~
“I don’t know you.”
It was that simple. One thing was for sure, she didn’t rush to trust anyone anymore, and shifters had a reputation for short tempers and fighting, and not just around their own kind.
She certainly didn’t want to get in the way of one of his fists. Her eyes dropped to his huge hands that were balled up on his thighs.
There was an air of anger that sat within him, she could see it, and it made her nervous.
Karl followed her gaze. He knew that his anger was bubbling just beneath the surface.
His bear was loving the idea that was pinging around his mind of hunting the man down and ripping him limb from limb, but he was worrying his mate, and that couldn’t happen.
Karl made a conscious effort to unclench his fists. It felt to him that the act of stretching out his fingers to lay against his thick, muscles thighs took a phenomenal amount of willpower on his part – let alone his bear, but he managed to do it anyway.
For her.
“Not everyone that you’ve met in your life has tried to hurt you, Bonnie,” Karl had a hard time keeping the rolling growl from his tone.
“I know.” She nodded in acceptance of what he was saying.
She knew deep down that she now had irrational fears about people – men, and yet, just like being afraid of a harmless house spider, they were there up front and centre within her mind and she couldn’t seem to shake them free…
It wasn’t Karl’s fault. The man had been nothing but nice, and he’d saved her backside when she was swinging from the guttering on the roof. Hell, he’d even come over to help them move in…
She felt the flare of guilt inside of her.
The man was her mate, and according to what they had read on the internet as they’d worked their way through a bottle of Scotch the night before, and from what she could remember because of that Scotch – mates were, on the whole, protective.
They also mated for life and that part was scary.
He’s my mate … I get that, maybe … but how am I supposed to know that?
And what am I supposed to do about it?
Am I supposed to just look at him and know that this man is the one I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with?
Like … love at first sight?
Maybe lust at first sight …
Oh, wow … change that thought…
Bonnie realised that he was giving her an expectant look, and she didn’t think that she’d missed a question…
“I get it. I do – I just…”
“Don’t know me…”
“Right.” She nodded, just once, but it was a big one.
“What happened next?” He asked, not really sure that he wanted to hear it, but it was better that he heard it now, when everything was new, than when his beast was bonded and he had no choice but to hunt the man down and kill him…
“He broke into my apartment…” Bonnie couldn’t meet his eyes, she stared at the space on the carpet between them, and he didn’t like that one little bit.
“He … hurt you?”
“It was only Dane showing up that stopped him from doing far worse than he did…” She shivered at the thought. “Dane is Jenny’s friend.”
Bonnie didn’t want to remember that night. Not in any real detail.
She’d been getting ready to go out with Jenny with half an eye on the clock for Dane arriving to pick her up; when the knock had come at the door. She’d thought Dane was early and she’d said his name when she pulled the door open…
She’d thought about it a million times. Relived it in her sleep every night since – he’d challenged her over Dane – he’d started to push her around, and when she’d stuck up for herself – that was when he’d started to hit her…
If it hadn’t of been for Dane …
Bonnie was almost certain that from the look on his face and what he’d been saying … that she wouldn’t be alive now if Dane hadn’t of been there…
“Where is he now?” Karl wanted to do to the man what he’d done to Bonnie.
He could feel the emotions coming from her in waves and it affected him, affected his bear, and his wild side sought justice for her pain, and her fear.
“The case hasn’t gone to court yet. They gave him an injunction or something to stop him coming near me, but that didn’t stop him from living in my apartment block, so I left.” Bonnie motioned around her…
Karl felt angrier than he’d ever been in his life before. If the man wasn’t dead then he should have at least been locked up and the key thrown away…
“I kind of half expect to look over my shoulder and see him there … it feels like he’s close…” She waved that away.
“Have you seen him here?” Karl pushed up to his feet, but Bonnie was already shaking her head.
“No,” she rushed out. “I guess old habits…”
“If he shows up here…” Karl made that promise to himself, but she wouldn’t let him finish.
“He doesn’t know where I am…” Bonnie assured him.
“I won’t let him hurt you again…”
“Let’s talk about … anything else.”
Bonnie wrapped her arms around her body. She believed that he’d try to protect her, but she didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of her.
This wasn’t Karl’s fight and she didn’t want it to be.
~
~
~
Bailey allowed Jenny up for air. He’d only meant to tease her with a few kisses, and instead, he’d all but devoured her … although, she hadn’t seemed to mind.
Now, she was looking up at him with those hooded eyes and the scent in the air of her sex told him that she was more than interested in taking things further – but, he wasn’t about to push his luck and have her running for the hills, maybe even claiming in her own defence that he’d used his vampire ways to persuade her by nefarious means.
No. When he took her to bed and made her his – she was going to be all in for the long haul.
That didn’t mean that she’d be asking him to turn her – just that she was his in every way possible.
There was a fever inside of him to taste her blood, but it was a need that he could control – for now.
“I like this … picnic,” Bailey grinned.
“I guess that’s code for how you wanna take me to bed and drink my blood…?” Jenny’s grin was teasing.
“You really do have to stop talking about blood…”
“All blood or just my very tasty blood?”
Bailey bit down on a groan.
“You’re killing me here…” he sighed.
“I hate to tell you this, but you’re already dead…” she whispered back like it was a secret to share.
“Parts of me are very much alive…”
He pressed his hard length against her thigh and groaned again. He was sure that hadn’t been the right way to prove his point, because now he was desperate for her body and the taste of her blood even more.
That need – the desire for her went hand in glove. He wanted to be buried deep inside of her when he tasted her on his tongue for the first time, and the time after that, and the time after that…
“And it’s a feisty little thing,” she exclaimed on a grin so teasing that he wanted to tease her right back to just so show her how he felt … that would have to wait, because when he got her where he wanted her, teasing her would be the last thing on his mind.
“Not so much of the little.” He frowned. “You may give it a complex…”
“Oh, that would be bad – like cutting my nose off to spite my face, right?”
“I … you really are determined to torture me, aren’t you?”
“It had crossed my mind.” She gave a small nod – then she grinned with glee at the thought.
“Torturing a big, bad, scary vampire is never a good idea – it could come back to bite you in the backside – if you’re lucky.” He wiggled those eyebrows once more, and she found herself giggling like a schoolgirl at his antics.
“Firstly – you’re not so big…” She pressed against his manhood on the lie – it wasn’t something that she wanted to be poked in the eye with.
He grunted at the feel of his cock trapped between them…
“Secondly, you’re not so bad, or scary…”
“Really?” He narrowed his eyes on her.
“Sorry,” she shrugged. “I’m a city girl.”
“And…?”
“I’ve seen much scarier monsters than you.”
“That’s because I have my good boy hat on…”
“Says you,” she challenged him. At least, that was how it felt, and he groaned inside once more. The woman really was testing his willpower, but there was no way that he was going to rise to her baiting him. “How about you take a sip?”
“That’s not a good idea,” he scoffed at the thought of only taking a sip from her.
Bailey knew that when he tasted her it would be a feast, one that would make him question his sanity and test his self-control to the limit, but she was his mate and he would make sure that he slipped some of his blood into her drink, just in case things went badly wrong.