Page 86 of 20% Stud 80% Muffin
Terror turned to desire as I lost focus and succumbed to my heat, shamelessly rubbing myself against Geo, trying to rid him of his handsome uniform. Why did it have so many damn buttons and ties? My womb clenched, and I blinked back the tears pooling in the corners of my eyes.
A small part of me was distantly aware of a conversation I could no longer participate in.
“Ah, my dear friend Reinik,” my father addressed the new alpha in the room. The long scar Reinik had seemed to smirk at me from temple to chin where it distorted one side of his face. His cold, rapacious eyes had not left mine since his entrance.
Cradled in Geo’s arms like a youngling hiding, I ignored the weight of Reinik’s gaze. My legs dangled over Geo’s muscled arm, my hands were bound, and I turned my nose to press against the spot behind his ear that smelled of summer fields. I was lost to need.
My father spoke to his closest friend, not caring that he had ruined my life. “Your timing is impeccable. High Lord Tuniga has worked himself into quite a state, and your shared past will allow you to fulfill his needs.”
Geo’s grip tightened uncomfortably. “Hold on, little lion. I need to take care of this.” His deep voice rumbled, a balm to my jagged nerves, stirring the desire more.
My mother’s tail stood high in the air beside her. “A fine choice to get him through his special time, my dear.”
My father linked his arm with my mother’s, claiming the decision to call upon Reinik as his own—a common practice.
Geo’s warm summer field scent grew stronger. “Clear this room…now!” Geo growled. “Makir and I require privacy.”
The tension in the room swelled to a thick, uncomfortable silence save for the hiss of forced air through the overhead vents.
Reinik advanced toward the corner of the room where Geo cradled me in his arms. “You have one thing correct, intruder.” The scar across Reinik’s face froze half his mouth, and his lips twisted in a familiar mangled sneer. “The room will be cleared immediately. Only I’ll be the one doing the servicing.” His eerie laugh sent cold shivers rolling through my body.
I wrestled my hands out of Geo’s grip and placed them protectively over my stomach, shielding my womb from the remorseless male who had broken it. Chest heaving, my locked elbows trembled and my legs kicked out as Reinik moved to gather me in his arms.
“Now, now, sweet lord… I’m here for you. Quiet yourself.” Reinik’s tail wrapped tightly around my elbow. “I know you missed me. It will only be a second until I soothe your fears away.”
Geo’s growl had the hairs on my arms rising in a prickling warning. “That’s close enough, asshole.”
Geo’s alpha voice rattled my bones and commanded the room. Even my father took a small step back. But Reinik continued to advance, caught in the thrall of my heat. In one swift move, Geo threw Reinik’s tail to the ground, crouched low and nestled me softly among the old fabric, stale with disuse.
Geo twisted, releasing like an sprung coil. The heel of his hand shot into the soft underside of Reinik’s chin. His head snapped back, sending a line of bloody saliva into the air, and my first heat partner roared and launched himself at Geo in a full-blown alpha rage.
An elite protector rushed from my parent’s side.
“Leave them,” my father commanded.
The fabric, though dusty, was soft and inviting. My need was so intense that I itched everywhere, and my clothes against my fevered skin were agony. They had to go. I wove my shirt into the dusty fabric of my nest, and my pants followed suit. They had Geo’s scent on them, and my nest was one hundred percent improved.
The masked protector turned toward me, his shoulders hunched away from my parents’ view. With an assessing gaze and tense shoulders, he typed a message into his com port.
After burrowing into the nest, my flaming skin finally freed from my itchy uniform, my gaze found Geo.
He moved like a dancer. His fluid bulk countered every move Reinik threw his way, stealing my breath. Arms overhead one minute, knees deeply bent the next, on his toes and twisting in the span of a breath, then pivoting as if second nature. He controlled the room and his opponent.
My heart drummed a longing beat. I was mesmerized, like a starbug to a flame.
Reinik lunged, ripping off Geo’s Lornian sash, and maneuvered to wrap the long fabric around Geo’s neck. His scar stretched as his face contorted into a smile sure to scare the most hardened criminal. “You think a mere human has a chance against me?” Reinik’s maniacal laugh chilled me to the bone.
Geo had rid himself of his fine coat, but Reinik had torn the white high-collared shirt beneath. The shreds stuck to Geo’s sweaty torso, plastered in damp patches over his swollen biceps. His muscles throbbed and bulged, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off the round balls of his shoulders when he quickly reversed their positions and launched fists like hammers into Reinik’s gut.
I wanted to collect the scent gathering in the fuzz between his blocky pectoral muscles with my tongue. The maroon sash floated to the ground like a white flag saturated in blood—peace never negotiated.
Hidden deep under the base desire of my heat was a sense of redemption so strong that the long-tattered pieces of my heart were being sewn back together. Geo was healing the fragments of me Reinik had so callously broken.
Geo caught my eye and roared. As if fueled by my red-hot need, he drove his knuckles into the skin above Reinik’s eye. His long scar split wide, and blood dripped down his face, blinding him in one eye. My hero slammed the much taller Lornian to the wall and pinned him with one meaty hand around his neck. “Have you had enough?” Geo snarled.
Reinik’s blue fur, purple with matted blood, showed a large bruise on the exposed skin of his stomach, his shirt long shredded. He panted, and his eyes drifted toward my father. “Regent Tuniga, I beg you to end this farce. Certainly, my prowess has been demonstrated.”
Geo shook him, and Reinik’s head slammed against the wall. “You will sub—”
