Chapter Eleven
Dax
Oh, she tells you what I’ve been telling you for the last six months and now it makes sense. I’ve been given to a dumbass! My animal bemoans inside my head, but I ignore him to focus on Myra in my arms.
Having this woman in my arms feels like coming home.
Her lips meld to mine and my heart is lost to her.
My need for her feels like it will consume me from the inside out.
If I didn’t know she was my mate already I would know it now.
It feels like the last piece of my puzzle has snapped into place, completing my soul.
I couldn’t walk away from her now if I tried, not that I want to.
When I pull back, we are both breathing hard.
Her lust-filled eyes meet mine and the temptation to kiss her again is overwhelming.
There is something in the back of mind telling me I need to go slow, but my body rebels against the idea.
Chase gave me a whole speech about how humans need patience; they don’t feel the pull like shifters do.
Right now, looking into her eyes, seeing the want there, I find that hard to believe.
She’s ours, make her ours already! Fuck Chase and his patience bullshit. We don’t need his permission to do shit.
“Oh my God, will you shut the fuck up already!” I don’t mean to yell out my response, but I’m distracted by how good Myra feels in my arms and my concentration slips. Myra looks at me in confusion.
“I...I didn’t say anything.” She stumbles out looking too cute with a wrinkle on her forehead.
“Sorry, not you, the dipshit that lives inside me. He won’t shut up about claiming you. Shit I shouldn’t have said that either. Forget I mentioned it.” When she pushes against my chest, I know she can’t forget what I just said. Letting her slide out of my arms leaves me feeling cold on the inside.
Good job dumbass, you’ve fucked it up completely. Shut the fuck up! You’re the reason we fucked it all up. If you weren’t pushing me to claim her, I wouldn’t have slipped up.
“That’s not going to work for me Dax. You can leave.” She turns to go back inside and my heart stutters thinking I might have lost my chance with her.
“Let me explain, please.” I plead, grabbing her hand to stop her progress. When she turns there are tears in her eyes and I’m gutted knowing I put them there.
“You don’t need to explain anything to me Dax, that’s just it.
I am nothing to you, therefore you are under no obligation to me whatsoever.
” Her voice is filled with sadness and hearing her say she is nothing to me causes something inside me to snap.
I can’t lose her, without her I will be incomplete, it will destroy me from the inside out.
Before I can think better of it, I drop to my knees in front of her, clutching onto her hands like a toddler to their mother.
“That’s not true Myra, it’s not. You’re the exact opposite of nothing to me.
You deserve for me to explain anything and everything to you.
I’m not hiding anything from you, I swear.
” I beg her to understand. Pulling her hands out of mine she crosses her arms over her chest, cocks her hip, and gives me a look that says she doesn’t believe a thing I’m saying.
You’re fucking this up, let me out, I’ll fix it. Yeah, because letting you bite and claim her will make things so much better. Not only will she hate us for turning her into a tiger, we won’t even get a taste of her pussy before she does.
Because your method is clearly working on making that happen. He snarls back at me. Fuck off asshole.
Standing back up I decide my best course of action is to explain everything to her.
It will be like ripping off a Band-Aid, it might hurt for a little while, but at least it will over quickly.
She will either accept me, or hate me, but I will at least know one way or the other.
Who am I kidding if she hates me, I’ll be destined to be alone for the rest of my life.
Then again if she accepts me then we can live happily ever after like Chase and Alia are.
Closing my eyes I take a fortifying breath and motion for her to go inside.
“Let’s do this then. I won’t have you thinking you mean nothing to me.” I say, placing a guiding hand on her back as we make our way inside. There aren’t many options for places to sit and she gives me an apologetic look.
“Sorry, I was going shopping today for some furniture. It was...it was one of the lists I made. That’s what I was doing when you arrived, drinking my coffee and making my lists.
” She blushes as she points to the lists, like she’s embarrassed she made lists.
