Close Protection Read Online Free PDF Page A

be enough to snap her.
    Nothing could be further from the truth. The hints of green in her ice-blonde hair weren’t artistic streaks. The tiny woman was a dryad, one with a chilling habit of wrapping any available wood around her opponents, idiots that pissed her off, or people who dared to talk to her before her morning coffee. The bonds then turned into living coffins that crushed them to death. To say that she wasn’t a morning person was an understatement. Zane couldn’t think of anyone better to station in a room with so much wood. One hint of trouble and Destiny could have all of their pixie friends boxed and dealt with in seconds.
    He worked his way through the crowd, ignoring Ashlee’s little wave to head towards the back of the room. The last members of his team were out in the back alley, guarding it from another attack. If Trent and Destiny were bad-ass, then these two were totally off the scale and heading over the never fuck with horizon.
    Baron and Duke were inseparable. Twin dragon-shifters, they did everything together. Lived together, worked together. Some said they even shared their women. As far as Zane knew, they had never actually pulled that off, since one or both always managed to say something to get them slapped within seconds. And that was just the women they didn’t scare off in the first place.
    He didn’t get to the kitchens. Instead, a feminine voice called out, and Ashlee tumbled into the corridor after him. Instantly all his male instincts roared into life as he reached out to stop her from falling on her face. His wolf howled with need as her soft body pressed against his. It wanted her, wanted the woman that could control it, his animal and human sides in perfect accord as his body reacted predictably to her nearness.
    He grimaced as his cock hardened like a flagpole, the savage ache nearly bringing him to his knees as he put her from him. Lust and anger surged through him in equal amounts. Anger at her for her discrimination, then anger at himself for still wanting her despite it.
    “What do you want Ms. Bishop?” he asked, his voice cold on purpose. Better that she thought he was a bastard. He might get out of here without making a complete fool of himself by dropping to his knees and asking, no, begging her to let him have one taste of her creamy cunt.
    She faltered, confusion and pain in her eyes at his tone, but still she straightened and looked at him directly.
    “I-I wanted to say…errm, that is I wanted to apologise for what I said before. About dating werewolves—”
    And just like that, he was screwed.
    *
    It had taken her three days to gather her courage enough to approach Zane, but when she finally did Ashlee wasn’t prepared for the anger or lust that flowed over his face. She didn’t have much time to ponder whether the anger was for what she’d said the night they’d met, or more because she’d managed to trample on his feet as she fell through the door. He moved like lightening, and within a second her hands were pinned above her head, his hard body pressing hers into the wall behind as he glared down at her.
    The heat that had been simmering in her blood since their aborted kiss the other night caught, blossoming into a full-scale inferno. He moved against her, changing his grip so both her wrists were held in one of his hands. His cock pressed against her belly: hot, hard and full of promise. Her knees all but collapsed under her. If he hadn’t been holding her wrists, she’d have slithered to the floor at his feet in a puddle of pure need, as the ache within her reached a fever pitch.
    “Don’t worry doll,” he growled, a ring of amber in his blue eyes. “I don’t want to date you. Just fuck you.”
    She couldn’t contain her gasp, his words sending a thrill right down to the depths of her soul. He was probably crude to scare her off, or punish her for what she’d said, but she caught the tiny shift in his expression. The crack in his mask just