“What are you doing?” I started to panic. “Someone could come in!”
“If they see us, they’ll just turn around and get out of here,” he murmured, lips touching my ear. “No one crosses me.”
His hips pressed against my knees, opening them, pushing my skirt up my legs. I gripped his shirt, clinging to him so I wouldn’t fall into the sink. His hand pushed into my lower back. I gasped as his body fitted against mine. Heat flooded my chest, my pelvis. I thought I would drown in it.
“We can’t—” His lips stopped my words. The kiss just made me dizzier. I dug my fingers into his shoulders.
“You said you didn’t want to be left alone.” His tongue flicked over my cheekbone. “This is me pestering you.”
“Aren’t you breaking the rules?” I could barely get the words out. “What about the union?”
“I’d rather have you on my own terms.” His hand slipped between my thighs.
All strength fled my limbs. “I can’t breathe.”
“That means you like it.” He kissed me again.
A passing shadow caught my eye. “Ren, wait,” I whispered against his lips. “I think—”
The bathroom door swung open.
“Oh my.” Nurse Flynn didn’t sound startled at all. “Am I interrupting?”
Ren swore under his breath. This was someone he couldn’t cross. “Sorry, Ms. Flynn. I was just leaving.”
I blushed when he rebuttoned my shirt. I hadn’t even realized the blouse was hanging open. “Thanks for the chat, Lily. I’ll see you in class.”
He leaned in, brushing his lips along my forehead, and then flashed a winning smile at Nurse Flynn as he left the bathroom.
I squeezed my eyelids shut and gingerly slid off the sink. Somehow I managed to support my own weight. I’d been certain I would just puddle on the floor. In the darkness of my mind’s eye I could still feel Ren’s embrace, but then the image blurred and instead of the alpha, Shay smiled back at me. I can’t live like this.
Rippling, musical laughter brought me back to the bathroom. Nurse Flynn walked toward me, letting the door swing shut behind her.
“Poor, poor dear. Waiting must be so hard for you. I’ve heard Renier is an exquisite lover. All the Keepers gossip about him—the young Guardian who haunts their dreams.”
The smile on her glossy red lips was teasing and cruel. “But rules are rules. He’s an alpha male, so his . . . eagerness can be excused. Yours, however, is a disappointment.”
I grabbed the sink when my stomach lurched.
“Careful now, little girl. Or I’ll tell Logan how your union is progressing a little too well. You’d be wise to keep him happy. Those lovely legs of yours should be closed until Samhain.” With slender, chalk white fingers she reached up and stroked my cheek. “I’ll excuse your behavior this time. Don’t stray from your path.”
Her nails dug into my face, forceful enough to make me draw a sharp breath but not enough to break my skin. In a mockery of Ren’s tenderness, she leaned in, pressing her lips against my forehead.
Lana Flynn’s laugh became more of a cackle as she walked back out the door. I stared after her. When she’d turned away from me, I thought I’d seen the hump on her back twitch.
EIGHTEEN
SHAY SLAMMED THE LIBRARY BOOK SHUT, giving it an abrupt shove. It sailed over the edge of the table, hitting the floor with a dull thud. It was the fifth time he’d done that since I’d taken a seat next to him at four o’clock.
“Do you want to have a fight now or are you just trying see how many book bindings you can break before we get kicked out of the library?”
His only response was a ferocious clicking on the keyboard of his laptop.
“Come on, Shay. Knock it off.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Are you honestly all right with being treated that way?”
“What way?” I asked.
“Like a piece of property.” The veins in his neck throbbed.
“That’s not how it is.” I got up and began restacking books on our table. “You just don’t understand the way we interact. We’re both alphas; we’re always challenging each other.”
“Of course,” he said. I put my hand on top of the book closest to him so he couldn’t throw it off the table too. “And how exactly do you challenge him?”
“That isn’t any of your business.” I pulled the book out of his reach. “Besides, none of that would have happened if you hadn’t provoked him by insisting on sitting with us today. Ren only responded to your encroachment on his territory. What were you thinking?”
“See, you admit it!” he said. “You just referred to yourself as his ‘territory.’”
“It’s an expression, Shay,” I countered. “And you have no business acting like the wronged party here. You’re not innocent; you were challenging Ren about me and you know it.”
He scowled, giving his full attention to his computer.
“Look.” I buried my hands in my hair. “I’ve explained to you how things are. You can’t change it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he snapped. “On two counts. First—I don’t know how things actually are—just how you say they have to be because of your
Keepers’ orders. I have no idea what you really feel about your little arranged marriage deal because you won’t tell me.”
I almost knocked the books back off the table.
“Second—I think it can change.” The determination in his eyes terrified me.
“You’re wrong and you need to stop pushing this issue. The kisses, then the lunch table. You don’t know how dangerous what you’re doing is. Ren is already jealous—”
“You asked for the first kiss and obviously wanted the second.” He rocked back in his seat. “If he’s jealous, that’s fantastic. He should be.”
I grabbed a book, retreating to my chair. “That is not a good thing. He’s an alpha. You’re acting like an interloper—a lone wolf. If he thinks you’re interfering with his pack, his instinct would be to kill you.”
A haughty smile slid across his mouth. “I’d like to see him try.”
I was instantly at his side, leaning over him, my fingers digging into his shoulders. “Have you completely lost your mind? Ren is a Guardian; you could never fight him.”
“Lost my mind?” he murmured. “Yes, sometimes I think so.”
He lifted his hand and touched my face tentatively. His fingers trailed along my cheekbone and then gently moved over my lips.