d formed a friendship that day. This was his third trip into the shop, probably to get the tattoo touched up again. “Hey, Tim. Come back for some color on that dragon of yours?”

Tim grinned and shrugged, his cheeks flushing bright red. Really, he was just too adorable. “No, I like it just in black. I think it’s perfect. But I was thinking of getting something on my other arm.” He was staring at Tabby with something akin to hero worship.

Tabby smiled gently and took Tim by the arm, leading him over to the flash books. “Why don’t we take a look and see what you’d like?” She settled him on one of the chairs by the window. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Can I have some water, please?” Tim shot her a bashful grin, and Cyn prayed Alex didn’t come back too soon with lunch. If he got even a whiff that someone else was sniffing after his mate he’d go ballistic on the poor boy.

Tabby headed into the back room to get Tim’s water. Glory wandered over to see what tattoo Tim was thinking of getting. She started to bend over the book, her long blue hair obscuring her face. Suddenly there was the sound of shattering glass and she was thrown back. Tim hunched over the book and fell to his knees, his arms covering his head.

Cyn smelled blood.

Without even having to think she raced over to Glory and threw herself on top of her. She glanced over at Tim to find him looking back at her, his face filled with horror and glass glittering in his hair. The window behind him was shattered.

“I think she’s hit.”

She looked down at Glory and saw that she’d passed out. Blood poured from a wound in her chest, soaking the bright paisley of her shirt.

“Holy shit.” Tabby crawled over to them, her face pale. “Tell me somebody didn’t just shoot one of us.”

“Call an ambulance.” Tim crawled over to them and pulled off his T-shirt. He pulled up Glory’s paisley shirt and mopped up some of the blood. “I’m pre-med. I have to do something.”

“Call Julian.” Tabby, hands shaking, drew out her cell phone.

Cyn couldn’t speak. She could barely breathe. Someone had tried to kill Glory right in front of her and she hadn’t been able to stop him. She hadn’t been able to protect her friend.

“Cyn!” Tabby’s sharp voice almost cut through the haze of rage surrounding her.

“Holy fuck, what are you?” Tim was staring at her, his eyes wide and filled with fear, but the T-shirt remained right where it was.

“Stop it, Cyn, for Glory’s sake. She needs you calm and in control.”

Cyn managed to pull her gaze from Glory’s wound and met Tabby’s. Golden Wolf eyes stared back at her. There was a spot of blood on Tabby’s cheek, and her eyes were filled with tears.

Tabby smiled weakly. “You’re claws are showing.”

She looked down to find six-inch black claws sprouting from where her nails should be. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, but all that did was intensify the scent of blood until it filled her head.

“I’m calling an ambulance. You have to calm down, Cyn.”

“Yeah. Please calm down, you’re scaring the straights.” Tim’s voice shook, but once again, his focus seemed to be on Glory’s wound and not Cyn’s freakiness.

Cyn tried to will her claws away, but something fought her, something that desperately wanted to come out, find the being that had hurt her friend, and beat it to death with its own arms. It wanted to roar out her rage and her grief until the very building shook.

She heard Tabby speaking on the phone. The ambulance was on its way, but the information didn’t help. She had to do something.

She reached up and placed her hand on the bloody T-shirt, almost crying out at how soaked it already was. Blood was bubbling from Glory’s lips as she breathed. That couldn’t be a good thing. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself down. If she was going to try this, she couldn’t be in a killing rage.

If her Bear was already with her enough to sprout claws, then he was with her enough to help her heal.

Cyn closed her eyes and mentally reached for the presence she could feel in the back of her mind. It wrapped itself around her like a furry, loving blanket, a living hug inside her head. She’d never be alone again, would always have someone who believed in her. Her Bear understood her in ways no one else did or ever would, not even her mate. It loved and accepted her anyway, and Cyn could do no less. She opened her heart to her Bear, joining them together forever.