Chapter Thirty Eight-A Hot Second

I woke up alone nearly just about every morning these days. Every day brought more responsibility for the both of them, so I kept my end of the deal and made things a little easier on the homefront by staying out of the way.

Every moment we were together ended up in some kind of sexual activity, and that’s hardly a way to run a territory.

I warned the front gate that there would be a delivery this afternoon, and I stood before that television and tried to figure out how to get it off the wall.

When the doorbell rang, I looked back over my shoulder and rubbed the itch from my nose. “Come on in, Shawn.”

The gallery owner looked around before he stopped at the edge of the living room. “Do you have some help?”

My head shook, and I turned to face him. “No, never.” I crossed my arms and sighed as I leaned against the doorway.

This was the first person I met here that didn’t rub me the wrong way, and even though I just met him, I knew I’d miss him. “So, where you running off to when you leave me today?”

His hands shoved into the pockets of his khaki pants, and he shrugged. “Not really sure. I’m thinking Florida. Somewhere pretty and warm.” His brows shifted as he rolled his eyes at my husbands’ bachelor décor. “I don’t really have any family or anything, but that money should get me started off somewhere.”

I bent my finger and headed to the kitchen. “Come with me.”

After digging through the junk drawer, I scribbled an address down on a scrap of paper, then tucked it into his pocket. “You got people now.”

I tapped my fingers on his chest. “That man at that address will be expecting you. Don’t even worry about a thing; he’ll take of you.” I pushed the tears from my eyes and shook my head. “Not all of our kind are like they are here. I promise; you’ll love it there.”

It wasn’t unusual for them to be home late anymore, but I usually got a barrage of ‘I love you’ texts and phone calls. I didn’t even bother making dinner since their mother was always happy to wait on her children. I was already asleep for a few minutes when my phone lit up, and I squinted at the screen and saw it was Jacob. ‘Stay put. I’ll be there in a few minutes.’

I wasn’t a fan of sleeping alone anymore, and when I texted him back, I made sure he knew it. ‘I’m already in bed. Where the fuck are you?’

I heard the door open and figured it was him. The service here in the mountains is garbage, and it wouldn’t be the first time I didn’t get a message right away.

The house was silent except for the slow creaking of the stairs leading to my room. The light changed across the wall as I felt the floor bend underneath his feet as he crept towards me, but when the hand grabbed my hair up into it, I knew immediately who it was.

I slapped and clawed as Logan pulled me from bed and across the floor until he straddled me in the hall. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

His eyes were the most horrible shade of topaz, and his hand covered my throat. Strings of saliva came from between his sharp teeth as the man in him tried to keep control of the beast fighting to come through to harm me. His face was fiery red, and tears poured down his cheeks and dripped to my lips. “You fucking whore.”

A hand slammed into the wall behind my head, and he lowered himself to my face. “Why aren’t I ever enough for you?”

His grip on me grew tighter and tighter, and I hissed through my teeth. “You got about a hot second to get the fuck off me. That’s your only goddamn warning.”

He leaned into my ear, and his fingertips dug into my neck. “I’d kill you before I’d let someone else have you.”

My demons hung in the air above me watching, and as my eyes grew darker, I gave them a wink. They pierced through the veil that covered this world, and it sucked the air from the room as they pulled Logan into the darkness of the bedroom with them and slammed the door shut.

I’d faced down many scary men in my short life, but as I hobbled down the stairs, I heard the door open and realized I’d underestimated the Alpha.

I froze until I heard the rumble start deep inside him. Up to and including this moment, I thought I loved Logan, if that’s even possible for someone like me. But I know he meant to hurt me, so fuck him.

My hand was on the banister, and I swung my legs over the side and landed on the wood floor below. Still, he was on me before I made it to the foyer, and his massive arm slapped me to the floor.

Crawling backward across the carpet away from him, the shifter cracked his neck, and in the moonlight that came from the window, I saw the monster that took me that night on the couch. “Baby, don’t make do this.”

I heard the snap of his bones and the haunting wail of the beast changing before my eyes, and I moved my feet beneath me as I pushed my hands into the floor.

His rounded back and massive chest heaved up and down as his feet brought him to circle me, and I realized then he was readying his attack. I had no choice. I raised my hand to him and said the spell. “Tu reo Lycan.”