Read Protecting a Mate for Free Online

things went, dammit.
    “Foster.” She leaned forward and placed her palms flat on his pecs and squeezed. Her nails slowly sharpened, her ferret’s annoyance evident in her appearance. “Wait.”
    “What’s wrong, doll?”
    This is wrong.
    That look, that quick flash of something she’d seen before, slithered over his features once more.
    “Foster, what’s going on?”
    “I’m claiming my mate.”
    She shook her head. “No, I don’t know much about males, but I guarantee everything inside you is dying to flip me over, fuck me, and claim me.”
    Considering his cock took that moment to pulse, she figured she was right on the money. “So, why aren’t you doing that?”
    “Melanie…” He tried to distract her by flexing his hips, but she wasn’t giving up.
    “No.” She stared into his eyes, making sure he held her gaze. “Why aren’t you dominating me? I know your bear wants to. I know my ferret wants you to.”
    Foster growled, his grip on her hips tightening almost to the point of pain and damn that felt good.
    “I could hurt you. I refuse to do that. Maybe after my bear gets enough—”
    She shook her head. Poor bear. “You would never hurt your mate. Ever.”
    “Not intentionally,” he grumbled.
    “Not ever.”
    He rubbed small circles on her hip. “You’re so small, doll. Don’t want anything happening to you.”
    “Foster,” she sighed. “As a ferret? Yeah, I’m small compared to your bear. We’re one of the smallest shifters around, but that doesn’t mean you should treat me like glass.” She bent down and brushed a soft kiss across his lips. “Your bear isn’t banging my ferret; my man is claiming me. You may get fangy, but I’m still me. You won’t hurt me, baby.” She kissed him once more, lapping at the seam of his lips before pulling back. “I trust you with my life, with the life of our future kits—”
    “Cubs.”
    “And I know you won’t hurt me. So mate me, Foster. Make me yours in every way.”
    The flare of his eyes and the prick of his nails on her hips told her she’d won.
    Yippee!

    *
He was fucked.
    Foster couldn’t fight both his curvy little mate and his own instincts. The rumble in the back of his throat was all the warning he gave her before he flipped her over and pinned her under him. Her little gasp and the widening of her eyes fed the male animal within (the purely human one rather than his bear), but that was nothing compared to the bolt of lust that hit when the scent of her arousal wrapped around him.
    “Mine.”
    Awesome. He was reduced to one-word sentences. He couldn’t contain the growl as he caught her wrists in his hands to pull them up over her head. The feeling as her body stretched out beneath him and the soft brush of her skin against his almost drove him over the edge, but he kept it together.
    Just.
    “Yes, Foster. Yours, all yours.” Her soft words were a balm to his soul. He had his mate, in his den, naked under him. All that remained was to claim her.
    But not like an animal. He would claim his mate, finally, with his human mind in full control.
    Keeping eye contact, he held her wrists with one hand and slowly, oh so slowly, ran the other down her curves. Curves that were his to explore and caress from now on. Her breathing shortened as his hand stroked down her body, found the curve of her waist and smoothed over the cello curve of her hips. He didn’t rush, seducing and claiming her with soft touches to calm the raging beast inside.
    When he reached her thigh, he paid homage with the tips of his fingers until her breath came in short pants and she parted her legs for him. Still he didn’t rush in.
    “Foster…” Her soft plea was a whisper in the silence of the room, but he didn’t give in. Claws partially formed, he slid them gently up the inside of her thigh. Touching, scraping but not hard enough to break the skin. Just hard enough to tease.
    She whimpered, and her hips rocked in the tiniest movement as he made his way