Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)(64)

“Good.” Tamsin took his arm again. “I’ll be right beside you.”

Ciaran and Celene performed one more time, to another admiring audience. As Angus and Tamsin left the tent with Ciaran, who’d shifted and dressed, Ciaran asked, “Can I spend the night with Brina? Please? She wants to show me more of her games. Dante and Celene will be right there.”

Angus gave him a frown, but he didn’t dismiss the request out of hand. He knew the cubs really were interested in nothing but games at their age—Shifters had no yearnings for the opposite sex until their Transition, which wouldn’t happen for either cub for another eighteen or so years. Dante was proving he could look out for Ciaran, but Angus still had a hard time letting himself trust.

“You can go for a while,” Angus said. “But then I’m coming over to take you home. You’ll sleep with us.”

Ciaran’s eyes lit up. “Sweet! Good enough.”

He wanted to run off then and there, but he waited for Celene, in her regular clothes now, to join them, take his hand, and lead him away.

Tamsin walked back to the RV with Angus. The carnival was going strong—it was still a few hours until closing. The midway flashed, screams from the rides ebbing and flowing in the breeze. People strolled through the aisles, buying food and souvenirs, kids laughing as they darted toward their favorite rides, adults just as noisy as they enjoyed being kid-like again.

Tamsin gave an exaggerated yawn and sagged against Angus. “I’m beat. All this training and worrying about the performances has worn me out. Being a stage mom is exhausting.”

“Go to bed, then.” Angus untwined her arm from his but kept hold of her hand. “I’m going to prowl around a little, check the perimeter.”

Tamsin’s brows drew together, but then she smoothed her expression, slid her hand from his, said good night, and jogged away, her braid bouncing on her back.

Angus waited until he watched Tamsin go inside the trailer, then he moved to the darkness of the field beyond, undressed, and shifted to wolf. He made a round or two of the entire fairgrounds, keeping eyes, ears, and nose out for enemies.

He saw, heard, and smelled nothing but humans thronging the night. No other Shifters except Dante. No furtive Shifter Bureau agents trying to blend in. Humans who didn’t belong gave off a nervous scent, and Angus smelled nothing like that.

He returned to his clothes, shifted, dressed, and made his way to the RV.

Tamsin, instead of being in bed asleep, despite her claims of tiredness, was washing out the few dishes they’d used at lunch. She glanced over her shoulder at Angus as he came in and locked the door behind him, before drying the plates and stacking them in the cupboard above her.

“All quiet?” she asked.

“All noisy as hell,” Angus said. “But no one’s after us for now.”

“Good.”

Angus took the last dried plate from her and slid it into the cupboard.

He looked down at Tamsin, who stood inches from him. If he lowered his arm, he could enclose her with it.

His mating frenzy, and Tamsin’s, realized at that moment that the two of them were, for the first time in a long time, completely alone.

Angus reached behind him and snapped off the light and then bunched the front of Tamsin’s T-shirt in his big hand and yanked her against him for a kiss.





CHAPTER NINETEEN


Tamsin crashed against Angus’s chest as he curved down to her. She rose to meet his kiss, which was hard and hot and tasted of hunger.

She opened her mouth for his, his tongue brushing heat inside her.

This kiss was different, demanding, wanting. Before, Angus had kissed with warmth and longing, but at this moment, he was a Shifter, with all veneer of human stripped away, a Shifter giving in to a primal need for his mate.

Angus dragged Tamsin’s shirt upward, his fingers strong. Tamsin helped him, wriggling her arms out of the sleeves, her mouth holding his until she had to lift the shirt off over her head.

Cool air touched her skin, her bra a black slash against her paleness. She clutched Angus’s T-shirt with the same frantic impatience he had hers, wanting him bare.

Angus backed a step so Tamsin could yank his shirt off him. His torso was hard with muscle, brushed with wiry black hair. She’d seen his full body when they’d shifted back and forth in the bayous, and when she peeked at him while he’d dressed or undressed in the trailer, and she’d enjoyed every second. Now she let her hands cup his waist, feeling his strength. She traced the muscles of his chest, running her thumbs across his flat nipples.

Angus growled low in his throat. The next thing Tamsin knew, she was being lifted against the side of the cabinet, his body holding her in place while his mouth came down on hers once more.

She clung to him, fingers skimming his back, bringing one foot up to encircle his legs.

Angus lifted his head, his breath coming fast. His face was flushed, gray eyes glittering. “I’ll give you a chance to run.”

Tamsin’s heartbeat sped, her pulse throbbing in every fingertip. “Will you chase me?” she whispered in hope.

Heat flared in his eyes, his predator’s need focusing on her. “No.”

“Well, then, I’ll stay here.” Tamsin tightened her arms around him, pulling him down for more kissing.

Angus resisted, tension in every muscle. “I don’t know if I can be careful, Tamsin. I’ve been going insane staying away from you.”