Page 21 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha (Witch Twins #2)

Electra

I couldn’t believe him! Bastien had swooped in to catch me before I fell, but since then, he’d refused to put me down.

He ran as though I weighed nothing. Whenever I’d squirmed, he just held me more tightly.

A rumble had started in his chest. He was…

purring. Like an oversized, overly muscled sexy feline.

And it did something to my insides. The tightness in my chest eased.

The dark cloud that had filled my mind faded into nothing, my anxiety melting away.

I didn’t have any magic. I couldn’t help.

But right now, I couldn’t seem to care. I felt safe. I felt cared for.

Being held in his arms felt too right. Leaving was going to suck.

He stopped running when we approached yet another intersection in these endless corridors.

I’d long since lost track of the number of turns we’d taken in this labyrinth.

From the way his nostrils had flared when he sniffed the air, we had company up ahead.

So, I’d tried to find out what was happening.

The only response I’d received to my demand that he put me down was a growl.

I’d thought Bastien was bossy and arrogant in his human form.

He had nothing on this jerk. This was his true Alpha nature.

Violence was written in his body. In the powerful muscles of his arms. The thick thighs.

He was bigger and stronger than anyone else here and he was a merciless killer.

He’d dispatched the two men restraining him as easily and carelessly as if they’d been annoying gnats.

For Stick-guy he’d put in more effort. His expression had been tight with fury.

I’d known that Alphas were protective, but until I’d seen Bastien’s reaction I hadn’t quite understood what that meant.

For five years I’d been tasked with protecting him.

And not just me. He had a whole security team.

But he had more brute power than all of the Shifters who guarded him.

In all that time, he’d never let his Beast out.

Never given us even a hint of his true self.

Did his other guards even know what he shifted into?

And why did he even bother with the whole charade?

He didn’t really need any of us. Well, okay, maybe I was useful because I could give him advance warning of an attack, but the others?

He didn’t need them. I chewed my lip as I thought.

Was his refusal to shift a political strategy?

A move to make himself seem more human? Certainly, the sight of the damage he’d done in this form would lose him a large chunk of the Moderate support on the Council.

Before we got out, I’d have to convince him to change back into human form.

Press coverage of this would be a disaster if photos of him in this form circulated.

Sure the media was very careful not to publish information about Shifters’ private lives, I knew that much, but did this count as private?

It might be something he’d discussed with Patrick, his press secretary, but it hadn’t been covered in any briefing I’d ever attended.

I had no idea whether this was a secret or not.

But given that he’d not shifted for as long as I’d known him and none of his team had ever discussed his other form, I figured it was a good bet that he didn’t want it advertised.

We were going to have to discuss the ogre in the room, so to speak, but it would have to wait. If I read him right, there was trouble ahead. First, we needed to deal with whoever was ready to stop us from leaving.

But I still needed my magic. He might not need me, but I damn well wanted to help.

I tried one last time, to get him to remove the cuffs.

In reply, he bared his teeth at me. Well, he wasn’t going to intimidate me.

Even with those big fangs. And those big muscles.

And the blue flames in his eyes. Eyes that were now fixed on the pulse that beat in my neck.

His gaze was intense, as if nothing else mattered but that small spot of skin.

He eyed it the way I eyed chocolate pralines after one of my team had kicked my butt in the gym.

Something I desired intensely but refused to allow myself to indulge in.

I resisted the urge to bring up a hand and rub the skin.

Seriously, what was the deal? Seconds crawled past and his eyes didn’t lose their focus on that spot.

If anything, the blue in his eyes intensified, until it was burning.

His body tensed, arms tightening around me like steel bars.

My shoulder twinged, but I didn’t want to break the moment.

Something was happening but it had nothing to do with any threat around the corner.

This was because of me and although I didn’t understand it fully, I could tell that his Shifter instincts were in control.

Instincts to do what exactly I wasn’t sure, but my heart had begun to pound at the way he was looking at me.

No-one had ever looked at me this way. Like I was everything.

Like they wanted to devour me. My nipples tightened. Get a grip woman .

“Bastien?” I whispered his name. He didn’t react.

It was like he was in a trance. Like no-one mattered but him and me.

The air between us felt charged, like the moment before a lightning strike.

I didn’t know what he wanted, but I wanted to give it to him.

I yearned for him to keep looking at me this way.

Slowly, he began to lower his head, his gaze never wavering from the spot on my neck. His lips parted, gums peeling back to reveal his fangs in their full glory.

Wait. Fangs. Clarity returned in a rush. He was going to bite me? Why the fuck did he want to bite me? I thought Shifters only bit their mate.

No.

Surely not.

I had to be wrong, must have misunderstood his intent.

But if I wasn’t, this was a big deal. Enormous.

Mate bonds were permanent. If he bonded me now, he could never change his mind.

And as much as I had wished that he would tell me I was his mate, he had shown no interest for five years, beyond that first dinner invitation.

I had to do something. I couldn’t let him make such a life-changing decision while he wasn’t in his right mind.

I leaned back in his arms, both my hands drumming frantically against his chest. “Hold on a minute.” He grunted and pulled me in close again, trapping my hands between our bodies.

Shit. He was too strong. I struggled harder, reaching for something, anything.

My fingers found a nipple and I twisted it.

Hard. Inwardly, I winced when his head snapped up, eyes of blue topaz meeting mine.

Sorry dude . Desperate for a distraction, I muttered the first thing I thought of, “They’re coming. ”

The way Bastien’s head whipped around it was a miracle he didn’t get whiplash.

And then I heard sounds from around the corner.

I’d thrown the comment out to distract Bastien from his goal of biting my neck.

It had in fact been all too true. Adrenaline surged in my veins.

I could still fight even if I didn’t have magic.

I hadn’t trained in hand-to-hand combat for years against Shifters who were bigger and stronger than me for nothing.

“Put me down. Neither of us can fight like this.” Bastien’s glare was scorching but he moved to put me down, keeping his arms on mine until he was sure my legs were steady. I gave him a nod.

Then he leaned forward, pressed a hard kiss to my mouth and ran .