Chapter 6

Dani didn't have to look at him to know that he was staring at her, and that he was probably shocked. She knew that she must not be like anything that he had expected, or maybe even wanted. He'd probably been expecting someone like Emery, who was graceful and classy, but also especially ready to throw herself into his arms.

He had expected a Luna. And Dani didn't see herself as a Luna.

"We could change that pretty quickly, Dani." His voice was teasing and he reached out and ran a finger across the gap between her shorts and the bottom of her tank top, where the fabric had crept up.

Quickly she tugged the fabric down and pulled away from him, half gasping in pleasure at the way his finger tip had felt when it trailed sparks across her skin. "We are not having sex!" She said quickly.

"Because I'm your mate?" She was facing him now, staring up at his wide green eyes, watching as he ran a hand through his golden brown hair. "That makes absolutely no sense Dani. What is it that you're so afraid of? Obviously not having sex. From what you're mother said, it sounds like you've already fucked half the-"

"No." Dani interrupted angrily putting one finger against his lips to stop him from saying whatever it was that he was about to say. "You do not get to say that. And she doesn't know what she's saying half the time." She whisper yelled the words. "Especially not when she's been drinking whiskey."

"You are so confusing Dani." He shook his head and moved a bit closer to her, grabbing her hand and laying it flat on the bed so that he could begin tracing the lines on the palm of her hand ever so lightly with the callused tips of fingers. Her glare slowly melted away, under the thrilling lightness of his touch on her hand.

"Did you know that I was your mate when you ran, at the restaurant today?" He asked the question suddenly, and she knew then that the possibility had only just occurred to him.

Dani sighed and rolled onto her stomach, pulling her hand away from him. She didn't answer, but he took that as answer in itself.

Suddenly she felt his strong hands on her, moving her to the middle of the bed, and then his hard, callused hands were moving up, under the bottom of her shirt. He moved quickly, straddling her and she knew exactly what he was planning. But she didn't resist. Instead she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "This isn't going to work Luca."

"What? I'm just giving my mate a back rub. You took a hard fall. You had a hard day. I just want to make you feel good." He pushed up her shirt and his hands began to steadily work away the tension from yet another day that Dani wished she could forget.

His hands did feel amazing on her skin. And her muscles immediately relaxed under his touch.

"So you were running from me, Little Luna?" Luca sounded amused as he rubbed her shoulders and then worked lower again, his hands moving out to the sides of her back.

"I'm not your Luna." Dani murmured the words, distracted from her defiance by the pleasure brought on by his touch.

"You are my mate. And that makes you my Luna. The fact that you haven't been sworn in, in front of my pack is merely a technicality."

"You sound like a hopeless romantic." She made the words sound like an insult, as he slid his hands lightly down her side so that it brushed across the full side of her breast, leaving a trail of sparks as he leaned forward over her.

"Maybe I am. Or maybe I'm just wondering how long you can hold out against the pull that I know we're both feeling."

She rolled her eyes again. "I wouldn't hold my breath, Alpha

West. I wouldn't hold my breath."

His mouth was next to her next now, his lips brushing the place that she knew he longed to leave his mark. She bit down on her own lip at her body's response to his touch, and at the feel of his breath on the soft skin of her neck. She found herself automatically leaning her head away to give him more access to the soft hollow of her neck, and she heard a deep laugh rumble in his chest as his lips responded with a kiss and then another.

He lowered his bare chest onto her back, supporting most of his weight on his forearms, as if he was afraid he might crush her if pressed against her any harder. She felt his hardness now, pressed against her ass, and while there were layers of fabric between them, she had no doubt that he was huge and would easily fill her up, if he was inside of her.

Dani tried to push the thought away, but it was as persistent as his kisses were on her neck and shoulders. She didn't want him to stop and she responded to the feelings rippling through her body instinctively by arching her back, pressing against him harder, getting more and more turned on every moment that his body lingered against her own.

His hand slipped around, cupping her breast and enjoying how perfectly shaped every part of his mate was. "Fuck Dani, you are so perfect," he murmured the words near her ear before flipping her over and easing himself between her legs, pressing his hardness against her core, and looking down at her perfect body in the dim light of her room.

His fingertips trailed lightly across the skin of her shoulders, down her arms, exploring the smooth flawlessness of her body. But then, just as suddenly he pulled away, rolling off of her, back onto his side of the bed.

Luca took a deep, slow breath, trying to gain some amount of control over his body. He was beginning to understand that he needed to take things slow with this little mate of his. The logical part of his brain had understood this from the moment that he walked inside the door of her house and saw her interacting with her mother.

He began to put together the pieces of the puzzle in his mind. She had not run because she was frightened that there was a fight or something of that sort behind her. She had run because she did not want a mate.

He saw how she winced when he moved too quickly, and the longer he spent with her the more apparent it was that they would need to take things slow. They would have a lifetime together. There was no point in rushing and making things harder later by doing things that might unintentionally hurt her now, no matter how badly he wanted to take her in his arms and get to know every part of her body. Even if she was so very tempting.

Turning towards her he took another slow breath, trying not to notice how sexy she looked laying on her stomach, with her hair pushed over to the side.

"So you're not going to take me tonight then?" She raised an eyebrow at him, her tone teasing.

"No. We have a long day ahead of us. And you need your rest." He pushed a strand of her hair out of her face and saw that she winced away ever so slightly.

"Sounds good, Alpha." She somehow managed to make his title sound like a swear word each time she said it and he shook his head, a smile curving the edges of his lips. He loved how spunky she was. It was probably a good thing she was going to be his Luna, because if she wasn't she likely would have ended up a rogue. "I just need to do one thing."

Sitting up she scooted down to the end of the bed and hopped as quickly as she could to the door with one foot still aching inside it's splint. Without looking back at him she checked the lock on the doorknob, which he had already secured when they came in. Then she reached up and locked a deadbolt that he hadn't noticed. It was at her eye level and she turned it firmly into place.

Luca frowned, and watched as she turned a second lock, and then slid a third into place, with a small sigh, before she hobbled over to her window and pushed up the blinds just a bit, peering out into the night. She moved her fan in, onto her desk, and stared out into the darkness for a long moment before pulling the blinds all the way down, shutting her curtains tight. Turning she climbed back into bed beside him.

"You will always be safe with me." He whispered, wishing that he could take her in his arms and hold her. He felt his canines lengthen as his wolf came to the surface, feeling protective of his mate as Luca wondered what she had been through in the past and how it would shape their future.

She was silent for a long moment as she lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, listening as his breath became steady and even. "I can take care of myself." she whispered softly into the darkness when she was certain he was asleep. "No one's taken care of me in years and I don't need anyone to start now."