Alia brags all the time about how organized Myra is, so I don’t understand why she would feel embarrassed.
“I need to start making lists, I’m constantly forgetting things I need to get done.
Chase is always on my ass reminding me of the things I need to get done.
Maybe if I made lists, I wouldn’t have him on my ass as much.
Although he might miss my ass then.” I tell her with a chuckle, hoping it will make her feel less embarrassed.
I’m rewarded by a soft smile on her lips giving me hope she’s not already lost to me.
“I’m pretty sure he would just find something else to be on your ass about.
I think that’s what a big brother is supposed to do.
Although Alia’s brothers don’t do that to her.
Then again, we are talking about Alia, she would probably eat them alive if they tried.
” This time she chuckles, her eyes on the floor, her foot shuffling back and forth.
I have to put my hands behind my back and to keep from reaching for her.
Every part of my being wants to touch her.
“You’re probably right, on both accounts.
” I chuckle in return. When she looks up at me expectantly her eyebrow raises, and I realize it’s now or never.
This is either going to hurt like hell or give me everything I want.
The self-preservation part of my brain says run, but the part of my brain that needs her stands firm.
“You look like you’re about to meet the Grim Reaper.” She says giving me an encouraging smile to proceed.
“You’ll understand why when I’m done explaining things to you.
” Taking a deep breath I start from the beginning.
“Our kind are ruled by fate when it comes to choosing a partner for life. Fate decides who we are meant to spend the rest of our lives with. We first recognize them by their scent; it’s a scent that only their fated mate can smell.
Like they are the perfect combination of their favorite scents all wrapped into one person.
Then when they touch it is like puzzle pieces are snapping together, fitting perfectly.
” Myra lets out a tiny gasp at my explanation and her eyes grow wide.
Did she feel the connection when we touched?
Was she affected by me as much as I was affected by her?
An ember of hope flickers inside me that she might be feeling even a tenth of what I feel for her.
“When we met in the parking lot...” She hesitates to finish her question, like she’s afraid of the answer, but I nod in response.
“Yes, I scented you as soon as your door opened. No, it wasn’t a chance meeting with your door. Yes, you are my mate. No, I won’t force you into anything you don’t want. Yes, that is why I was overprotective of you.” I blurt everything out and watch her face as so many emotions go through her.
“But...but...but we only just met. You can’t already have this bond with me, you can’t.
It’s not possible.” I can hear the fear in her voice as she protests what I’ve told her.
This is why Chase wanted me to be patient.
Shifters know right away, but humans need more time to grow a bond.
I haven’t even got to what it would mean for her to be claimed and she’s already freaking out.
Good job dumbass. You’ve fucked it up completely. Fuck you, asshole. You think you can do better. I shouldn’t have said that; I shouldn’t have taunted him. I can feel the change coming on fast.
“Myra run.” I grunt out, dropping to my knees. He’s coming and I can’t stop him. This has never happened before, but we’ve never had a mate before either. I know what he’s planning, but I can’t stop him. Myra is frozen in fear looking at me as I try to hold my control.
“Oh my God Dax what’s happening?” She asks, as a growl erupts from my mouth. I’m losing control and I don’t know how much longer I can keep him from escaping my body.
“Myra...please...run.” I groan out a plea as my body starts to buckle. Whatever she sees on my face has her moving with lightning speed, grabbing her purse and bolting for the door. I’m barely aware of anything else as my body implodes and I become my other self.
My tiger stretches his whole body, as though he has been cramped in a small space for too long. Which is bullshit, I just changed, he shouldn’t be demanding control right now.
Well, you were too much of a pussy to claim our mate. Fuck you, she’s human we can’t claim her without her permission. You know that.
Instead of responding to me he saunters around Myra’s home sniffing everything he can get his nose in like he owns the place.
There is no urgency in his movements, like he has all the time in the world.
He wanted my body so he could claim Myra, but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush to go after her.
With any luck Myra would be long gone before he makes it outside.
