~
“I don’t know what I said, but whatever it was; I apologise,” Hank grumbled along with an underlying growl that rumbled through his chest and made his beast groan, as he followed Dorothy into the sun room that looked out onto the gardens.
His wolf had berated him in no uncertain terms for upsetting their mate. The beast had one thing in mind and that was to woo her – miffing her off wasn’t going to get the job done…
“You’re falling on your sword?” Dorothy mumbled.
She didn’t want an apology that was given begrudgingly. Especially, when the man had little to no clue as to how he had managed to upset her in the first place.
“No,” Hank grumbled. “I’m trying to say that I didn’t – don’t want to hurt your feelings, and I obviously did that, so that’s what I’m sorry for.”
Hank waited while she sat down, and then he shoved his big hands in the pockets of his jeans, hunched his shoulders like he was about to weather a storm, and stared down at her like a scolded child.
“Well,” Dorothy took in a long, deep breath in as she considered his words. “Alright then.”
“Good.”
Hank had expected more push back from her. Most women, when they had you by the crown jewels, tended to use it to their advantage, stick the knife in, and he was somewhat shocked to not find himself in that unenviable position of being skewered by her wrath for her own ends…
She’d let him off lightly, and he couldn’t quite understand it, but there it was. Perhaps she was biding her time, or perhaps she just wasn’t that sort of woman…
“Well, sit then,” Dorothy said, motioning towards the chair that was usually occupied by Angela at that time of the day, and he gave a small nod as he wrenched his hands from his jeans and did just that.
He couldn’t understand why she’d got so miffed at him for wanting to protect her and then thinking that he didn’t.
In his book it was a misunderstanding. He had to wonder if his mate was a little senile.
He wasn’t a young pup anymore either. There were bits on him that were starting to wear out – if he was a car then he would have given himself a good going over and oiled all of his working parts that needed it, replacing the ones that were on the way out – but, he wasn’t, and he couldn’t, and even his shifter blood didn’t seem to work as quickly to heal him anymore…
But, that was life, and it was the one thing that came to everyone if they lived long enough to enjoy old age – or not enjoy it as the case maybe. Unless you were, or knew a vampire that would help you out – then you were sure to get old and die somewhere along the line.
Now, at least, he had something – someone – to live for, and protecting his mate and keeping her happy was his only mission in life. That and stopping Chloe from feeding on someone…
He guess he would never understand women. It didn’t matter how old and wise he got that one had always eluded him.
~
~
~
“You stop right there, take a breath, and make damn sure you understand that I’m going to bitch slap you as only a witch can.”
It had sounded good in Fallon’s head before it had come out of her mouth, and it would have given most men pause for thought. But from the look in his eyes, and in reality, she guessed that she had just offered another challenge to her shifter mate.
Fallon groaned inside.
“Sounds … interesting,” Jamie said.
His eyes said hungry.
His lips said teasing…
And his rock hard length that was pulsing and twitching against his jeans said that he was as horny as hell.
She’d noted the bulge when she’d dropped her eyes down and back up his body, and her gaze had hesitated for a long moment in that area.
Her eyes were working of their own accord, and her brain had ceased to play any part in that particular decision making process.
But that throbbing twitch against his jeans told her that something other than his brain was also driving him forwards…
The mating pull was in full force, and she welcomed it and cursed it with equal measure.
Jamie took one giant step towards the bed…
Fallon’s heart lurched into her throat and panic rushed through her at the thought that they were both just playing into fate’s cruel hands. She didn’t even have a clue if she wanted a mate or not…
“No!” She snapped, scolding him like a puppy that had just peed in her favourite shoe…
That tone that rang through her voice made him cock his head to one side and question her sanity with just a look.
His beast grumbled.
“I will lock you the cellar and not let you out until the danger is gone; if I have to do it to keep you safe…” he said, then he leaned his upper body down towards her on the bed, and it was her turn to cock her head as she eyed him back. “Don’t make me do it.”
Now Fallon got the game that he was playing. Big, muscle bound, mucho shifter guy, proving to her who was boss … well, that wasn’t the way that she saw it.
