Sylvia woke pressed against Braxton's chest. After the shock wore off, she prayed she didn't drool on him. He'd held her all night long, never letting go. She wasn't a cuddler, didn't even like being touched when sleeping with Mark. But with Braxton wrapped around her, she'd never had such a good night's sleep in her entire life.

She eased out from his embrace, but he grabbed her and pulled her back against his chest, nuzzling his face into her neck and hair. “Just five more minutes.”

Sylvia giggled. “What?”

“You're so warm and smell so good. I don't want to get out of bed,” he mumbled with a deep groggy voice. “I haven't slept that good in years.”

Sylvia took a long hard swallow. “Me either.” Admitting it meant it was true. But she still couldn't convince her head to believe it. She couldn't possibly be a wolf's mate, could she?

He brushed the hair away from her shoulder before replacing it with his warm lips, and cupping each of her breasts in his large hands around her. How easily she could succumb to his advances, knowing exactly how to play her body to bend to his will. He flicked her nipples with his thumbs, strumming a moan from her throat.

“I ache to be back inside you,” he said, kissing his way along her neckline down between her breasts.

“But I have to shower, and do the game reveal today at the convention.” As much as she didn't want to leave the bed right then either, she had to.

Braxton pushed off her in a flash, scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the shower. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you showered.” The desire and playfulness in his eyes was evident.

Shit, she'd never even had shower sex before. How did that even work?

Braxton turned on the water and eased her inside the tub before climbing in himself. The hot water licked her skin with a delicious heat as Braxton reached for the soap, gliding it across her body. He took his time washing her breasts and belly, before sliding his hand covered in suds between her thighs.

After rinsing her off, he spun her around, picked her up by the hips and she clung to his shoulders for dear life. He eased himself inside her and she tossed her head back as the feeling of him in her again made her lose control. It was as if they were two missing puzzle pieces put back together. He worked into a rhythm, holding her by her hips, bouncing her on his rock hard cock. She wasn't a moaner by nature during sex, but every move he made ripped a gasp, a growl, a pleasurable cry from her lungs that she had no control over, and she prayed her orgasm wouldn't end.

As his pace quickened, he growled low from his chest and slammed a hand on the wall behind her to hold his balance as he climaxed. He stared at her with low-lidded eyes full of sexual desire. His sandy-brown hair clung to his face, accentuating the hard angles of his jawline. For the first time since she met him, she could see the wolf in his features, but as quick as she noticed it, it faded.

He wanted her. He wanted to claim her, and she could feel it in his movements, see it in his eyes. The fight against his inner beast was evident in his hardened face. Yet he didn't give in to it. He protected her, just like he said he would.

The problem was now she warred within herself. Her heart longed for him to claim her, to make her his. It knew it had found its missing half. Yet her head couldn't comprehend it, couldn't fathom knowing who your life-mate was moments after meeting them. To her head, this was just a fling, a what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas rebound. It tried to rationalize the feelings inundating her heart that she loved him. Yet those words freaked her the hell out. She couldn't possibly love him, she didn't know anything about him. Other than he was a SEAL, and she'd dreamed about him practically her whole life.

Her head had no explanation for that.

He eased her from around his waist and rinsed them off before shutting off the water.

“Braxton,” Sylvia said with hesitation, not knowing if she should acknowledge what she saw.

He hung his head. “I'm sorry. Are you freaked out?”

She cupped the sides of his cheeks and forced him to face her. “It was actually kinda hot. I guess in a way, I didn't believe you really were that in to me.”

He blinked. “Are you kidding me? Have you not heard a word I said since the moment I met you? You are everything to me, Sylvia. You are what I want, what I need. I don't know how else to tell you, to show you without freaking you totally out.”

She rolled to her tip-toes to reach his lips, as he towered over her. He curled his arms around her and swept her mouth in a knee-wobbling kiss.

He brushed the hair from her cheek and smiled. “We should get ready. I'm famished. You make me work up quite an appetite. And you have your game reveal.”

She nodded. As much as she didn't want to leave the hotel room, much less to go into a crowded convention hall, she knew she had to. But the thought of coming back to the room with him later that night fueled her onward.

She couldn't get enough of him, and it shocked her. Yeah, she loved sex, but it had never consumed her before. The driving need to be with him, by him, have him in her overwhelmed her. The only thing that quenched her desire was his touch.

Then she thought back to Mark, and going into the convention hall, and the threats on her life. What if she got Braxton killed, too?

Fear was like a punch to the gut, watering down the fire burning for him. She didn't think she could come back from losing another. If something happened to Braxton because of her…she shook her head and got herself dressed. She had to keep him far away from her, and her heart.

