Chapter 11
Venice was furious that Tessa had to deal with her ex on her own. He wished he’d been there to make sure the male knew to steer far clear of her. The male had a lot of nerve showing up and asking Tessa to take him back after what he put her through.
He glanced at his watch and said, “I need to finish my shift. Would you like to ride along with me?”
Her eyes went wide. “Really?”
“Sure. It’s pretty boring here, so mostly we just patrol the town and look for anything out of the ordinary. Most of my day is traffic stops.”
“I’m glad the town is safe,” she said. “Not just because I want to live in a safe area, but so that I know you’re safe when you’re on the job.”
“Well, there have been some dangerous issues in the past,” he said.
“Oh?”
“I’ll tell you all about it in the truck.”
She turned to pick up her purse and then said, “Will you stay the night here?”
“Of course.” He looked at her for a quiet moment, then said, “Because of your ex?”
“Kind of? But also, I really like you being here with me. It makes this place feel more like home.”
His heart clenched. Damn, he was falling for her.
“I’d be happy to.” He looked around the cottage and smiled. “It feels like home for me, too, actually.”
She shouldered her purse and said, “Since we’re truemates, maybe we could talk about making some permanent changes?”
He opened the front door, and she passed by him, her hand squeezing his biceps gently. “Like me moving in here? Or us getting a place of our own together?”
“Yes.”
He laughed at her answering two questions at once.
Pulling the door shut, he said, “I like the cottage. I think it’s perfect and the view is unbeatable.”
He opened the passenger door of the truck, and she sat down. “It’s only been a week. Why does it feel like I’ve known you forever?”
“Because we’re mates.”
“Soulmates.”
“Truemates is what supernatural people call it, but it’s the same thing essentially. If you believe in it, you and I were meant to be together, no matter that I’m a fallen angel and you were not in this state until last week.”
Her eyes were bright and warm, and she looked so beautiful right then, with the afternoon sunlight making her practically glow. “I believe in it. Too many coincidences brought us together for us not to have been fated to be together.”
Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers. “You’re mine, and I’m yours. And I’m the luckiest male in the world to have you in my life.”
She beamed at him as he shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. He glanced at the cottage, seeing it for the first time in a whole new light.
Not just a house, but a home. Full of warmth and love, and maybe children someday.
He’d never envisioned himself as a father; it had been kind of an odd, soft longing in the back of his mind.
For a male who hadn’t even known if he’d get a mate in his lifetime, suddenly he felt like he had everything he’d ever wanted and many things he hadn’t known he’d needed, all wrapped up in the beautiful Tessa.
“So, can I put on the siren?” she asked when he sat behind the wheel.
He pointed to the button. “Hit it.”
The siren chirped, and she let out a giggle. “That was so cool.”
He laughed and put the truck into gear. “It sure was. Ready to patrol?”
“10-4, good buddy.”
While he drove around the town, he told Tessa about the various dangers that had come to town over the last year, starting with a little familiar kitten named Flora, who’d brought a dangerous dark warlock to the area.
Venice and Brody had fought evil wraiths the warlock unleashed to get to the kitten, and in the end had been victorious.
Then dragon Zay had been trying to find his Uncle Rorik, who’d been abducted by warlocks who were draining him of his blood, which was used in dark magic rituals.
“We helped Zay and his clan rescue his uncle and take out the warlocks,” Venice said.
“Wow. So Zay didn’t like Kinsley when they first met because she was a witch, and he didn’t like magic users?”
“Yep. He was quite an ass to her, but eventually, he realized he was holding the bad actions of a few dark magic users against all magic users. I’m glad the dragons came to town, because Sierra and Ronan joined the police force, so it hasn’t been as taxing on Brody and me to patrol all the time.”
“I like the dragons, they’re really nice. It’s comforting knowing that you all have each other’s backs.”
He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “We do, and now you’re part of that too.”
“I’m just human, though. It’s not like I can cast a spell and save someone.”
“It’s not about having magic or being supernatural, it’s just about being there for the people that matter. It doesn’t matter to me that you’re human, and I hope it doesn’t matter to you that I’m supernatural. I heal fast, and I’m stronger than a human, and faster too, but I’m still just a man.”
“A sexy man.”
He glanced at her, and she was grinning.
“You’re sexy too,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter to me that you’re a fallen angel. I’m just glad you’re mine.”
“You’re mine too.”
While he drove, the conversation turned to her ex.
“I didn’t think seeing him again would mess with me, but it did. Not because I miss him, though.”
