Marisa Chenery - Skylar’s Devotion

Braelyn walked down the street of San Francisco’s Financial District where the fashionable clothing stores were located. She stopped in front of one of the storefronts and looked in the display window. The stores weren’t as ritzy as the ones found in Los Angeles—where she now lived—but clothes shopping was one of Braelyn’s favorite things to do. Being one of the top fashion models in the country didn’t help with her addiction much either.

She caught her reflection in the glass window and pushed her dark sunglasses higher up on her nose before she tightened the ponytail she’d created when scraped her hair back. So far, none of the people she’d passed on the street had recognized her, which suited her just fine. She was in San Francisco to visit her family. It had been almost a year since the last time she’d been back to see her parents. Her modeling schedule kept her busy since she was in such high demand, and some of her shoots had her traveling halfway around the world. At twenty-four, Braelyn had to ride her success for as long as it lasted. There would come a day when a younger, prettier girl would take her place.

Continuing on her way, Braelyn passed a couple walking arm in arm, so into each other they hardly noticed the people around them. She’d never fallen for a man that hard before, where he seemed entirely devoted to her, and she to him. Most of her relationships ended up being nothing more than a passing fancy. She’d dated a few male models, but she’d found some of them to be vainer then their female counterparts. And regular guys, well, they tended to only want to date her because of her model status. They also were the ones who tried to get her into bed halfway through a date. Just because she had to pose naked at times—with all the important body parts strategically hidden—it did not mean she would be an easy lay.

Reaching a crosswalk, Braelyn stopped at the curb and waited for the light to change. Once it did, she stepped out onto the street and headed for one of the other clothing stores on the other side.

At almost the halfway point, she noticed the black motorcycle stopped at the red light for the oncoming traffic and the man who rode it. The closer she got to him Braelyn noticed the way his dark blue jeans stretched across his thighs, outlining the heavy muscles there. He wore a black leather jacket, but she saw his shoulders were wide and looked just as heavily muscled. The only thing she couldn’t see was his face since he wore a helmet with the dark visor pulled down.

Just as she drew even with the motorcycle, the rider flipped open the visor on his helmet, drawing her attention. Braelyn’s steps faltered, and she sucked in a sharp breath when her gaze encountered a pair of light blue eyes staring at her with hunger. Her heart beat faster as she took in the gorgeous face that came with those eyes. The longer they stared at each other the more aware her body became of the man who had yet to pull his gaze from hers.

The sound of a horn blaring broke the spell around her. Abruptly yanking her gaze away, Braelyn saw the crossing light had started to flash. Quickly remembering what she was supposed to be doing, she crossed the rest of the distance to the other side of the street.

Skylar had taken his recently purchased Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 motorcycle out for a spin with no real destination in mind. It was a nice sunny day, and since he didn’t have protection duty until that night, he’d decided to take advantage of it.

The drive from his home in Marin County to San Francisco had given him the chance to open the bike up a bit. He hadn’t had much opportunity to make this trip just for the pleasure of it. As one of the Protectors who watched over Roxie—the foretold one who ruled over all the werewolf packs—he took his duty pretty seriously, which meant long rides on his motorcycle, just for himself, were few and far between.

In the heart of the Financial District, Skylar geared down his bike when the light up ahead changed to amber. He shifted into neutral when he came to a stop just as it turned red and sat up straight. He used his leg muscles to keep the bike balanced. Inside his head, he heard Leif’s voice knocking how low the handlebars were on his motorcycle. He smiled to himself. His brother-in-arms might think they were a back-breaker, but Skylar liked the speed of the racing bike and didn’t mind having to bend low to ride it.

With his next breath, a scent slammed into him like a sledgehammer over the head. Drawing in a deeper breath, he filtered out the smells of the numerous car exhausts around him, leaving only the one scent behind. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a leggy blonde using the crosswalk, coming toward him. Skylar turned his head as she looked in his direction. It was her scent that had his mating urge kicking in, making his body go haywire.

He flipped open his visor to more easily draw her scent into his lungs. Skylar couldn’t stop himself from staring at the woman who was to be his mate. He knew the mating urge showed in his eyes, but he was powerless to stop it. Their gazes met, and her steps slowed.

His cock had gone rock-hard the instant he’d caught a whiff of her scent, but locking his gaze to hers through the dark sunglasses she wore had it twitching inside his jeans. Shifting his gaze to take her all in, Skylar noted her slim curvy body encased in light blue skinny jeans and a sky blue scoop necked t-shirt that showed off her modest breasts. Long strawberry blonde hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail. He ran his gaze over her face. She was a beauty beyond compare. Werewolves were known for their supermodel good looks, and the woman before him rivaled any female of his kind.

The driver of the car next to him honked. Skylar barely resisted the urge to growl and snap his teeth at the driver as the woman startled, then continued to cross the street. Not about to let his mate get away, he watched her gain the curb on the other side of the street and walk toward the row of clothing stores there.

Once the light turned green, Skylar revved his motorcycle, and making sure there weren’t any cops around, did an illegal U-turn. He turned down the same street the woman had gone and parked his bike in the first empty spot at the curb just as she walked into a store a couple of doors down.

Skylar put on the kickstand and pulled off his helmet. He put it on the gas tank between his legs and reached up to smooth his hair. With a couple of tugs, he straightened the ponytail at his nape.

Picking up his helmet, he swung a leg over his bike and stepped onto the sidewalk. He easily followed the scent trail the woman had left in her wake. Skylar didn’t even bother to look at what type of store it was when he pulled open the door and walked inside. His gaze automatically searched for the woman and found her near the back of the store. Focused only on her, he headed in her direction.

A saleswoman stopped him before he got very far. “Can I help you find something, sir?”

He didn’t shift his gaze from the blonde woman. “No, I’ve already found what I came looking for.”

“Are you buying for a wife or a girlfriend?”

That question had Skylar turning his head to look at the saleswoman. She was young looking and wore a friendly expression on her face. It was also then he saw the racks of sexy looking bras and panties all around him. He blinked. He stood in the middle of a lingerie store and was the only male on the premises.