---

Braxton peered over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of Sylvia in the other room. It was getting harder and harder to tamp down the beast within when he was around her. He thought maybe the more they had sex, the less the wolf would howl. Instead, it worked the opposite. He fought shifting right in front of her in the shower after they made love. His wolf wanted her, needed to bite her, claim her, bad.

At least she handled it better than he anticipated. She didn't run or scream, but instead calmed him,talked him down. Maybe tonight, after the stress of her game reveal at the convention was over, they could come back and he would show her everything, reveal his wolf form. Then he would make love to her like never before and claim her once and for all.

He buttoned his shirt and rolled the sleeves to his elbows as he headed to Sylvia's room. She looked beautiful in a pretty flowered sundress and cowboy boots. Her acid-wash jean-jacket covered up her soft, sloping shoulders that he loved to nibble on. He enjoyed the low v-neck of the dress, accentuating her full breasts. He leaned against the doorway and folded his arms, all but licking his lips, watching her curl her long blonde hair.

She caught him staring and nearly dropped her curling iron, as if he startled her. It worried him she was still so on edge, whether about the event, the stalker, or him. He promised her on his life he'd protect her, and he never went back on a promise.

“Careful, darlin'.” Braxton rushed over to her, taking her hand in his and brushing his lips over the burned fingertip.

“I'm fine,” she said, tugging her hand from his. “We should probably head out.”

Braxton nodded in agreement, but something felt off with her. Maybe he freaked her out more than she let on in the shower. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out after her.

“Are you hungry?” Braxton hated small talk, but he had no idea how to broach the subject with her about the sudden tenseness between them.

“Um, no, I'm okay. But if you want to grab something and meet me later, that's fine.” Sylvia picked up her pace as they exited the elevator to the convention hall floor.

She weaved her way through the crowd in the casino leading into the convention hall. Braxton danced around people behind her, trying to catch up. She was a lot smaller than he was, and able to maneuver in the masses.

“Sylvia,” he called out, hoping she'd slow down a bit. He couldn't let her out of his sight.

She glanced over her shoulder, just as a man in a red ball cap slammed into her, knocking her to the ground, then took off in the hoard of people. Braxton pushed through the crowd and scooped her up from the floor before she got trampled.

“Are you okay?” he asked, checking her over as he laid her on a nearby bench.

She placed a hand to her forehead. “Yeah, what an asshole. Rude much?”

Braxton scanned the hall for the red ball cap, but the asshole was nowhere in sight. Something prickled the hair on the back of his neck, and a tingle of imminent danger flooded his veins. He tilted his head, sniffed the air, and glanced at Sylvia's tote bag tipped over next to her on the floor.

“Sylvia, you need to get up and back away from me,” he whispered. He turned to the crowd gathering around them. “Everyone, step back. Stay far away.” He shot up and forced the onlookers against the far wall of the hallway.

“What's going on?” Sylvia questioned.

Braxton didn't have time to answer. He had to get rid of the danger first. “Stay back,” he demanded, unable to control the flicker of his protective wolf side in his eyes.

A copperhead snake slithered its way out of Sylvia's tote bag and into the middle of the hallway. Low growls rumbled in Braxton's throat as he shifted mid-air and grabbed the snake by its tail and whipped it down the hallway, away from the mass of people. Braxton tore after it, dancing around it as the snake rose up and darted at him in attack. Braxton jumped back, extended his claws and snarled as he pounced on it, slicing the creature’s head clean from its body.

Shrieks and squeals from the horde of people surrounding him deafened his ears. He sniffed the air, trying to locate Sylvia. Once he got a lock on her, he trotted to her side, weaving himself around her as he eyed the crowd for any other attack.

Something touched his fur, and another low growl rumbled in his throat, until he caught the scent of Sylvia. She ran her fingers along the back of his head, down his neck to his back. Numbness clawed at his legs, and a flutter hit his heart as she scratched behind his ears. How fucking embarrassing he was just shy of rolling over asking for a belly rub. But her touch unraveled him as much in wolf form as it did in human.

He nudged her hand with his nose, letting out a whimper. Shit, he needed to shift back, but he would be buck-ass naked if he did. Shifters tried to rarely shift in public for that very reason, let alone indecency laws. But he had no choice, it was a matter of life and death. He had to protect Sylvia at all costs.

Sylvia reached into her purse and pulled out the keycard for the hotel room and held it near his jaw. It was like she could read his mind. He tilted his head wondering if she really could, before he clutched the card in his teeth and trotted off to shift and change.

That fucker in the ball cap was going down. When he bumped into Sylvia it was no accident. It was to dump the snake in her tote bag, hoping she'd reach into it unsuspecting and get a lethal bite. But the fucker didn't realize one thing, Braxton now had his scent. And he wasn't a he. It was a she.

Game on, bitch.