“It’s never been a problem before. I wasn’t exactly a high-profile billionaire before signing a contract with Lincoln. Now I guess it’s something I should think about.”
Hannah could feel herself wanting to snap at him. It rose like a blanket of knives running up her spine. But she knew the aggressive part of her that was emerging was the wolf who would do anything to protect her fated mate, including getting pissed at him and screaming.
She managed to hold it together, turning back to face the monitors. She noticed there was a camera in her room, which triggered even more wonderfully nasty thoughts.
“Is there a way that I can get this on my phone?” Hannah asked, cutting off that line of thought.
Levi looked surprised as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and then walked over to stand by her side. She was almost a foot taller than him, so she was able to look over his shoulder as he showed her how to install the security app onto her device. His scent, however, was overwhelming, causing her to take a step back before losing complete control.
“Got it,” Hannah said.
She stuck her phone into her pocket and abruptly left the room. She nodded with her chin toward the stairway.
“Show me the rest of the place,” she said sternly.
Levi led her back down the stairs and into what she had predicted was a massive backyard. He owned a lot of land, a lot more than she did, opening out back to a vast collection of woods. She could feel the wolf inside her growling, aching to spread her bones and thoroughly make her mark on that land.
“What are you thinking?” Levi asked.
Hannah was standing at the edge of a waterfall pool, looking longingly out at the forest. She often lost herself when she looked out into an expansive bit of land, craving the wild spirit of her wolf to emerge.
She turned to him, not realizing how long she had been standing there.
“Just, um,” she began, walking back to him. “My wolf is yearning to get out there. I admire the amount of land you have.”
Levi had finally placed his keys inside his pocket and sauntered over to her with a striking burst of confidence. He held out a hand toward the woods.
“You should go ahead then,” he said. “There isn’t anyone else for miles on end. Get it out of your system.”
Hannah felt her eye beginning to twitch again. She reached up and touched the eyelid, hoping it would calm down faster than the pointed knives crawling up her back again.
“Or maybe even a swim?” Levi said, his spirit lighting up. “Do wolves swim? I don’t remember them covering that on Animal Planet …”
Hannah was beginning to understand that it was Levi’s nature to talk too much when he was nervous. She understood it because a part of her was nervous around him, too, likely because he was her fated mate and all. But she wasn’t there for fun or to romance Levi.
“It’s fine,” Hannah said, facing the woods again.
“Come on,” Levi began, standing closer to her. “Just take some time. You’ll probably sleep better.”
Hannah was getting increasingly irritated. The sun was beginning to go down beyond the tree line, and although what he was suggesting was tempting, that wasn’t what she was sent for.
“I said no, Levi,” she snapped. “I have to be on high alert all the time to watch over you. I can’t do that when I’m running in the fucking woods, can I?”
Levi’s head hung low, and the excitement drained from his face. Hannah felt a bit guilty, instantly wanting to take him in her arms and reassure him that there was nothing she wanted more than to play in the woods with him.
But she remained as still as a statue instead. Her eye had stopped twitching, and she knew it was time to get herself together and get some much-needed rest.
She swiveled on her feet, facing him with a smirk.
“Let’s both wash up and get to bed,” she said. “You look like shit.”
Levi did not laugh at her jest. He looked ever more forlorn than when she had snapped at him, and he turned away, his body language mournful like a dove.
He was driving her crazy with his moods and his scent. She wanted to take him into bed so badly, but she knew she would surely kill him with her literal animal passion. Plus, she wasn’t there to fuck him! She couldn’t get her emotions tangled up with what was her duty.
She followed him back up the stairs and into her designated bathroom. She did everything she could to keep from apologizing, placing her hand on his chest and promising him that she’d make up for it.
Hannah had charmed a few men in her life when the mood struck. They were always shifters, though, and could take her direct demand for sex as well as her powerful body. There was the human version of horny, and then there were shifters. They needed to fuck like a shark needed to keep blasting through the ocean.