“Lock me up?” Fallon shot back with a smug smile and small chuckle. “I’m a witch – there isn’t a lock that I can’t…”
He was above her in a heartbeat. His body ran down then length of hers and made her inside quiver at the touch.
She could feel every hard inch, including the one that pressed against her thigh, and that made her womb protest the lack of action in her life…
Stupid damn mating pull… she cursed…
“Some locks can’t be broken,” Jamie assured her.
“Oh, I can break you quite nicely,” she bit back.
She guessed that she should have felt threatened by him, and if he’d been anyone else but her mate then she might have.
What she actually did feel went far beyond desire, far beyond need, and right to the heart of what he was – her mate.
“To keep you safe, I’ll keep coming back for more,” Jamie informed her. His dark eyes held her spellbound. “Are you prepared to cause me that much pain, Fallon?”
“Y…” she bit down on the irrational need to stand up to him. Instead, she decided to hit him where it hurt the most – right in his pride. “Bully.” She muttered.
Fallon knew deep down that he wasn’t, but that didn’t stop her from accusing him in the desperate need to find something to throw him off the scent of what she was feeling when she looked at him, when he looked back at her, and when those damn eyes of his looked into her very soul.
She needed to run away and hide, from him, from herself, but she didn’t think that he’d give her that chance.
Fallon dragged her eyes away from his and starred at his shoulder, because there was no way in hell that she could see around him. The man was that big and his shoulders that wide, that when he was up close and personal; he blotted everything else out.
“Never a bully,” Jamie assured her. “Everything that I will ever do will always have your best interests at heart…”
“Even if I don’t agree?” she muttered back.
“Yes.” Jamie didn’t think twice before he answered. She needed to know the truth of it, and the truth was that he’d die to protect her, even from herself…
“Because you know what’s best for me,” she snorted her contempt for that answer.
“Because I’d rather die myself than let you come to harm,” Jamie did growl that time. A long and hard rumble that rolled through his chest and vibrated against her body.
How could you possibly argue with a man that would die for you?
No, please, let me die first…?
I’m a feminist – I want to throw myself on the grenade first…?
I’m not a feminist – not to the extent where I’d burn my damn bra – I like my bra’s and they really don’t oppress me; they make my breasts fabulous and not floppy…
I like a man to open the door for me…
I like feeling special…
I kick butt with the best of them using magic, but bring me breakfast in bed and I’m happy to be taken care of…
I know, I know, not really feminism, but still…
He’d die for me … it’s in his DNA.
I can’t argue the toss with that one as much as I’d like to.
And trying to talk a shifter out of his protective gene would be like trying to learn to fly after you’ve jumped off of a really big cliff.
Damn it…
“I get that you don’t want me to leave, I do, but you have to understand that I know that vampire and he has a button that – when pushed – doesn’t react well to being told no. I’m that button, and I owe him because of my father…”
“That’s his problem.”
“My problem.”
“My problem now.” Jamie said simply.
What did she think he would say?
Fine – leave?
He was her mate, and it just didn’t work that way for them.
As much as it goaded her into defiance – she had to admit, even if she never said it out loud – it felt good to know that there was someone who had her back.
She’d never really had that before.
Fallon had sometimes gotten the impression that the only reason her father kept her around for all those years was for her magic and what it could do for him. And that was screwed up, and she didn’t want to think that was the case, but Dorothy had only confirmed that gut feeling with what she’d told her about her father.
She’d found her family.
She’d found a mate…
But she had one big ass problem that would dog her until he either got his way or she was dead … unless she took care of the problem right at the source.
Why the hell am I spending my time berating the man who wants to save me – when I should just be spending it killing the vampire that wants to harm me?
I don’t have to dance to Jaxon’s tune if I don’t want to.
That was my father’s deal…
He’s dead and I’m alive, and his sins should have died with him.
I shouldn’t have to spend my life paying for his mistakes.
If I ever want to have a life – a love – and a family in the future then I need to stop being this weak.
I need to stand up for myself.
No more running.
No more working for damn vampire’s.
I need to kill that bloodsucker and get my life back.