Chapter Fifteen
Rod had the bastard shifter by the short hairs again, and this time, he wasn’t letting go until the male was done fighting. They were both bloody, and he could sense the power of the guy’s animal just under the surface. The fox wanted out, no doubt. Wanted to protect his human and finish off Rod. But revealing himself would get him pitch-forked right out of town. And probably worse once he got home to his skulk. So he was taking a fine-ass beating, and holding it all in.
Props to him for having that kind of control over the thing. But all Rod cared about was getting him out of the way, and making him see that Seraphina was fucking taken already.
She didn’t need no tatted-to-hell leather wearing bastard. She had him, and a ballcap, and a nice array of Converse shoes and metal band t-shirts instead.
He got another hit in as Maxim’s knee came up, narrowly missing Rod’s jewels. But it landed hard on his inner thigh, drawing a pained growl and making his fist land harder on the next blow.
An ear-piercing whistle blasted through the noisy space, freezing up all of the shifters with their sensitive hearing. Rod took advantage of the distraction to get in one more shot to Maxim’s gut. But when the horrendous sound of metal clanging together hit his ears, he stopped like all the others in the bar, and zeroed in on the source of the noise.
Annie stood on top of the bar, a frying pan in one hand and a metal spatula in the other. She glared out at the crowd, banging the two together until she had everyone’s attention.
“That’ll be quite enough of that,” she said cheerfully. “Everybody out! We’re closed, ya hear. And I expect to see every last one of you here bright and early in the morning to help me clean this place up. Whatdaya say… 8 AM?”
A collective groan rumbled the place and she pushed her blond curls out of the way, cupping one small hand around her ear.
“What’s that? You think seven would be better. Well, ok then. I’ll see y’all at seven in the morning and we’ll get everything spic and span before lunch. I mean that is… if you want lunch tomorrow. Yeah?”
This time the groan was more agreeable, and people started making their way to the doors.
“And you two,” she barked, pointing at two men Rod knew from school. “Y’all owe me some new glasses by tomorrow.”
Rod stumbled to his feet, sucking air. He spotted Aaron and Adam doing the same, and Maxim’s two boneheads. He searched his surroundings for Seraphina and found her close by. She reached for his bloodied hand.
He stared down at Maxim where he was easing to a sit. His eyes flickered with his animal, reminding Rod just how close he was to turning.
And still, he didn’t care.
Destiny said he’d have to fight hard. This was it.
He was fighting for the future he wanted. And if he wanted the shifter to take a human seriously, and leave his vixen alone, he had to go at him like a bulldozer.
“She’s mine,” he said, jabbing a finger at the beaten asshole. “And this ends now. You stay away from her.” Goddamn, what was he doing? He felt like an animal. He wanted to drag Seraphina into the woods past the parking lot and fuck her against a tree until she screamed from pleasure so loud they could hear it all the way over in Garfield County.
Maxim glared up at him. Said nothing as he got to his feet. Spit blood on the floor near Rod’s Converse.
“We’re done,” he said, his voice garbling with the evidence of his beast. “For now.”
“For good,” Drake boomed from the bar next to Annie. “Go. All of ya. Now.”
Rod pulled Seraphina toward the door, not stopping until they were past the parking lot and into the first set of trees. He peered through the thick branches, watching until the three male foxes went roaring into the night on their bikes. Couldn’t chance them following Rod and Seraphina home.
“Do you mean it?” she breathed, and he looked over to see her face go all hopeful. “You want to be my mate?”
“What do you think, vixen. I said I’d keep you safe. Meant it.”
Shit, he hated the way her face fell.
“This will work, right?” he continued, trying to fix things some. “If he thinks I got you, he’ll stop, yeah?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, staring at the ground. “Yeah. It’s just…”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Damn it, sweets. What?” He didn’t wait for her to answer though. He wrapped his arms round her, pressing hard into her body and breathing in her hair. “Shit, woman. Animal or not, I wasn’t letting him take you any-fucking-where.”
“I understand,” she whispered. “You said what you needed to say.”
But that wasn’t it, was it?
“No. I said what I meant. I’m going to fight for you. For us. Always.”
