Devlin was awake before the sun, his eyes studying Paige’s face as she lay asleep with her cheek on his shoulder. He felt the delicious ache of exertion in his muscles and the sweet feeling of surrender in his soul.

Paige shifted against him, drawing her leg up until her thigh brushed his rigid flesh.

He reached down and wrapped his hand around her leg, enjoying the languid sigh he heard from her lips, his fingers massaging her flesh, reaching around to the rounded curve of her backside.

Her skin was warm, pliant, and when he squeezed, pulling her tighter against his body, she sighed and her eye fluttered open. “Morning.”

It took just a few seconds for the warm flush of her skin to darken into a rosey-red flush as Paige looked down and saw their naked limbs entwined and their blankets on the ground.

She tried to sit up to grab the blankets, but her arm was under his shoulders.

“Leave them,” he took her chin in his hand and pressed a kiss to her lips, “I like the look.”

Paige leaned her forehead against his shoulder as if she could hide her nakedness as long as she didn’t see it.

He answered her silly efforts by lifting a hand and tracing the tips of his fingers from her shoulder to her hand. “Why do you want a blanket, babe?”

He felt her frustrated puff of breath on his shoulder.

“I can keep you warm if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Devlin felt her sudden inward gasp of air and knew he’d hit the nail on the head.

They rolled over, Devlin bringing her along with him until he was again on top of his wife.

She lost some of her hesitation as his cock pressed thick and heavy against her clit. And when he rocked his hips against her, Paige raised her hands up and brushed her thumbs over his nipples. “I wasn’t worried about the cold,” she sighed with a smile in her tone, “I have plenty of padding.”

He heard the slightest bit of worry in her tone. “Hey, be nice to my mate,” he warned her.

“I’m trying,” she told him as she drew circles and curves on his bare flesh with her fingers, “old habits die hard.”

“You’ll see yourself the way I see you, Paige. We were made for each other,” he assured her, “keep that in mind for now.”

She considered his words and nodded, his hands echoing his tantalizing touch across her skin, from the undersides of her breasts to the sides of her body where they found the hidden ridges of her hipbone under her curves. “And what are you keeping your mind on, Devlin?”

Leaning forward, he hooked one hand under her hip and canted her just the littlest bit as the fingers of his other hand slipped between her legs. “My mind is firmly on you, Paige. I can’t wait to take you again and have you screaming my name.”

Her breasts flushed an even deeper red, making her the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen… again. Seeing his mate flushed with arousal made him want to roar. His tiger was in full agreement, and then some.

“Didn’t you get enough of that last night?”

He saw the way she reached up her hand to feather over his mark, and he felt his erection thicken between his legs.

“Enough?”

He leaned over and nudged her fingers away with his nose before he replaced her tentative touch with the warm weight of his tongue.

When he lifted his head back up he heard her gasp, and knew what she was seeing.

His tiger watching her from his eyes with amber pools of wild curiosity peering down.

“Never enough, Paige. I’ll never have enough of you.”

His voice was thicker, growling from a place deep in his gut and from the depths of his soul.

“What about you, Paige? Was last night enough for you, wife? Are you tired of me so soon?”

He replaced his searching fingers with the swollen head of his cock and felt her body stretch around him.

She tried to answer and only managed a soft keening cry as her body wept around him and pulled him deeper. Paige wrapped her legs about his hips when he pushed his last inch into her heated depths, and he pulled her up against him and rocked into her body as he feasted on her lips.

Paige tilted her head back enough that her hair trailed over his arm, seducing him again with its silken touch.

Devlin traced the edge of her jaw with his lips, feeling her squeeze him tighter as he lifted her again and again before driving back into her body.

* * *

The loud bleat of her cell phone cut through the haze in Paige’s head, but she was so close, tightening her arms around his neck as the alarm continued on.

She reached out a hand to turn off the alarm and only succeeded in creating a harder angle for each stroke robbing her of breath, but still that alarm!

