12. Tuvid

12

TUVID

N o one, and I meant no one, was going to threaten my mate and get away with it. I'd not only tossed that ass out into the parking lot, but I'd also stood over him, snarling, while he panted and scrambled to his feet.

When I spread my wings, making sure the spikes at the top of each segment were pointed his way, he yelped and raced to his car.

"Don't come back," I shouted after him.

I waited until he'd slammed his vehicle out onto the main road.

"Maybe I shouldn't have thrown him onto the pavement," I told Angie after I returned to her office.

"You didn't," she said in awe.

I couldn't stop from puffing my chest. "He threatened you. No one threatens my fiancée while I'm around—or even when I'm not."

"Let's hope he doesn't complain to Detective Carter. You don't need an assault charge."

"Any charge like that would have to be brought before the gargoyle council before it could be pinned on me. When I explain that he threatened my mate, they'll dismiss the charge."

"Really?"

"Really." I grinned. "Which means I could go back out there and toss him around some more if you'd like."

"As much as I'd like to see that happen, please don't."

I growled. "You're sure? It wouldn't bother me in the least to take flight and track down his vehicle. Chase him a bit. I could loom at him from the top of his roof."

"Despite the chance your council will drop the charges, we don't need to get tangled up in anything like that right now."

"How many times has he tried to buy your business?"

"I've lost count." She sat back in her chair and sighed. "He tried to buy out my uncle a couple of times too, but Uncle Brandon loved this place. He had no interest in selling it. But Jasper and I have a bit more history than him just trying to buy the business." She explained about how the man had propositioned her numerous times.

I stormed to my feet. "I'm going to break his legs first, then I'll work on his arms." I stomped toward the door.

Angie scrambled up from her chair and raced after me, holding me back when I would've slammed out of her office.

If I wanted to leave and go after him, I would, but with Angie's fingers on my arm, it suddenly got hard to focus on anything but her.

"Sit," she said. "Please don't bother with Jasper. I told my uncle, and he exercised a clause in their contract and bought him out at a very good price." Tapping her temple, she grinned. "My uncle was smart. When they made the original deal, he set the buy-out price at that era's market value. Boy, was Jasper pissed. That's what you get for not reading a contract thoroughly. I wish I'd been in the office when Uncle Brandon dropped the news that it was over, that he had to pack up his things and leave the premises."

"I still want to break his legs," I said, though I let her guide me back to my chair. "Are you sure I can't snap at least one of his femurs?"

"As much as I'd like to stand there and watch, don't. He's not worth the effort."

Before I sat, I cupped her pretty face. And, because there was no way I could resist touching her further, I slid my fingertips to her shoulders and held her. "I'm kissing you, Angie."

"You're talking about kissing me." Her pretty eyes sparkled. She tapped her lips, hers quivering. "Kissing means placing your mouth on these things right here."

I didn't need any more invitation than that.

I claimed her mouth in a kiss that blazed through me, hoping it did the same for her. When she moaned and fisted the front of my shirt, I found the confirmation I craved.

Warmth coiled up my spine, and a sense of completeness filled me. Kissing this woman was both comforting and thrilling, which only confirmed that we were meant to be together.

A fierce need to protect her coursed through me. It was raw and potent, a craving that only kindled my desire. Her moans and the way she stroked my chest through my shirt ignited something primal within me, an electric connection that left me yearning for everything.

When I lifted my head, she gazed up at me with so much longing, I couldn't stand it.

"I'm going to lay you on that desk, Angie," I rasped.

Her arm swept out, sending things flying, and she tapped her chest. "Laying me on the desk means doing it."

"Fuck, yeah." I lifted her and draped her across the surface, dragging my gaze down her frame. "You wore a skirt today."

"I did," she said pertly. "I'm on the desk. What do you plan to do about this, my secret agent gargoyle?"

A flick of my tail locked her door.

The heat in her eyes was my undoing. I crawled over her, caging her with my palms on the desk beside her shoulders. "What's beneath your skirt, my gorgeous mate?"

"We're not married. Are you supposed to call me mate?"

"Mate," I snarled against her throat. I fluttered my wings out, knocking things off the bookcase on the right wall. Something clanged on our left, but I didn't care one bit. All I could think of was claiming her as mine.

I gathered her skirt in my fist, inching my hand up along with the fabric.

"What's this?" I tugged at the black band securing wisps of stockings to her left leg.

"I'm wearing a garter."

"I don't know what a garter is, but this . . ." I lifted it and gently lowered it back onto her thigh. "I like this. "

"Keep exploring," she said with a sly smile. "And you'll find your next surprise. I don't usually buy things like this." Why was her face turning pink? "But a friend hosted one of those parties, and I had to buy a few things. You know how it is."

I wasn't quite sure what she meant, but I was eager to find out.

I gathered the rest of her skirt, and she obligingly lifted her hips to let me place the bunched-up fabric on her belly and at her lower back.

"Licking is in your future, mate," I snarled. I wasn't angry—not at her—but throwing Jasper toward his vehicle had dragged something fierce and protective from inside me. That Tuvid was eager to be let loose.

"Where do you plan to lick?" she asked.

I adored the laughter in her eyes, but I wanted to replace it with the heat of passion.

"Where would you like me to lick?" I spread her legs and nearly collapsed on the floor. "The bottom of your underwear is missing."

"Crotchless," she said in a breathy voice. "I hope I wasn't too presumptuous."

"Absolutely not, sweet one. I believe I've discovered where you'd like me to focus my licking."

She sucked on her finger and then placed it between her legs, sliding it through her saturated folds. "Here might be nice."

My cock shot to attention, a thick rod in my pants demanding freedom to blaze a path across this woman.

The gargoyle gods had sent me a miracle. I'd be a fool not to accept it .

I crouched between her legs. While gliding the soft tips of my wings across her chest, I hitched her thighs up onto my shoulders. I stuffed my nose between her legs and drew in a deep breath.

Her chuckle rang out, carried along with a higher pitch than I was used to. "Scents, Angie. Don't even think about scents!"

"You smell amazing. I'm going to take a taste."

She latched onto my hair, coiling the short strands around her fingers.

When I licked through her folds, her moan wrenched up her throat. There wasn't anything prettier than my mate tipping her hips up to give me easier access.

I drove my tongue inside her, savoring how she cried out once more.

Then I focused on her sweet little clit. It pretty much throbbed, and I was going to make it throb some more. I sucked it into my mouth while I slid my fingertips through her wetness.

I was going to come in my pants again, and there was no reason to complain about something like that.

While I dragged my tongue across her clit, she yanked on the tips of my hair. One of her hands dropped to glide across the top of my wing.

My groan jerked out of me, quivering on her flesh.

When she lifted her hand as if she thought she'd offended me, I latched onto it and placed it back on my wing. "More," I mumbled against her clit before focusing on it once more.

She stroked my wings, now on both sides, while I nibbled on her clit .

I slid two fingers inside her, curling them around, stroking her inner walls as I pumped them.

She bucked up into my mouth, and yup, coming in my pants was definitely part of my future. I could stop at my place on our way to the gargoyle community to change. Maybe I could talk her into lying on my bed for a repeat, but I wouldn't push it.

She was bucking against me, and thrashing her head on her desk, and I was going to suck down her orgasm.

"I'm . . ." Shudders ripped through her body, and the feel of her orgasm on my mouth and fingers was too much.

I couldn't hold myself back.

As I continued to suck on her clit, I let my body give way.