The wolf caught up, braced its paws on either side of her and breathed its hot breath onto the back of her neck, as if waiting for her to turn over. To face her death.
Selene rolled to her back, clutching her pentagram between her fingers, unable to close her eyes to the wicked gleam in her attacker’s face, knowing she would witness her own death.
The wolf’s body tensed, his mouth opened and he bunched his muscles.
Then a tawny golden flash of sinew and fur hit him head-on, knocking the wolf onto his back.
Selene scrambled backward, grabbing for her flashlight as a mighty battle for supremacy raged in the beam of her light between the wolf and a glorious male lion.
The wolf lunged at the lion, his teeth sinking into the lion’s shoulder.
Selene gasped. “No!” She pushed to her feet and would have thrown herself at the wolf, but hands held her back.
“Let me go. I have to help,” she whimpered.
“Shh,” a low male voice crooned. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” She wept, struggling to free herself. “He’ll die.”
“It’s only a dream,” the voice said. A hand smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “It’s only a dream. Come little angel, wake up.”
“A dream?” Selene whispered. Rising from the darkness, she blinked her eyes open...
Selene stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars she’d tacked to the ceiling shortly after she’d moved into her small apartment. The stars reminded her of the night sky filled with twinkling stars that dispelled the darkness and gave promise of the vastness of the universe.
A solid warmth pressed against her side. She turned her face, her cheek resting against skin—a lot of skin. Selene tipped up her chin and stared into golden eyes and lips quirked at the corners.
“The angel awakens.” His words rumbled in his chest, echoing into her ear. His arm shifted beneath her head, his hand cupping her shoulder.
“I must have fallen asleep,” she said.
“I think you and I must have been having the same dream. I woke only moments before you.”
“I was being attacked by a—”
“Wolf?” His brows descended. “I saw you.”
“But then a lion saved me.” Selene’s eyes widened. “Was that you?”
His gaze grew guarded. “I should be going.” He tried to sit up, growled in pain and fell back against the pillow, wincing at the effort.
“You’re in no shape to go anywhere.”
“I can’t stay here.”
“Why not?” Selene leaned up on her elbow before she realized she was only wearing her bra and panties. She lay back down, her face burning.
His eyes flared, the pupils dilating. He opened his mouth to say something.
Selene placed a finger over his lips. “Don’t get any ideas. I only lay here to warm you when you were going into shock.” She cupped his cheek. “It seems the fever is gone.” Sitting up, she pressed a pillow to her breasts. “You won’t need me to keep you warm.”
His good hand closed gently around her wrist. “Stay.”
“But I’m not dressed.”
“I know. And neither am I.” His voice had lowered to a warm rumbling purr. “I feel a chill coming on.”
Selene frowned. “Yeah, right.”
His body shook and his face tightened in pain. “Please. It’s your bed, and you need sleep as much as I do.”
“I don’t know you.”
“I’ll keep the monsters away from your dreams.”
“What if you’re the monster?”
“You’ve already proven you can tame my beast.”
She wavered, the warmth of his skin tempting her. “I’ll need to change your bandages soon.”
“They can wait.” He tugged on her hand, drawing her back to the bed.
“I am tired.” She settled against him, trying to read into his mind. She couldn’t hear his thoughts, could only feel his emotions or see flashes of images. They weren’t malevolent so much as hot and lusty, sparking an answering heat deep in her core. “I shouldn’t.” Her hand rested on his chest.
His muscles hardened, his skin stretching tight. “You should sleep,” he whispered.
Ha! Sleep was the furthest from her mind as she lay almost naked against this ruggedly powerful and mysterious man. The longer she lay there, the more she wondered what it would feel like to press her lips to his skin.
An image of lips brushing the top of her head was followed by a featherlight stirring at her temple. Selene’s breath caught in her chest.
Her heart tripped over itself then thundered against her ribs. She shifted until she faced him, staring up into his eyes. “Did you kiss me?” she asked, her voice little more than air.
His mouth quirked upward. “Had I really kissed you, you would know.”
Every logical thought in her head screamed for her to get up, get dressed and throw this man out of her apartment. But logic didn’t rule when it came to Gryph. Her heart had firm control and was moving forward, the momentum sweeping her with it.
Bolder than she’d ever been in her life, she leaned up until her mouth hovered over his. “Then kiss me so that I’ll know.”
He chuckled, the mirth dying as his gaze claimed hers and his head rose to close the distance between them. His hand wrapped around her hair and pressed her into him and he claimed her lips, his mouth slanting against hers, his tongue snaking out to dart between her teeth, sliding the length of hers, the surface coarse, sensual, enticing.
Selene slipped her hand behind his head, her fingers threading through the longish, thick, golden mane, tangling and tugging, to get closer still. Half lying on his good side, she inhaled the musky scent of male and something more primal. Her body ignited, her skin on fire from breast to thigh where it met his. Her center tightened, her channel growing slick.
A low purr rumbled in his chest and his hand flexed and skimmed across the small of her back to cup the curve of her buttocks. His fingers massaged the flesh, sliding into her panties and between the seam of her thighs, finding her entrance.
Her insides clenched, a wash of liquid dampening the path as he pressed his finger inside her.
Her mouth consumed his, she sucked his bottom lip between her teeth and moaned as he swirled the digit inside her.
Selene let go of his lip and arched her back, her head tipping back as she basked in the rush of sensations shooting fire through her veins.
Gryph raised his injured shoulder and cried out. “Damn!”
Yanked back to reality, Selene slid off him and stood in her bra, then adjusted her panties, her eyes wide. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
The man in her bed nodded, his hand pressing gently against the bandage over his shoulder. “You’re right. I’d be taking advantage of the situation.”
“You? You’re the injured party.” Selene grabbed a short champagne-colored silk robe and jammed her arms into the sleeves, pulling the edges closed