“Glory Walsh?”

Glory started to turn, to answer the man who’d spoken her name, but before she could she was yanked back against a hard chest. A sharp pain pierced her neck as the man bit down, and Glory screamed.

Cyn came barreling out of the door with a roar, but it was too late. The man was gone, running down the street as Glory collapsed to the pavement, bleeding and crying.

Ryan must have heard Glory scream, because he came careening out of the alley with his claws extended. He started to give chase to the man.

“Ryan!”

He ignored Cyn’s shout, continuing down the street. If he got his hands on the man, Glory doubted the guy would survive.

“Ryan,” Glory gasped as Cyn pressed the paper towels she’d planned on using on the window to her neck. “Ryan, please.” Her vision was going dim.

Ryan stopped running. She barely noticed the inhuman roar that seemed to rip its way out of him, but he was coming back, running as fast toward her as he had after the bad guy. His blue eyes were totally brown when he knelt at her side. “Glory.” He stared at the bite mark on her shoulder and hissed. “Son of a fucking bitch.”

Together, Cyn and Ryan helped her into the shop, holding her up when she nearly fainted from the pain. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. So sorry.”

“Not your fault.” She thought she’d be safe. For fuck’s sake, it was right out on the street, in broad daylight. There were people all around.

But apparently crazy dickheads didn’t care about being caught.

“Shit.” Ryan sounded furious, but she could barely see him. Her vision was wavering in and out of focus. “He gave her a changing bite.”

What? Was that why she felt like her veins were running with ice? Her hands trembled, her breathing coming in short gasps.

“Glory?”

The roaring in her ears, the pain in her chest, her hands and feet tingling, could only mean one thing. Glory was having another panic attack.

Spots danced before her eyes and Glory knew she was about to pass out.

But then Ryan’s arms, his scent, enveloped her. He began to hum, the same lullaby that had broken through her panic the last time, and she began to calm as he rocked her gently.

Ryan sniffed the bite mark the stranger had given her and snarled. “I need to bite you. I need to try and overcome the mark that god-damn Wolf placed on you.”

“You’re sure it was a Wolf?”

Ryan nodded, answering Cyn. “I’m positive. I can smell him in the bite.” His hold was gentle, but his voice was furious. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. This isn’t the way I’d planned on claiming you.”

Glory opened her mouth to give him permission. Better Ryan than the man who’d possibly killed her sister. But before she could respond he’d already bitten down.

Ryan’s fangs sank beneath her skin, the sensation completely different from what she’d felt when the stranger had bitten her. Glory gasped as intense pleasure flooded her being, the best orgasm she’d ever fucking had tearing her apart. She clung to him as the pleasure went on and on, the pain of the previous bite subsumed under the bliss Ryan gave her.

Why the fuck had she waited so long? If she’d known it would feel like this she would have let him bite her months ago.

His teeth pulled free, and Glory mourned their loss. She wanted that sensation again and again. “Ryan.” Her voice was breathless, needy.

“I’m sorry, Cyn. I need…” Ryan’s voice was almost as bad.

“Damn it.” Cyn sighed. “Try not to scare off the customers.”

What customers? And what was Cyn—

Whoa. Glory clung to Ryan as her Bear lifted her in his arms. “I need you,” he whispered as he nuzzled the top of her head.

“Mm-hmm.” Glory could barely think, but she had the feeling that she was about to be mauled by her Bear.

She could hardly wait.

Ryan couldn’t believe he was about to fuck his mate for the first time in the break room of her shop, but thanks to the son of a bitch who’d tried to change her he had no choice. Neither of them would be completely satisfied until Ryan sank inside her and finished marking her. The need to make her come again was riding him hard, urging him to just take her where they stood.

Thank God she’d worn one of her soft, gauzy skirts. He could lift it up, rip off her panties and pleasure them both with ease.

But first, he had to make sure his mate’s legs could hold her up. She’d scared the piss out of him when she collapsed. Ryan opened his senses to the healing spiral, dancing down it to make sure Glory wasn’t hurting.

He smiled as he sensed the touch of Cyn. Apparently she’d healed Glory even as Ryan marked her, making sure that Glory wouldn’t suffer any more than she already had. Ryan would have to make sure to thank Cyn for that, though he had the feeling she wouldn’t accept it. He knew how much Cyn loved both Glory and Tabby, how protective she felt toward both of them. She’d be furious with herself over the fact that Glory had gotten hurt again.

He pulled out of the healing spiral and placed his precious burden on the break table. “Let me love on you, Glory.”

She shivered, her pupils blown. The effects of the mating bite must still be with her. Good. It meant she’d be far more open to fucking him than she might have been otherwise.

God, he hated that this was forced on her. He’d be apologizing for the rest of his life, but the thought of Glory bearing even a trace of that fucker’s mark on her made him want to roar with rage.

Instead, he would try and make this the best, or at least the hottest, experience of her life. The Wolf—that’s what he’d scented before Glory called him back—wasn’t going to win.

Ryan licked his lips as he reached under Glory’s skirt, pulling her panties off and dropping them on the floor. “Lean back on your elbows, sweetheart.”

Glory whimpered, but obeyed. “Jesus, Ryan. I can’t believe we’re doing this here.”

“You’ll never be able to come into the shop again without thinking of me.” And that’s just how Ryan wanted it. Fuck the strange Wolf. Glory would remember today as the day they’d mated if it killed him.

Ryan carefully pushed the hem of her skirt up until the thin material bunched at her waist, exposing the blonde fuzz that covered her pussy. He was ready to whine like a child, desperate for a taste of candy.