Devlin reached out to the bedside table. He picked up her phone, slowing his deep thrusts to a slow curl of his hips.

She caught sight of the Caller ID and stopped.

“Paige?”

She heard the concern in Devlin’s voice and leaned forward, touching her forehead to his cheek. “It’s my father.” With a curious blush on her cheeks she shifted her body and moved to sit beside him on the bed. Swiping the button to answer her phone, Paige touched her hand to Devlin’s chest, silently asking for a moment.

He did one better. While she began her conversation, he covered her hand where it laid against his chest, giving her his support.

“Hey, Dad, I-”

“Look, Paige, you need to come back here.”

“Dad-”

“I’m sorry, Paige. I know this is all kind of crazy, but… I take it that you haven’t been watching the news or reading the paper?”

“Well…”

“Please, no details. I don’t think my old heart could take it, but look. There’s been a lot happening, even overnight. I hate to ask,” he blew out a breath, “but I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

“Dad?” She heard such an odd tone in his voice, not just concern for her but real fear and more than his share of anger. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, sweetie. Not you, but there have been some ‘developments’ and I think even your… I think Officer Kerr would understand. I can send you a car-”

“We’ll be there in less than an hour.”

Paige looked at Devlin and saw his smile and a little shrug. Of course, he could hear her father on the phone, his hearing could probably pick up a pin dropping outside in the rain. “Devlin will bring me back to see you.”

“Good, good,” she heard the first real sound of relief in his voice, “I’ll see you soon. Love you, Paigey.”

“Love you too, Dad.” Paige set the phone down beside her on the bed. “You heard all of that, huh?” She didn’t even wait for an answer since it was obvious. “I can see I’m not going to be able to sneak anything by you.”

He laughed at her slightly bitter tone. “Not likely, but you can always try. I wouldn’t mind frisking you from time to time.”

Paige laughed and moved toward the edge of the bed, crawling on her hands and knees toward the bathroom.

Devlin took a long look over her bare body, smoothing a hand from her mid-back and over the curve of her backside, purring as he finished his perusal. “Let’s go see your dad, because after that I’m bringing you back here and this time-” he sat back as she set her feet on the rug, “no more interruptions.”

Paige walked toward the bathroom and caught sight of Devlin watching her when she looked into the mirror on the wall. “You can dream, Devlin, but my life has never been my own.”

His smile was almost a self-assured grin. “Now it’s ours.”

The trip back to the Mayor’s house didn’t take long, but the anxiety she felt made it seem interminable. Even her favorite music station on the radio didn’t have much of an effect on her nerves. Paige kept her hands busy during the drive, worrying the fabric of her skirt beside her knees as she struggled to keep her mind off of the sound of worry in her father’s voice.

“Sorry,” she muttered as they turned onto the last street, “I’m not much company.”

Devlin took a hand off the wheel and reached over to her, touching his palm to the side of her face. “We’ll deal with whatever this is, Paige, together.”

She swallowed and nodded, turning into his touch to place a kiss on his palm.

Paige would have relaxed into his reassurance, but up ahead she saw a crowd of people gathered around the front gate.

Police cars, news vans, and by the look of the signs rising above the crowd, protestors.

Paige sat up in her seat. “What’s going on?”

Beside her, Devlin sat up in his seat and peered through the windshield and swore a blue streak. “I think this is what your father was talking about.” He turned to look at her. “You want me to turn around, go back to the house? I can sneak you in here later.”

“No.” She shook her head and sat up straighter in the passenger seat, rolling her shoulders back. “I have nothing to hide.” Paige reached over and set her hand on Devlin’s forearm. “Unless you want to leave-”

“I’m with you, Paige. Whatever you want, I’m with you.”

She heard the sincerity in his voice and it humbled her even more. “Then let’s go see my father.”

The Police opened a space wide enough for the car to get through, but it didn’t stop her from seeing the curious looks. And it certainly didn’t stop her from seeing the vile things written on the signs or the hate and fear in people’s eyes. A man pushed past the line of police, his hands slamming against Paige’s window.

