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“Not a dog joke this time,” Luna said. She kicked his leg. “Seriously, do it.”

Oliver turned onto his back as carefully as he could. Luna followed clumsily, still locked onto him. She straddled him, hips working gently back and forth. The long line of her back was mesmerizing.

Oliver groaned, grabbing her thighs from behind. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” She turned to shoot him a wink, leaning down to scratch her manicured nails through his leg hair. “I mean, since you’re already stuck in there.”

She rolled her hips harder.

Oliver made a noise like he’d been sucker-punched. His cock twitched again, growing ever so slightly thicker.

Luna grinned. “Sensitive?”

He nodded wildly. The bond was stretching through him again, with Luna’s emotions bleeding through once more: bone-deep satisfaction, hunger, and an odd tenderness about seeing Oliver so vulnerable.

Then Luna rolled her hips again, and the tenderness was swallowed up by renewed hunger as Oliver groaned.

“Good,” Luna said sweetly. “Me too. Now be a good boy and hold still while I get myself off.”

Nine

Luna dragged her finger in a lazy circle through Oliver’s chest hair, humming contentedly. She was sore and satisfied and warmer than she had been in days. They’d had sex twice more after the knot finally went down—until she’d lost count of how many times she’d come, and the bedframe was scored with scratches from Oliver digging his claws in.

She looked up to watch Oliver’s sleeping face. There were no tired bags under his eyes, no wrinkle in his brow. His face was smooth, utterly relaxed. Luna bet the guy hadn’t been this relaxed since the mysterious incident last year that made them all move here. It made her oddly happy. The guy was so pent up, and he deserved some stress relief. Especially if it came in the form of making Luna incoherent with pleasure.

Oliver let out a sleepy grunt. “Quit it. Tickles.”

Luna circledher finger around his nipple.

Oliver squirmed, cracking one eye open to glare half-heartedly at her.

Luna grinned. “Sorry. Got bored.”

“Y’r like a golden retriever,” he muttered. His head tilted sideways, lips brushing her forehead. He was half in a dream. Luna could almost feel the edges of it in her mind. Hazy and dark, lit up by flickers of flame. A woman with dark hair and a bright smile?—

“Don’t,” Oliver snapped.

Luna startled. She’d gone deeper into him than she’d meant to.

“Sorry,” she said as Oliver struggled underneath her. “I didn’t mean to. The bond?—”

He sat up, shoulders tight. There was nothing half-hearted about his glare this time.

“Don’t,” he said, softer. “If the bond lets us in too deep, we block it. Got it? Some things are private.”

“Totally,” Luna agreed. She dragged a hand through her sweaty hair, shaken. Whowasthat? Whoever it was, it had triggered horrible feelings. Maybe he’d left a bad relationship back in Arizona.

She could still feel his emotions, barely-there echoes of guilt and anger. She shoved up a mental block until they faded into nothing. No more Oliver leaking through the bond.

A heavy knock made them both jerk.

Oliver frowned. “Is it dinner already?”

Luna checked the clock on the bedside table. “Yeah. Wow. Guess we really tired each other out.”

Oliver made a sleepy noise of agreement and sat up.He rubbed his eyes, only dropping his hand to give her a sideways look. “When you say you’re telling your fiancé about this… He doesn’t getdetails, right?”

Luna laughed, shooting up to dig her chin into his shoulder. “Why, are you into that?”