Lover Claimed (18 page)

She ran her thumb over his thick eyebrow,
smoothing one side down and then doing the same to the other.

“Are you alright?” Lajos asked.

She smiled at him. They’d just finished
making love and he’d been so gentle, going slow and taking his time
to bring her to an earth-shattering orgasm. “I told you, I’m
fine.”

“I know that’s what you say. But you’ve been
through a lot.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Meisha, I don’t want you to think that this
is what life with me will be like. This was in play long before we
ever met and with the cell phone you found and the notebook that I
found in Trudy’s office, we should have more clues on who hired the
Russian shifters. Soon this will all be over.”

“I know,” she said, reassuring him.

“So, you’re alright?”

She chuckled. “You just asked me that.”

“I know, but…I don’t want to lose you. I
can’t lose you.”

“You aren’t losing me. I’m yours.”

Now it was his turn to smile. “I was so
afraid that you’d want to bail on me. My wolf was having fits. He
was afraid you wouldn’t want us to be together anymore.”

She squinted. “I never met him—your
wolf.”

“No, it’s really not safe to shift in an
unknown city. You know, people see an oversized wolf, they go
crazy, call the police, and I get a bullet in my head.”

She lifted up. “Show me.”

“What, here?”

“You’re safe, it’s my apartment.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. She wanted to see who she was
sharing Lajos with and who she’d be sharing the rest of her life
with.

Lajos got out of bed. His naked body was
perfection. “Just remember that I won’t hurt you,” he said.

“I know.”

The air around her seemed full of
electricity. The hairs on her arms stood on end and, before her
very eyes, he changed. It wasn’t like one of those horror movies
where the man was in pain and screamed out as his body became
deformed, turning him into a horrible monster. It was
something…different. Three blinks later and she was staring at a
grey wolf with light green eyes and a white underside. The wolf
watched her silently, and when she didn’t move or say anything he
lowered the front of his body to the ground so that his butt stayed
high in the air.

“You’re—you’re beautiful,” she stammered. All
she wanted to do was touch him.

His tail wagged.

She pushed the blanket from her body and
moved to the side of the bed. Then she stood and walked over to
him. She put a tentative hand on his head, feeling his soft hair.
Then she trailed her hand to his ear and scratched him. The wolf
angled his head toward her and lowered his eyes.

She crouched in front of him and stroked the
fur on his face. He lay down and rolled to his side, exposing his
belly to her.

He kept calm as she explored his body,
running her hands up and over his legs. She was his and he was
hers.

Her wolf, her man, her shifter.

Chapter
Twenty-One

“Shit,” Meisha said, tripping over yet
another one of Lajos’ shoes. “Why can’t he put his shoes in the
closet?” she mumbled. She picked up the dark blue gym shoe and
tossed it toward the open door of the closet.

Lajos rounded the corner just in time to
catch it in the air. “Hey, I was looking for this.”

“Apparently not too hard. It was lying in the
middle of the floor. I almost broke an ankle tripping over it.”

He pouted and turned his puppy eyes on her.
“Aww, do you want me to kiss and massage you later?” He came at her
with outstretched hands, reaching and grabbing hold of her
waist.

She knew what he was up to. “You want to kiss
and massage my ankle—only?”

He peered down at her breasts, giving them an
appraising look. “Well, I could start there and make my way north.”
His hands crept around her waist to land on her ass, where he gave
her a hearty squeeze.

She couldn’t resist him. He was her
everything. She leaned closer to him and nipped his chin. “Just try
to keep your shoes away from the middle of the floor, ’kay?”

“You know this wouldn’t be a problem if we
were at my place.”

“Because you’d magically start picking up
after yourself if we moved to the expansive estate in Michigan? The
one with twenty acres of land, five bedrooms, five baths,
right?”

She said the last part sarcastically, because
she’d only heard that line about a million times.

“Yep.” He massaged her ass and kissed her
neck. “Because that’s where my maid is.”

“You know I can’t move there.”

“Why? Because you think the Yaruzi will come
after you and you want to be able to pick up and leave as easily as
possible?”

She pulled away from him. “We’ve already
talked about this. If the Yaruzi come after me here, I can leave
quicker. My rent is month-to-month, there’s nothing holding me
here. We can pick up and leave—find somewhere else to go and blend
in, inconspicuously. We won’t be able to do that at your place.
You’re too attached to it.”

“What makes you think I would run and hide
from the Yaruzi if they came after you?”

“Because that’s what we have to do. They’re
too powerful to fight.”

“I’m not running from anyone, Meisha. If the
Yaruzi come for you, they’ll have to get through me.”

She let out a large breath. “And that’s what
I’m afraid of.”

“You don’t understand, darling. When I say
me, I mean us.”

She shook her head. “You and I won’t be able
to stop the Yaruzi when they come. That’s why we’ll have to leave
quickly.”

He chuckled. “You still don’t get it. You’re
part of a larger family now. You’re part of a pack. I don’t care
how powerful the Yaruzi are in the human world, they’re ants in my
world.”

He’d explained this to her more than once. It
wasn’t just her parents and brother anymore. She had a family of
wolf-shifters and their allies at her back. She shook her head. “I
can’t bring them into this mess. This is something brought on by my
dad. I can’t come into this relationship with this kind of
baggage.”