She gasped and leaned in against Devlin’s shoulder as the man tried to strike the glass again. He got close, evading the policeman’s arm, leaning down to the level of the window.

And that’s as close as he got.

Beside her, Devlin leaned across her body, his hand steady on the wheel, and glared through the window.

The man outside the car clutched at his chest with one hand while he flung the other one to the side, allowing the officer to grab him and forcefully pull him back from the car.

Paige turned to look at Devlin and saw the ghost of what had frightened the man. His eyes were wild, alive with anger, even rage. He was ferocious in his manner and the hot energy that seemed to radiate outward from his skin.

She wanted to touch him and calm the animal inside, but before she could, the police managed to open a gap wide enough to fit his car through the gate.

Before she could pull her thoughts together, they were inside the wall and Devlin was helping her out of the car.

Paige hadn’t known what to expect for their first public outing together after the rather unconventional beginning of their relationship, but somehow, she hadn’t imagined walking alone up the stairs as Devlin walked at her back. The only visible indication that that others would have that they were together, was his fingertips on her back.

The touch, even as light as it was, reassured her.

The front door opened before they reached the massive oak entry, and Paige found herself suddenly enveloped in her father’s embrace. “Dad!”

“Paige! Welcome home, Honey.”

She pulled a breath into her lungs as her father turned toward Devlin.

“Devlin, son, good to see you.” Reaching out, her father took Devlin’s hand in his and gave it a hearty shake. “Glad to have you two home for a visit.”

Paige saw a moment of strain at the corner of her father’s mouth and the tight stretch of muscle under Devlin’s dress shirt.

Before she could figure out how to smooth over the situation, Jameson stepped outside and gave the group a smile that was a bit too bright to be genuine. “Ah, the young newlyweds have returned. Please, let’s take this inside, shall we?”

As he had thousands of times before, Paige’s father drew her to his side and walked his daughter inside. The only difference was the vile chanting of the crowd at the gates and the towering antennas on the tops of the news vans as the cameras tried to catch a juicy tidbit.

* * *

When the door closed behind them, Devlin couldn’t help but feel like it had a slightly ominous tone to it, a soft click that seemed to echo on and on through the house.

“Now that you’re here-”

“Jameson, really,” the Mayor’s smile was faltering, “can’t this wait for a few minutes?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Devlin heard the words but the man’s tone made them a lie, “but this is moving like a brushfire through our city and we must take great pains to fix the problem before this gets too far out of hand.”

“Why do I feel like I’m the problem?” Devlin felt Paige’s hand touch his, her fingers tangling with his, as she moved close enough to look like his conjoined twin.

Neither of the other men missed her unspoken support. Paige made it an impossibility.

Jameson struggled to smile, but failed, leaving the Mayor to suck it up and speak.

“It’s not you per se,” he began, and Devlin felt Paige’s breath speed up and he gave her hand a squeeze to help her calm herself. Gesturing toward a room off to the side of the foyer, the Mayor began to walk. “What’s happened in the better part of two days has been unprecedented. I’m sure that both of you can agree.”

Devlin kept pace beside his mate, taking his cue from her energy, her mood.

“I certainly didn’t expect to have someone wave a gun at me a second time in my life.”

Words flooded back into Devlin’s thoughts. The attack on Paige and her mother, the very case that had caught his attention and brought him to Sylvan City.

Inside, his tiger rose up onto his feet, pacing forward into the forefront, leaning heavily against their bond to take a good sniff at the situation.

The Mayor was all concern and worry. Jameson was another kind of scent all together. He couldn’t quite piece it together. Couldn’t quite make it past the oily creep that they both felt over their skin. He doubted that there was a genuine bone in the man’s body, but he was certainly dedicated to the Mayor and his office.

“Please, Paige. Don’t bring that up.”

“Sorry, Dad.” Her voice was murmured, soft and full of her own grief. “What’s going on that you’re so worried about?”

