Guardian (Wolf Shifter Romance): Reckless Desires (Alpha Protectors Book 1) by Olivia Arran

sounded confident, but his shoulders were tense as his eyes darted to the ceiling.
    I grabbed the coffee pot, filling my cup to the brim. Pulling out a chair, I threw myself down.
    “Sooooo…” Angel started, eyeing me carefully, as though I might bite.
    “She knows about shifters,” Greg added helpfully, his fingers tapping away on his laptop.
    Abel grunted from where he hovered in the corner. “That explains some things.”
    Like why she wasn’t scared of Abel. As well as a hell of a lot of other things. “But…how?”
    “How what?” Vin asked, around a mouthful of sandwich.
    “How are they sisters?”
    “She’s obviously adopted,” Angel stated.
    “Maybe—” I started, considering the idea.
    “What else could it be? She’s not a shifter, her sister is. Adopted.” Angel jabbed the table to underline his point.
    “There have been cases of shifters having a human child,” Greg offered.
    Vin snorted, getting up to wash his hands. “Rare.”
    “But it happens,” Greg argued, not willing to let his point go.
    “More likely adopted.” Angel wasn’t going to let it go either.
    “Why don’t you ask her?” Abel’s quiet suggestion sliced through the argument, stopping it dead.
    “Does it matter?” Vin added. “She knows about shifters, which will make our job easier. It also means she probably knows about the way things with shifters work.”
    I had a pretty good idea what he’d been about to say. True mates. Tasha knew about shifter mating, what it meant, what the signs were. Dammit! I scrubbed a hand over my eyes, wanting to bang my head against the table. All this time I’d assumed… Fuck! I’d claimed her as mine in front of Abel.
    “I think you need to go have a talk with your mate.” Greg’s quiet suggestion spoke volumes.
    They knew, they understood. They weren’t judging. Not yet, anyway, but from the way the guys were around Natasha, if I hurt her in any way? Yeah, the look in their eyes promised a world of pain. Somehow, she’d won them over. They would protect her, even if it meant against me .
    I dragged myself to my feet, a headache already starting behind my eyes. “What about Scarlett?”
    “Leave Scarlett to me,” Angel drawled, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head in a relaxed sprawl.
    From the looks the others shot him, he was going to have a fight on his hands. It wasn’t often a single she-wolf found herself surrounded by alpha males. Unattached alpha males.
    For the first time I was grateful I’d already found my mate. Chuckling, I headed out of the room for the stairs.

    * * *
    Natasha
    “ S o , what’s he like?”
    Flopping down on the bed next to Scar, I turned my head to look at her. “Who?”
    Giving me a shove that threatened to send me flying off the bed, she crossed her legs, pulling them into a yoga pose that made me wince. “Who do you think? How many wolf shifters do you have sniffing around after you?”
    “None.”
    Another shove.
    “Okay. One. Cole.” There. I’d said it. But he wasn’t sniffing.
    “He is so sniffing.”
    Had I said it out loud?
    She laughed at the look on my face, her fingers twisting a dark lock of hair around her shoulders and braiding it down her chest. “You didn’t have to say it. Your curled lip did it for you. He’s a wolf. He sniffs around a woman he wants.”
    “He might act like he wants me, but he doesn’t, not really.” It wasn’t a whine, okay, maybe a little, but it was my sister I was talking to. She knew me too well for me to get away with lying.
    Uncurling her legs, she flopped down onto her side next to me. “What do you mean?”
    “At first he was all hot and heavy, flirting and stuff. Then we kissed—”
    “Whoa! Was it good? Come on, let me live vicariously through you. It’s not like I’m getting any.”
    “There are four perfectly attractive men downstairs who’d be happy to—”
    She waved a hand in the air, dismissing my suggestion. “Not happening anytime soon. Back