IrinaHunter was the first to break the kiss and he pulled away sighing.“I’ve actually come to tell you I need to go out of town for a couple of days. Can we go out again on Friday? I should be back by then. Say around seven?” He looked a little worried, but as soon as I nodded, he smiled again. “Great, pick out the best bouquet you have in the shop for yourself. I will send Emily to come and settle the bill this afternoon.” He winked and I grinned at him. I felt a little speechless. I met Emily when I visited their place the first time.She seemed to be Hunter’s assistant or something. Hunter gave me a soft kiss on my forehead, and he was gone. It felt as if someone had sucked the air out of the room for a moment. Was this what he meant when he said we had a mate bond? Was this what he felt each time he left me? The shop door opened and I had to shake my head to clear it of all thoughts of Hunter so I could work.I spent the day taking care of customer orders and attending to the wa

Irina“Irina, there is something serious I need to talk to you about.” Hunter’s voice suddenly filled with emotion. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what it was he had to talk to me about, but I nodded and we walked into the forest away from the pack. “Being the mate of a werewolf is dangerous enough as it is. Being the human mate of a werewolf …” I held my breath. Was he going to ask me to … “I need to appoint gamma guards to protect you whenever I’m not around.” I felt both relieved and disappointed at the same time! Deep down, I was hoping he wanted to turn me. I could just see it play out exactly the way it did in the movies. I was being seduced by a powerful beast. I could feel my body starting to respond and I pushed the thoughts out of my mind instantly!“I don’t know, Hunter. I know I don’t know much about your world, but it’s going to look very strange not just to my parents but to Miss Sally if I suddenly start walking around with bodyguards behind me.” I couldn’t imag

Irina“Guys, what’s going on?” I sat back and studied them both. I had been carefully studying both my parents all afternoon and something was definitely wrong. My parents never fought for more than maybe an hour or two and then they were back to being totally in love.“There’s nothing going on, sweetheart.” My mother smiled but I could see she wasn’t happy. When my father sat back and crossed his arms, I just knew he was keeping quiet because of me.“Okay, you guys really have to start talking.” I wasn’t going to budge. Dealing with Hunter’s new additions to my life, I felt I needed calm somewhere and that was usually at home. My father sighed deeply. He leaned his arms on the table and his fingers intertwined so tightly that his knuckles turned white.“We don’t know if Hunter is the best match for your, honey.” He looked hurt when he said it. “Your mother feels we should let you find that out for yourself, but I just see red flags with this guy. I don’t trust him.” My dad sighed aga

IrinaIT FELT AS THOUGH every single day took longer and longer to pass by. At night, Hunter would call me and we would talk for over an hour about what he was doing and what I had been up to, but when the call ended, I would feel alone again.My parents felt better about me seeing this mysterious older guy and I was getting the feeling he was actually starting to grow on them a little. All the things they thought were red flags didn’t seem as bad anymore. We just weren’t used to the life of a gazillionaire! The more I spoke to my parents about it over dinner, the easier it became to deal with the entire situation myself.My father finally admitted on the last night before Hunter was due to come back that he felt as though Hunter was being possessive. In his mind, it was just too much, but my mother thought it was sweet that Hunter wanted to protect me. One thing we could all agree about was that I felt safe with Hunter around. I went to bed feeling so excited that he was coming back

IrinaAfter actually saying it, Hunter went silent and that wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. I was expecting him to either quickly say he understood or to be angry or something. The silence was killing me! We were walking down the beach and it was getting darker by the second. A shiver ran down the back of my spine at the same time as Hunter’s head whipped up.“Get behind me!” He started to growl and out of the shadows came a huge wolf! I tried to remember if it was one of the ones I met before, but it couldn’t be. The stench of death hung in the air, and I didn’t even know what death smelled like! The wolf’s eyes were bright red as it stalked us one step at a time. I could feel Hunter growling and wondered why he hadn’t shifted yet.Four other wolves appeared from behind the strange wolf, and as they lunged, I turned my back. I heard howling and bones cracking and I could just imagine what was happening, but I couldn’t bring myself to look. I felt Hunter’s arms swoop around me an