Emerald: Rare Gems Series - Billionaire Wolf Shapeshifter Romance by Kathi S. Barton

but why did you not leave when I ran away? You’d be safe in a nice hotel in about an hour, and none of this would be happening to you. Why do you still want me?
    “Why do I still want you? Are you…? Christ, woman, have you seen what you look like? You’re beautiful.” Jul had no idea why, but he thought she didn’t believe him. Jul also knew it was more than that, and he wanted her to know. “But it wasn’t just that. There was…it was like I was being pulled to you. The need to touch you and to be touched by you was crippling. Then when I did…I guess it wasn’t enough just to touch you. I needed you.”
    I’m not the kind of person people date. He frowned at her. This is…give me your shirt. I’ll shift back and we can talk.
    He unbuttoned his shirt and started to hand it to her when it occurred to him what she’d said. “Are you naked? I mean, when you shift, as you call it, are you naked?”
    Is sex all you think of? He told her it was. Well, we can’t have sex. If we do, it’s a done deal. I’ll belong to you and to be honest, I’ve had enough of men trying to own me. I don’t care for it.
    She took the shirt when he handed it to her. What she said, what she implied, bothered him. Someone—and he had no idea why he thought so—someone had hurt her. He would bet the bank on it. And a part of him, a part of him he had no idea existed, needed to find this bastard and make him pay.
    When she came back from behind the trees, his mouth watered. There wasn’t really much of her showing, no more than a pair of shorts and a top would show, but he knew that beneath his shirt, she was bare. He had to swallow twice before he could speak.
    “Who is he?” The moment she looked at him, he knew that he’d been right. “This man, are you in love with him?”
    “No. God no.” She started pacing, and it was doing little to help him concentrate on what they were talking about. “He beat me up. And while I can shift and kill him for it, it’s been in public places. Then today, he came to the school. And before you ask me, no, I didn’t encourage him in any way.”
    Jul looked at her and wondered what possessed a person, a man, to hurt another person. Especially a woman. “Does your family know about him? I’m betting that they don’t. Because if they did and being what they are, he’d not be around very long. Am I right?”
    “No, they don’t know about him. And I’d like to keep it that way. They tend to…I’m not a child.” He agreed with her, and she turned to frown at him. “I mean, I look like a woman because I’m a full-grown woman. I can think things out, take care of myself. And I have no need for a man to think he needs to be my protector.”
    “I believe you. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to find him and tear his throat out.” He grinned at her. “I’ve never wanted to do that for a woman before. Usually I just nod and let them do whatever they want so long as they…well, you know. It was just a way to get relief. Most of them knew that, and the ones that didn’t, I never saw again. Then things heated up at work and I didn’t have time for women. Or sex.”
    “I’ve never had sex before.” He looked at her hard. There was no way that she was a virgin. “I have been…I have vibrators, but I never used them inside of me. I just…they were a way to relieve some tension, like you said. After being with you, I can tell you that they paled in comparison.”
    His cock ached to show her how much more could be done to relax her. He thought of her naked, under him and screaming out his name. When she shivered her nipples hardened, and her body swayed enough that he knew she was thinking of him too. Jul wanted to have her come in his mouth again. He wanted to fuck her hard enough to have her scream out his name. Jul reached down and cupped his aching cock and balls.
    “Come here, Em. I want to taste you again.” She shook her head, but took a step toward him. “I love the