Savage Urges (The Phoenix Pack, #5)(69)

Additionally, whereas Ryan felt little empathy, Makenna felt way too much. So much so that she put others first, living more for the shelter than she did for herself. Ryan would never allow that. He would force her to see her own worth, just as she taught him to see his. He’d always felt like he had something to prove, that he needed to earn his worth. She never made him feel that way. Never complained about how tactless he was or how few pretty words he gave her. Nor did she criticize or judge him for being so emotionally disconnected.

They complemented and strengthened each other, fit too well to not be true mates. The rest of the pack agreed. They hadn’t been at all surprised when he and Makenna went for dinner last night, claimed and mated. But they had been shocked as all shit to hear there was no mating bond. It was fiercely bothering the females.

Makenna’s eyelids fluttered open, and it was only then he realized he’d been circling her claiming mark with his thumb. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

She snuggled closer to him and pressed a kiss to his collarbone. “Go back to sleep.”

Ryan slid his hand down to rest on her ass. “Can’t.” But he’d stay with her, watch over her while she slept.

“Sure you can.” The words were whispered against his skin as she petted his chest. “Try. For me.”

Purely to indulge her, he closed his eyes and enjoyed her petting and stroking him. Her hand soon went limp and her breathing evened out. Ryan just lay with her, content and relaxed while he had the scent of his mate in his lungs, her skin beneath his hands, and her—

His eyes snapped open. He’d almost dozed off. Actually, if the bedside clock were to be believed, he had dozed off. For over two hours. He rolled onto his back, grabbed his cell phone from the small cabinet, and checked the time. It seemed the clock wasn’t lying.

Makenna hummed, having woken at the loss of his warmth. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s eight o’clock,” he said, disbelieving.

She frowned. “So?” Realization then dawned. “You fell back asleep? That’s good.”

He grunted, returning to her.

“And it’s nice to wake up and find you here. You’re usually gone.”

Something in her voice made Ryan frown. “That hurts you.”

“Hurts? No, I know your job is important. But imagine if every time you woke up, I’d already left. It would be nice to have me here for a change, right?”

Ryan scowled at the thought of her gone each time he awoke. He liked that she was the first thing he saw when he woke up each morning. Liked being able to kiss her before he left, even if she were asleep. “I’ll change some of my shifts around.”

Makenna blinked, sure she’d misheard him. “Say what?”

“I don’t need to do the early perimeter run six days a week. I’ll reduce it to two.”

“I wasn’t trying to guilt you into changing your hours.”

“I’m doing it because I want to.” And because anything that even minutely upset her wasn’t acceptable to him. “Just like you’re going to reduce the amount of days you work at the shelter a week. You don’t take a single day off.”

She narrowed her eyes. “We talked about this already. The shelter is important to me.”

“It should be. And it should be part of your life. But it shouldn’t be your life.”

“Says the person who works longer and harder than the other enforcers.” It was more than that, though. She’d come to realize that his job was all tangled up in who he was. Probably because he’d started training when he was just a child. “I’m not complaining. I’m just saying you’re being a little hypocritical here.”

“I’ve just said I’ll change some of my shifts around.” His mate slowly raised a brow at him. “You don’t think I will?”

“I think you’ll go stir crazy having spare time on your hands.”

He kissed her. “I won’t if you’re with me.” It was the truth.

She twisted her lips, pondering the idea. “I’ll take one day off a week.”

“And you won’t stay late each night just because you don’t have to work at the gas station anymore.”

“You work late hours.”

“I’ll stop if you stop.”

She searched his eyes, which was pointless, of course, as they rarely gave anything away. “You honestly think you can?”

“I want more time with you.”

How could she say no to that? She rubbed her nose against his. “Okay. As it happens, I won’t be working at all today. I need to go shopping.” Dante and Trick had picked up her things from her landlord yesterday—there hadn’t been much left undamaged. Most of her clothes had been slashed with her own kitchen knives. She’d been more upset to hear that her Mustang now looked like a heap of scrap. It would seem the extremists had had some fun with it.

“I’ll come with you.”

Makenna blinked. “You heard what I just said, right? That I was going shopping?”

“Yes.”

“I really don’t see you having the patience for a shopping trip. You’re a tracker; you have a hunter-type personality. I’ll bet you treat shopping like military missions: you go inside, retrieve the item, and then leave just as fast.”