The Werewolf Bodyguard (Moonbound Book 2) by Krystal Shannan, Camryn Rhys Page A

don’t want to find her.” Marco stopped his progress and Aria kept going. Their hands slipped out of contact and she turned around.
    “Well, you’re not helping.” Hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes. “I told you, I’ll go get Rain if you don’t help me.”
    Marco matched her stance with an angry sigh. “You’re too worked up about this. My mom won’t be able to help you.”
    Aria shook her head in a quick, angry jerk. “You, who admittedly knows nothing about packs, are going to tell me, the pack enforcer, what will and won’t help, when it comes to pack politics?”
    “My mom has never had a pack, and neither have I. We can’t help you.”
    “That’s bullshit. Everyone has a pack.”
    “If I tell you what I know, will you… Will you leave her alone?” He tried not to be overwhelmed by the tightness inside. He had promised his mother. Promised her. And Aria wasn’t the type to let things go.
    Aria looked at the sky. “That depends on what you tell me.”
    “Fine.” His heartbeat quickened as he took himself back to that day his new life started. “I shifted for the first time and I hid in the desert for days after. My mother found me, holed up in some cave somewhere, and she told me I had a wolf trapped inside me, bound by the moon.”
    “Trapped inside you?” The incredulous note in her voice did not encourage him, but Marco tried to focus on the memory of his mother’s voice.
    “Isn’t that what it is?” Marco clawed at his chest. “It’s inside, and I can feel it sometimes, on the surface, like it breaks out of jail.”
    “That’s a little melodramatic, don’t you think?”
    Marco took a breath in deep and held it. “It’s how it feels for me.”
    “Fine.” Aria crossed her arms. “Your mother told you about the moons, and then what?”
    “She told me that every time there was a full moon, the wolf would get out, and I had to be somewhere it couldn’t hurt any people.” A burn crept up his chest and into his throat. “She said she didn’t have a pack, and that my father was a dangerous man who, if he ever found me, would kill me, and use me to find her.”
    The sarcasm left Aria’s voice. “You believed her. I can feel it.”
    “She called him the devil, Aria.” Marco could feel the tears rising in his eyes. “My own mother tells me that having a wolf inside means a devil can find and torture and kill her… The only woman I’ve ever…” He stopped before the emotion took him completely.
    Aria didn’t speak. Concern brushed over her features and she drew her body into his, curling around him like a cat seeking warmth. She put her ear to his chest and held him. Marco couldn’t handle the warring emotions. Part of him wanted to push her away, part of him wanted to take solace in her. But he had to finish his story. He had to protect his mother.
    “Wolves are a danger to her. If we find her, if we draw attention to her, we could be putting her life in danger.” Marco pulled at Aria’s shoulders. “I can’t find her for you, Aria. Tell me you understand that.”
    Her eyes drew together and a sad sheen licked across them, sending a jolt of emotion straight to his heart. He knew that he and Aria were connected somehow. Like her orgasm had connected them—one so powerful, it ate through them. Or maybe they really were connected on some deeper level, like Carl and Teresa said. He couldn’t be sure.
    “I understand that you don’t want to find her. I’m sorry.” She touched his cheek and reached for the back of his head. With a strong hand, she pulled his head down and pushed his lips against hers.
    The intimacy of the act—even though he had put his tongue inside her only hours before—shocked him. A wild, rough thing unfurled inside like a flag. He could feel it stretching him, pushing him.
    Maybe she had been right to suggest sex as a method of relaxation. He angled his head over hers and kissed her longer, deeper. The electric spark of her beneath him.