Chapter 14 #2
Scanning the patrons, I saw nothing out of place.
They were drinking, laughing, playing darts and pool.
Disappointment and impatience hit me so hard that I rocked back on my heels, nearly shattering the mug in my tightening fist. “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, slamming the mug down to slosh piss-warm beer across the counter.
“Having a bad night?” a man to my left said, scanning me from head to toe. His dark, wiry hair was streaked with gray, tied in a ponytail that hung down his back, his weather-worn skin like leather.
“More like a bad month,” I replied, turning my body to welcome conversation. “Some whack job robbed me. He musta been on something, because he was crazy strong, eyes black, and even bullets didn’t slow him down.”
“Sounds rough,” he agreed, but there was no glimmer of awareness, no suspicion. “PCP maybe?”
“Maybe,” I agreed, sighing as I turned back to the bar. This was a dead end. I should just go back to the car where Uly was waiting for me. My time would be better spent with him, rewarding him for his patience and for letting me drag him around with me all day.
I felt the change in the air the second the front door opened. Heads turned, leers growing on nearly every face in the room, and I didn’t need to turn around and look to know that my precious sin-eater was near.
The guy I’d been talking to had also turned.
It was like they could all smell him, like a ripe fucking peach.
“Damn, baby. You lookin’ to piss off your daddy?
Cause I would love to help you make a few mistakes tonight,” he catcalled, and my whole vision went red.
The only thing stopping me from tearing his head from his body was Uly; I didn’t want him to see just how monstrous I could be.
I snapped an arm out and grabbed the guy by the front of his shirt, hoisting him straight off his stool. “Watch your fucking mouth,” I hissed low enough that only he could hear. “That’s my mate you’re talking to.” Then I dropped him straight to the floor in a heap.
Then without another word, I turned and closed the distance between me and a startled-looking Uly, bent down, and threw him over my shoulder, marching straight back through the bar. I ignored the lecherous ribbing from the others as I slammed through the door and out into the cooling night air.
“I told you to wait in the car,” I growled as I stomped my way to where I’d parked at the far end of the parking lot filled with motorcycles.
“This place is too dangerous. You could’ve been hurt—or worse.
” My blood was pulsing in my temples in violent throbs, not because I was mad at him but because it was becoming increasingly difficult to restrain myself around him.
Acknowledging that he was my mate was only the first step to binding myself to him for all eternity, and I knew he wasn’t ready for that level of commitment.
He needed time and space, but there was no denying I wanted him. Needed him. And if he got hurt again…
He pounded an ineffective fist against my back. “You need me! I took one whiff of that place and knew the demon we’re looking for wasn’t there—had never been there! You should be using my skills, instead of making me sit in the car with the window cracked, like a dog.”
“Lagamal didn’t hire you, he hired me. This isn’t your job!”
“Only because you’re too stubborn to accept a little help,” he snapped.
Even as furious as I was, I set him down gently on his feet beside the car before I glared down at him, willing him to be obedient—even though I could acknowledge how I loved the way he pushed back and challenged me.
“Why can’t you just trust that I know what’s best for you?
” I growled, hating every word that came out of my mouth. I sounded like my father.
He had the good sense not to argue, but instead of the apology I’d hoped to get from him, he asked, “Can you change back? You’re actually pretty intimidating like this, and entirely too tall for this conversation. I’m getting a crick in my neck.”
Huffing a laugh, I shifted back, and he immediately wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in my chest, and my arms closed themselves around him before I could make the decision to do it myself.
“Please let me help,” he murmured against me, his voice muffled. “I won’t get hurt again, I promise.”
I sighed and buried my nose in his hair, breathing him in. “You can’t make that promise.”
“I can!” he insisted, fisting my shirt and tilting his head back to look at me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t fight back like I should’ve, but…
I just froze. She was wearing this school sweatshirt, and I couldn’t stop thinking about her kids.
Wondering how old they were, if they were safe to be home alone, if they were waiting for their mom to get home…
wondering if she even would.” He smiled and gave me a little shrug, then tugged his shirt up so I could see the wounds across his ribs had nearly healed over.
“Look, I’m almost all better now. I heal fast. Don’t forget, I’m not exactly human. I can take a little beating.”
“But I can’t…” I admitted, my voice cracking on the words. “Don’t you get it? It nearly killed me to see you lying there, bleeding, not knowing whether you would live or die. Please don’t put me in that position again.”
“Oh,” he gasped. His face softened as he took in my distress. I might’ve been able to change my appearance, but when it came to Uly, there was no hiding how I felt. I was head over heels for this man, for better or worse. At least my intensity hadn’t scared him off yet.
He tipped up onto his toes and gave me a soft peck on the lips. “Let’s go home,” he said, though he didn’t specify whose home he meant, and I realized it didn’t even matter where we went, home was wherever we were together.