Devlin knew. He’d been worried about this since he was old enough to know what humans did to animals… did to those of his kind. “The people are worried,” he turned toward Paige and caught her wide-eyed confusion, “the monster in the closet suddenly has fangs and claws.”

Jameson’s sigh was cold. “At least he’s smart enough to get it.”

Paige rounded on the man, her fingers squeezing tightly around Devlin’s fingers. “Stop talking about him like he’s two! He’s not a mindless animal either, so-”

“Not an animal, hmm?” Jameson took a few steps forward, but stepped back when Devlin leaned toward him. He lifted his hand to point at her, but kept his limbs tucked close to his body. “Then what’s that on your shoulder?”

Devlin and Paige stilled at the same moment, but he imagined it was for different reasons. He saw her eyes dart toward her father and they both saw the crease between the older man’s brows and unhealthy cast of his skin as he looked close enough to see the healing mark on her body, the ridges of flesh where his fangs and teeth had broken her skin were healing, but hadn’t quite yet lost some of it’s painful-looking pink and temporary scarring.

Knowing they’d have to give her father an answer, Devlin opened his mouth, but his innocent mate proved just how courageous she was.

“It’s his mark, Dad.”

“His mark?” Her father’s voice was barely a wisp of sound.

“His mark,” she shrugged, “much like someone gets a tattoo or puts on a wedding ring that’s a size too small and can’t get it off.” She gave her father a smile and Devlin looked for any sign that she was just doing it for effect.

He didn’t find anything but happiness in her expression.

“You don’t have to worry about me with Devlin. He’s not going to hurt me.”

Jameson’s chuckle wasn’t at all authentic. “Well, the good people of Sylvan City don’t agree with you.” Lifting the tablet computer he’d kept at his side, he held it up under Paige’s nose.

She took it from him on instinct, as her eyes looked at the newspaper, she nearly let it slip from her fingers. Devlin reached out and held it for her as they swiped from one article to the next.

Some of the newspapers and websites, the well-respected publications that had stood the test of time seemed to be doing a fair job of examining the situation, even if the titles they’d given the articles were a little… sensational in nature.

But it seemed like Jameson had kept the best for last. The gossip rags. One tiny little step above out and out lies, were questioning not only the truth of his nature, but what did it mean that Paige had been so quick to marry him, let alone spend the night in his company.

They called her horrible names, they insinuated that she was not only a loose woman but quickly escalated to more salacious claims and then ending with how her father must be responsible for her lack of morals or decency.

“Don’t look at it,” Devlin tugged on the tablet, but she wouldn’t let it go, “there’s not a single bit of truth in it, Paige. Don’t let them hurt you.”

She didn’t let go of the tablet, but she didn’t pull on it either. “I’ve been called all kinds of things in my life, but today I learned a few phrases that I’d rather ‘unlearn’ if it’s possible”

“Then let’s put this away.” The Mayor took the tablet in his hand and both Paige and Devlin let it go. While the Mayor stepped over to lay the tablet on the sideboard, Devlin drew Paige with him toward one of the sofas set up around the fireplace.

Once Devlin sat down beside her, she leaned her shoulder against him, as if she needed the warmth of his body, and Devlin was glad she did. He wanted to give her whatever comfort he could, but he would wait to talk to her first rather than start the conversation in front of her father’s Chief of Staff. The man seemed more than eager enough to drive his point home in any way possible.

The Mayor sat down on the coffee table before his daughter and leaned forward to touch his fingers to her knees with a gentle tap of his fingers. “Paige, I know what you’re thinking.” She didn’t raise her gaze to meet her father’s, but Devlin could feel her tremors. “You have nothing to be ashamed about, sweetie. You know what people are like. When they see something they don’t understand, when they meet people who aren’t like them-”

“They’re afraid,” she finished his sentence and Devlin got the feeling that father and daughter did that a lot.