He put his hands out to the sides. “What?
Like I don’t have baggage? I’m not even human.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t know
Lajos. I have to think about it. Even if I went I wouldn’t feel
comfortable leaving my parents and brother here. If the Yaruzi came
after them and I was in Michigan, unable to help them…I just
wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

“We’ll bring them with us. Your dad likes me,
your mother adores me and Miko thinks I’m the coolest thing since
sliced bread.”

She punched his arm playfully. “Hey, don’t
overdo it.”

“It’s true. We can find them a place not too
far from ours.”

“Let me think about it, okay?”

“Sure.”

He grabbed his shoes and slipped them on.
“I’m ready.”

* * * * *

Meisha sat on the roof of the beat-up car
Trudy had left behind for her. It wasn’t worth selling, and with
her and Lajos living together now it seemed only right that they
had a date car. Lajos had offered to buy her a newer car, but she’d
declined. She lived in the hood, it would only get stripped for
parts. No point in that.

She sighed and looked out into the woods of
the Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve. She heard a howl
off in the distance.

Lajos.

He sounded so free, happy. Soon the howls
would get closer as he did. She looked at her watch. He wasn’t due
back for another couple of hours.

It wasn’t fair.

Lajos and his wolf should be able to run free
like this all the time, instead of just a couple of times a week
while she stood watch, making sure he could come back and shift
without someone seeing him.

He’d told her, even showed her some pictures
of his estate. There were woods like this one, a swamp and even a
lake. He used to change every night and run free all the time.
Something he could never do if he stayed here with her. It was
because of her that he kept his wolf pent up. He was happy with
her, she could see it in his eyes, but there were other times when
she saw something else…the need to be free.

Lajos and his wolf had made a choice. A
choice to give up freedom for her.

She fished her cell phone out of her pocket
and dialed her parents’ number. It was late, but her dad picked up
on the fourth ring.

“How’s my little flower?” he asked.

She smiled. No matter how old she was he
would forever refer to her as his little flower. “I’m fine,
Daddy.”

“What’s the matter? You sound so sad.”

“Dad, how would you, mom and Miko like to
move to Michigan to live near Lajos and I?”

“You’re moving?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

“What about the Yaruzi? What if they find
you? Are you willing to involve Lajos in our family business?”

“I’m not afraid of them anymore and you
shouldn’t be either.”

“Why? I don’t understand.”

“I’ll tell you all about it when we
move.”

Thank you
, Lajos pushed the thought
into her mind.

I love you.

I love you too.

About A.M. Griffin

A. M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks,
mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter,
sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite
outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from
mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy
romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all
possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the
skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.

I love hearing from my readers. Like one of
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If you like this book, you may also enjoy
the first book in this series,
Dark Wolf
Enterprises,
available now.

The big break Trudy Hollander’s small
accounting firm needs has finally arrived, but unfortunately it
comes with murder, mayhem and Kristof Farkas, a man she just can’t
seem to resist. Even worse, Kristof is the CFO of Dark Wolf
Enterprises—the one person who can pull the plug on the job that
will take her company to the next level.

And then there are the assassins who
can jump from three stories up and still be able to run away…

Kristof has no intention of giving in
to his inner wolf and claiming Trudy. She’s human. Too fragile to
withstand being a shifter’s mate. But the need to protect her is
stronger than his resolve, and his desire is more powerful yet.
He’ll fight with everything he has to keep her safe, both from
those who would hurt her, and from himself.

Other series you may enjoy:

Published by Ellora’s Cave: Loving
Dangerously ~ Science Fiction, Erotic Romance

The invasion changed everything. It took only
weeks for aliens to destroy Earth and take prisoners. Now, fighting
for their survival in the wilds of space, humans face a dazzling
array of new experiences—and pleasures. Their lives may have
changed but one thing remains the same—out there, somewhere in the
galaxy, there’s great love and passion for each of them if they’re
brave enough to embrace their destiny.

Loving Dangerously, Book 1: Dangerously
Mine

After aliens invade and conquer Earth, Eva is
transported to a distant slave trading planet. Escape and freedom
are her only priority, but none of her martial arts training
prepared her for what she faces. She finds herself enslaved to the
warrior King Taio. Eva’s drawn to this sexy alien male who ignites
her heart and body.

Loving Dangerously, Book 2: Dangerously
Yours

Princess Sa’Mya is on the run. She and a few
trusted advisers fled her home planet, only to be captured by the
sexy, dangerous human Captain Epps. He claims to hate aliens but
can’t seem to resist touching her or kissing her…everywhere. As
Kane introduces Sa’Mya to ever-increasing, unimaginable realms of
pleasure, the princess becomes determined to earn his trust. She’s
used to getting what she wants. And this time, what she wants is
Kane Epps.

Loving Dangerously, Book 3: Dangerously
Hers

Jess hates aliens. After the invasion that
destroyed Earth, the extraterrestrial bastards sold her to a
brothel as a sex slave. She may have escaped but the old memories
and fears still linger in the dark corners of her mind. Supposedly
Sonis is just the place for her—somewhere safe, where she can heal
and start fresh. She’s almost hopeful…until she meets Rasha, her
new boss.

Loving Dangerously, Book 4: Dangerously
His

Justin “JB” Blake has never met a woman he
couldn’t bed—or one he wants to keep. That changes the second he
lays eyes on Princess Saia Xochis. The beautiful alien makes his
body burn and his heart ache. She
will
be his. All JB has to
do is risk life and limb at the hands of her abusive father, her
protective brother, and her warmongering intended mate.

And coming soon, the last book of the
series: Dangerously Forever