Seraphina pulled back frowning, but more of that hope glittering her eyes. “But I heard what you told your mom. You said we couldn’t work. You said…” Her lower lip trembled and her gaze moved away. “… we were done.”
Aw, shit. She’d only heard the worst of that conversation.
“I did,” he said. “Because I was trying to do the right thing. Trying to protect you from me, because I can’t give you no princess fairytale, Seraphina. I can’t even give you a redneck one like fucking Aaron and Rider.”
“I never asked for one.”
“I know.”
“I just want to be happy. And being with you makes me happy.”
He swallowed the emotion stuck in his throat at that.
“I want to make you happy,” she murmured.
He felt waves of uncertainty rolling off of her, and it was an entirely new sensation. The guys talked about a bond. A paranormal link that connected them more wholly to their mates. It shared emotions between them and allowed them to heal each other, physically and otherwise.
If this was true, and whatever he’d done to Maxim in there had given them a mating bond, then his vixen was scared and unsure. And he didn’t like that one fucking bit. He wanted to fix it.
“You do, Seraphina. And that happiness is what I will fight for now. For yours and for mine, because yeah, set me straight if I’m wrong, but they go hand in hand now. Right? Because…” Shit, let this be right. Let it be real. “We’re mates. Me and you. I feel it, baby. Deep in my chest. I feel the bond. We’re mates. And you being happy is my job. One I’m going to love the hell out of.”
Tears were pooling in her eyes and his gut twisted, and he was hoping like hell he wasn’t wrong. She’d had trouble saying it when Maxim asked her…
“Tell me yes, vixen. Tell me that’s right. You’re mine. For the rest of our lives. Tell me before I go fucking crazy.”
“Yes,” she blurted. A watery laugh followed and more yeses. “Yes, yes.”
Yes.
She said yes.
And he knew it was because both human and animal had found the thing they agree on. He could see it in the flicker of her shifter eyes and feel it in the way his bond settled as soon as the word left her mouth.
She went up on her tiptoes pressing a tender kiss over his busted lip. “I can heal this if you want?”
“I don’t know,” he rumbled. “Maybe I like the reminder of what I did in there.”
He brushed away her tears, leaving dirty smudges over her cheeks. But whatever. She was still the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.
She whispered, “You claimed me.”
“Mmm. Is that why it felt so good?”
“In front of everybody.”
“Did that once before on the radio.”
“But you were dreaming last time. Now they know for sure.”
He squeezed her hip. “For damn sure. Now I want to claim your body again. Do whatever it takes to set this in stone. You want a ring? A bite mark like Annie’s?”
So this is what it felt like when things worked out. This is what being perfectly happy was like. Nothing to numb, nothing to forget or ignore. Nothing to disappoint. Nothing to be afraid of.
Happy. Finally.
Rod felt a trill of something new through their strengthening bond. It felt like…
Oh. Oh. Oh yeahhhhh.
His vixen was turned on. Really really on.
His cock responded by going steel hard. Fucking iron rod in his jeans and needed to get inside his woman. Now.
But not in the woods, both of them blood and beer soaked.
“Let’s go home,” he rasped. “We’ll figure it out there.”
He led Seraphina back to the parking lot and pulled her door open so she could slide into the car. She was buckling in when his phone rang.
Rod frowned at the number on the screen. The hospital?
He slid the screen up to answer it, a chill rolling up his spine for some reason he couldn’t name. It was the same feeling he’d had talking to his ma. A foreboding. A dread that made no sense with all the things falling into place.
“Mr. Turner,” a nurse said, her voice pinched tight. “We need you to come to the hospital immediately. It’s about your mother.”
A pang of worry hit him in the chest.
“Okay. Yeah. Is she all right?”
A long pause. Not one where time suspends. But a pause that was truly too long for things to be okay.
“It’s better if I let the doctor explain, Mr. Turner. Come as quick as you can.”
Slamming Seraphina’s door, he raced around the front of the car and slid behind the wheel, cranking the ignition in one quick motion.
“I’ll be there in minutes. I… I’m on my way. But tell me, is my mom okay?”
The line clicked dead before he got his answer.