In the early morning hours, he’d held her while she’d told him about the last few years of her life. He’d wondered why she hadn’t gone back before that, but it was likely because of when she’d lost her mother. Still, he got the distinct impression that Paige was more than just the Mayor’s daughter. She was a sharp woman and she’d been well on her way to a double degree in Public Policy and Justice before she’d left school to help her father.

The Mayor continued to talk. “We always knew we’d have challenges. People don’t just blindly follow their elected officials,” he gave his daughter a wink, “okay, sometimes they do, but not here in Sylvan. People have a mind of their own.”

“And sometimes,” she smiled at her father, easing the death-grip she had on his hand, “they lose their minds and we have to show them the difference.” Again, father and daughter gave each other a little nod of understanding.

Looking back over the Mayor’s shoulder, Devlin realized that he wasn’t the only one noticing it. Jameson was on his cell phone, frantically typing word after word on his device, but keeping his features schooled and staid.

“I’ve spent much of my morning-”

“And by morning,” Jameson slid right into the conversation, “he means that he didn’t go to sleep. As soon as the video and social media texts started we had requests for meetings with Legislators and the press too. The biggest concern we have to deal with is-”

“The concern of public safety?”

Jameson looked at Paige as if she’d just peed on his favorite pair of shoes. “If you want to be simple about it,” he sighed, “I guess that’s how you would see it.”

Devlin agreed with his tiger. Jameson was entirely too comfortable flinging arrows at their mate, but he’d need more than utter dislike to justify the killing, not to himself, but to Paige and her father.

“What I think we’re all getting at,” her father gave Paige an encouraging smile, “is that fear is going to be a driving factor in how people respond to this… revelation.” He looked Devlin straight in the eye and nodded. Devlin returned the gesture, feeling even more confident that the Mayor, crazy as it may seem, didn’t see him as an animal ‘rutting with his daughter’ as one rag had announced in two-inch letters. “I suggest we educate the constituents. When people are educated about something, they are less apt to fear it.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Mayor,” Jameson stepped into their view, “have you seen the ‘Flat Earth’ groups that are popping up all over the world? Education isn’t the answer.”

“Education will do a lot of good,” Paige insisted, but she did give Jameson an option, “what are you suggesting?”

A large grin split the man’s rather dour expression. “It’s simple really.” He stepped up beside the Mayor and gestured to Paige. “You and your… gentleman will just issue a statement. You were both swept up in the excitement of the moment, but now cooler heads have prevailed and you both realize that this is a huge mistake.”

He gestured between the two of them and before Devlin knew what he was up to, he stood and grabbed the other man’s arm.

And then they were all on their feet, all four of them. Jameson shouting, the Mayor pleading for calm, and Paige. Paige stopped him cold, touching her hand to the side of his face, murmuring to him in a soft soothing croon.

His tiger was quickly becoming a tabby around their mate. One word from her and the claws that he’d so easily sunk into flesh thousands of times before, drew back into his paws and the cat turned himself belly up for a scratch.

One finger after another released the other man’s arm until Jameson stumbling back, cradling his arm against his chest as he heaved out breath after breath. “That’s what they’re saying, you know? Wanton criminal behavior, amoral actions, they say that celebrating the existence of such… creatures will create an unsavory atmosphere that will allow undesirables to settle here in Sylvan City!”

“Undesirables?” The Mayor’s tone was harsh. “I really wish you wouldn’t say those kinds of things in front of Paige and her… and her-”

“You can’t even say it, can you? Paige and her animal from the petting zoo!”

Devlin didn’t have a chance to react.

No, his wife was there in all of her curvaceous glory. “That’s all I want to hear from you, Jameson. I’ve known you to be cold, but I’ve never known you to be cruel.”

“Cruel? Ha!” Jameson glared at her. “That’s nothing compared to what I’ve been called before. I do what needs to be done. I say what needs to be said. And the truth of this, little girl, is that thanks to you, people are talking about kicking your father out of office.” Jameson lowered his arms to his side and rolled his shoulders back under the fine woolen suit he had managed to keep wrinkle-free. “Usually when a woman brings down an elected official, she’s the one warming his bed or sucking his-”

“That’s enough, Jameson.” Paige’s father was angry, his face a livid red that looked almost dangerous for his own health. “Don’t you dare say anything like that about my daughter.”