“Because he hurt you?”
“Because seeing him reminded me how crappy he used to make me feel. I was never good enough; my efforts were always trash in his eyes. I hated how he made me feel small and insignificant, but for some reason, I stayed way longer than I should have. You know the old saying…when someone tells you who they are, believe them.”
“You’re mad at yourself for staying with him as long as you did?”
“Yeah. His cheating was the shock to my system I needed. I hate to think I might never have known what was going on.” She twisted in the seat and rested her head on the back of the seat.
“I think it’s like you said earlier. You didn’t know that what you felt with the woman you fell for wasn’t real until you met me.
Now you know what real emotion, real love, is like.
In a way, I feel like I fell too. I was in some weird lofty place with Evan, and then the truth came at me and cut away all the pretty lies I’d let myself believe.
It’s hard to be stripped bare like that. ”
He hummed in agreement. “I’ll never make you think you’re not enough for me. You’re everything.”
She squeezed his hand tightly. “That means so much to me, Venice.”
A sudden shiver ran down his spine, and he slowed the truck, peering out the side window.
“What?” she asked.
“Something’s off,” he said, scanning the street.
He realized they were near the lighthouse, and the feeling grew stronger as he pulled into the parking lot between the lighthouse and the marina.
His whole body went on alert.
“What’s going on?” she whispered.
He stared out the windshield, and that’s when he saw a lone figure on the end of the dock.
He was out of the truck without a word, racing to the dock where the male pitched forward, his fishing pole dropping to the dock and his arms windmilling uselessly as his feet slipped on the damp boards.
Venice grabbed the male around the waist and hauled him back just moments before he would have tottered right into the water. “I’ve got you,” Venice said.
The male gasped, clinging to Venice. “I got dizzy, and then I couldn’t stop myself. Thank you, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. He kept one steadying hand on the older male and bent down and picked up his fishing pole and small tackle box.
“Is everyone okay?” Tessa asked, hurrying over. She stayed on the lot, not crossing onto the dock.
“I’m fine,” the older male said. Venice recognized him as a local named Bart. “I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, and Jenny warned me that my meds could make me dizzy if I took them without food.”
Venice walked Bart off the dock and handed over the pole and tackle box. “Sweetheart, I’ve got some protein bars in the glove box. Would you go grab one?”
“Sure,” she said, hurrying away.
Venice helped Bart sit on one of the nearby benches.
“You don’t have to stick around,” Bart said.
“Of course I do,” Venice said. “I can’t let you get behind the wheel when you might still be feeling dizzy. The protein bar will help, and Tessa and I will run you home.”
“I don’t want to be a bother, but I’d appreciate it,” Bart said.
Tessa joined them and handed the bar to him. “It’s not a bother at all, it’s what a town like Sable Cove does. Neighbors watching out for neighbors. I’m Tessa, by the way.”
“Bart. You’re the one who moved into the cottage?”
“That I am,” she said. Then she looked up at Venice and said, “You teleported.”
“No, I didn’t,” he said.
“It looked like it, I swear. One second you were behind the wheel, and then you were keeping Bart from somersaulting into the water.”
“I’m faster than a human, and I was really in a hurry.”
He grinned at her and chuckled.
When Bart had finished the bar, Venice drove him home in the patrol truck, with Tessa following in Bart’s old car. After ensuring he was safe in his house with his worried wife trying not to yell at him while they had company, Venice said goodbye to them and walked out to the truck.
“You said it was pretty boring to patrol,” Tessa said.
He laughed. “It usually is! Very boring with small moments of excitement.”
“That was hardly a small moment.”
“Bart’s okay, and that’s what matters, though.”
She shook her head with a smile. “The way you moved. You didn’t hesitate for a second. You really are a guardian angel.”
He swallowed. “Fallen.”
“Still an angel,” she said. “Wings or not.”
The words hit him harder than he expected. “It’s hard not to just always think about what I lost. Not what I still am.”
He’d spent a long time thinking he was forever broken and incomplete. But being with Tessa made him feel whole.
“I just see you.”
He turned and drew her close, his whole body warming and his heart hammering in his chest. “Mine,” he said simply, and then he kissed her, pouring all his feelings into the kiss.
He was happy. For the first time ever.
And he was falling hard for the beautiful human who’d single-handedly healed the broken parts of him, seen and unseen.
“Take me home, Venice,” she whispered, panting for breath when the kiss was finished.
“I was thinking the same thing.”