My heart plummets when I see Myra stomping back into the house like a woman on a mission. I can feel my tiger smiling in triumph.
“You’re being a very bad kitty!” Myra grits out standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips like some avenging angel.
My tiger lets out a low growl in response.
Inside my heart is hammering, wishing I could tell her to run again, to get as far from my tiger as possible.
Doesn’t she realize she’s in danger. If I was in my human form, I would give her a damn spanking for not listening to my warning.
“Alia says if I’m your mate you can’t hurt me.
Well, you’re hurting me by taking over Dax’s body.
Give him back his body right this minute!
” She commands, stomping her foot for emphasis.
My tiger chuffs out a laugh and Myra’s eyes pinch together like little daggers glaring down at him.
I’m expecting her to scream or stomp her feet some more, instead she slides down the wall and starts to sob.
Face in her hands, body shaking violently sobbing.
My tiger darts his head around like he’s looking for help, he’s not equipped to handle crying females.
Just as suddenly as he took my body, he gives it back and I scream out in pain at the suddenness as my bones and joints reconfigure themselves too fast.
“Motherfucker!” I yell out, collapsing onto the wooden floor in a heap. My body is filled with pins and needles as I groan out in pain. Changing from human to beast and back again in such a short amount of time has never happened to me before.
“Oh good, he let you change back.” My head jerks up at the sound of Myra’s voice. Her face is free of tears and there’s a ghost of a smile on her lips.
Motherfucker! She tricked me. He says, respect and awe of her in his voice. I can’t help the laugh that escapes me at the realization of what Myra has done.
“You’re naked.” Myra says matter-of-factly as she ducks her head, but I don’t miss the mischievous grin on her lips before she does.
She stood before my tiger and did the impossible, she pulled him off his desire to claim her.
My brave mate just faced my beast confidently and made him obey her demands.
That she did, that she did. I think we’ve met our match. For once I don’t have a word of argument for him, it shocks us both. Fate has given me my perfect match, the one who came tame my beast, and I couldn’t be happier.
“Yeah, that happens when I change. Usually, I have time to take my clothes off beforehand, but this time the asshole...” I shrug, as I stand up, leaving the sentence unfinished.
She saw me struggle against his control, she knows I didn’t want to change, no need to explain the situation.
Myra gasps, my head jerks up, and my body tenses looking for the source of her distress.
When I look back at her I realize what has caused the problem.
Her eyes are zeroed in on my crotch, with all my glory just hanging out in full display.
Shifters are used to nudity, we live half our lives being naked, but having Myra stare at my dangly bits makes me feel something I’ve never felt before, self-conscious.
Covering myself with my hands I look around frantically for something, anything to help.
Seeing a towel on the kitchen counter I grab it, as I hear Myra giggling behind me.
The towel is no better than a loin cloth as I place it in front of my dangly bits.
Myra covers her mouth to contain her laughter.
“I don’t think that helps much.” She punches out as she bends over cackling like a maniac.
“I’m so glad I can give you entertainment, at least if you’re lying you aren’t crying.
Oh wait, you weren’t even doing that.” I tease as I make my way toward her bathroom, hoping she has something in there that will work better to cover myself.
“Nice job by the way, he’s rather impressed with you now. ”
“Thank you, thank you. I was in theater in high school.” She says curtseying as though she just performed on stage. Damn she’s fucking cute.
Making it into her bathroom I rifle through her cabinet.
I find a bath towel that looks like it might work for what I’m needing and wrap it around my lower half.
It’s not big enough to tie so I must hold it together with my hand as I make my way out of the bathroom.
I’m greeted by Myra’s laughter as I leave the bathroom.
“Hey, it’s the best I can do until I get out to my truck and grab my emergency change of clothes.
Although until today I haven’t needed to use it.
That’s your fault by the way, if you weren’t such a temptation for my tiger to claim that wouldn’t have happened.
” I smile teasingly at her, so she knows I’m not truly angry.