Jameson had the self-preservation skills to hold up his hands in surrender, although given the pain Devlin had given the man earlier, one hand was a little lower than the other.

“I’m just telling you what’s out there,” the wide bay window gave them all a lace-curtain covered view of a growing protest mob, “what people are saying. They don’t want education, they want the good officer here in a cage.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

Devlin took some comfort in the fact that Mayor Lundin didn’t pause before he’d said those words. It wasn’t something he’d thought up to appease anyone. He’d said what he’d meant.

The Mayor turned and squared off against his Chief of Staff. “I want you to call a meeting. The entire City Council will be called to sit down with me and start drafting city ordinances guaranteeing equal rights to all of the citizens of Sylvan City regardless of their race, religion, color, creed and now that will also include…,” he looked at Devlin, “what would it be species?”

It took Devlin a minute to realize that Mayor Lundin was talking to him. “We could just be considered a different race, but I’m guessing some of the others would have their own choice of what we’d be called.” He looked at Paige and gave her a small smile. “All of my life we’ve been talking about keeping things quiet, I doubt we have a consensus about something like that.”

“Do you even hear yourselves?” Jameson’s volume was as loud as he was incredulous. “What do we call them? Guarantee equal rights? This is political suicide!”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Paige’s face was alight as she looked at her father. “I’m really impressed, Dad.”

“And you’re part of the problem, encouraging him.”

“Him,” Devlin spoke up, “you mean Mayor Lundin.”

“Oh right,” Jameson glowered at Paige. “Now you’re adding in your two cents.” He turned back to the mayor. “Is this just because he’s all over your daughter? She finally finds a man and you’re going to change rights that have been in place since the country began?”

“You mean just after the Civil War.”

Jameson wheeled around with a pinched grimace. “What?”

Paige continued on. “Equal rights weren’t in the Declaration of Independence, or even the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Equal Rights only became a thing in the amendments after the Civil

War and even then, they were still fighting for something more than ‘Separate but Equal’ and segregation during the middle of the twentieth century.” She looked at Devlin and gave him a smile before looking back at Jameson. “Shifters should be treated just like the rest of us. Anything less and we’re failing to protect the very rights you’re so worried about defending.”

Jameson’s hands were balled at his sides. “I don’t need a history lesson.”

“Consider it a civics lesson.”

Devlin could almost feel Paige’s claws digging into her father’s Chief of Staff. He wanted to warn her to back down, but he didn’t need to. Her father effectively ended the whole conversation.

“Jameson, I appreciate that you’re trying to look after my career, but what I’m trying to do is look after my constituents. We’re at a crossroads here. There’s no hiding from the situation we’ve found ourselves in and I don’t see why we’d want to.

“When we lost Paige’s mother and I decided to run for office, the whole reason we did it,” he took hold of Paige’s hand and pressed a kiss to the backs of her fingers, “was to help other people. Relegating shifters to any status other than official citizens with all the protections they deserve? If that happens, then I’m not doing my job. What does it matter if I’m re-elected then?”

Jameson looked like he was about to blow a vein or an artery, but he’d calmed down somewhat as the Lundins, or rather Mayor Lundin and Paige Kerr were talking about public policy. Now, the Chief of Staff was studiously schooling his features. “Okay. Fine. You want a meeting, sir, I’ll get you a meeting, but from there-”

“From there,” Mayor Lundin nodded with a solemn look around his eyes, “it’s all up to me.”

Paige took her father’s hand in hers. “Dad, it’ll be up to us.”

The Mayor brushed a kiss on Paige’s temple. “That’s my girl.”

Devlin felt a smile crawl over his lips as his Tiger extended his claws. “Mine.”