~~~Jackson~~~
“Good, we’re alone,” I said, entering my office building as casually as possible.
Giving me a confused look, Stephanie said, “We are. Things have been slow all morning. Very unusual for a Monday morning. Everyone’s worried about the human. Did you eat lunch while you were out?”
“No.” I headed to my office with my package covering my hand. “Come with me.”
Stephanie had been gathering her things to go to lunch when I entered the building. She froze and gave me a questioning look. I didn’t reply. I entered my office and sat my bag down on the desk. I didn’t remove its contents because I didn’t want her to see the romance novel I’d purchased. I hadn’t worried about what Valerie had thought. I was betting she didn’t think I knew what I was buying. Stephanie would know differently.
All the research I’d done on Valerie told me that the romance book was one of her favorites. I know I could have requested the book and not bought it directly from her, but I wanted to see her face, smell her reaction to me purchasing the book. Her reaction had been more than I had expected. The need she’d radiated when she’d seen me had been powerful. The lust that had exploded from her at seeing me hold that book had driven my wolf to the surface, which had led to me making such a huge mistake.
“Is something wrong?” Stephanie asked, shutting the door behind her.
Without any preamble, I held up my hand. The beginnings of a mating mark glowed slightly red from the center of my palm.
“What. Did. You. Do?” Stephanie asked, stepping toward me and grabbing my wrist to examine the mark. Before I could answer, she continued. “I thought we agreed that you would wait to mark Valerie until you knew she was ready. Are you that hard up that you would do this to her so quickly?”
Jerking my hand from her, I said, “I didn’t do it on purpose. I went to her store in the hopes of talking to her. When I saw her, I was so taken by her that I couldn’t speak. I want to know why I can’t talk to that woman. Anyway, I was too busy breathing in her arousal and trying to calm my wolf while she checked me out that I didn’t pay attention to what I was doing when I took my bag from her. I only lightly grazed her palm, but it was enough. I didn’t even stay to explain things to her. I ran like a scared little boy when she diverted her attention to her hand.”
“You have to go back there. You have to tell Valerie what’s happening.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” Her hands fisted on her hips, and I knew she was seconds away from shifting and coming after me.
I put up my unmarked hand to stop her and said, “Because, I can’t be alone with her right now. With this mark and the way she smelled right before I left, I’m liable to take her right there in the store before I’ve said hello to her.”
“I’ll do it then,” she said, heading for the door.
“No,” I said, my alpha voice freezing her to the spot. “Not right now. I want to figure some things out first. Before we do anything, contact Tamera. I need her to hide the marks for now.”
“Do you think that’s wise?”
“Do you have any other suggestions? I can’t barge into her life at this moment, and say, hey, you’re my mate whether you like it or not. Now get in my bed so that I can relieve this raging hard on.”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear about your raging anything. You can man up, as the humans say, and court her. Tell her about the mark, but tell her that you still want to woo her.”
“We’ll discuss that option in a month or so, once she’s settled. For now, we’ll see what Tamera can do about these.”
As it turned out, there wasn’t much Tamera could do. Stephanie returned to the front office and summoned Tamera, who showed up a minute later. I told her my story, swore her to secrecy, and begged her to remove our marks, halt our mating, something. The best she could do was hide my mark, though she did warn me that she didn’t think the cloaking spell she put on it would last long. No one could stop a mating, even if the other person were a human. She couldn’t even hide Valerie’s mark, which frustrated Tamera, as she couldn’t figure out why the spell didn’t work on the woman.
I felt like an ass for hiding mine when Valerie’s would be there for all of Valeterra to see, but the mark would keep other males away from her and give the town proof that she was meant to be there.