Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Dakvaar
I’d spent the rest of Sunday staring at the walls of my home.
Don’t get me wrong; it was a very nice home, one I’d designed myself, with huge picture windows that showed gorgeous views of the Colorado mountains I’d grown up in, a world away. It was organized and precise, and my sanctuary…but the walls weren’t that interesting.
It’s just that, after spending Sunday morning with the most precious kitling, and then leaving her and her mother because that’s what was necessary to keep from becoming a bother to them, nothing I could do seemed remotely interesting.
I wandered from room to room in my house, picking up several books and putting them back down when I couldn’t concentrate. When I realized I was thinking about how I would change the furniture to fit Sofia and Rosa into my life, I knew I had to do something.
So I cleaned the entire house, top to bottom.
Who knew there were that many baseboards in the place?
Whenever my Kteer began to growl, urging me to take action, to go back to the café and claim Sofia as my Mate, I scrubbed harder, until my back ached, my knees were sore, and the damned baseboards gleamed.
Next, I cleaned the air vents and the blinds in the two smaller bedrooms—one had a guest bed, and one was my library.
My bedroom and the main den didn’t have blinds, because I preferred to allow nature in, even in the winter.
In fact, Sunday afternoon I had quite a few windows open, because when my breath was fogging the air, at least it was too cold to get a hard on.
By the time the sun set, and I was ready to for dinner—despite my sweet tooth, I did try to eat healthy on the weekends, and tonight was grilled salmon—I was tired and sore and irritable, although I could probably blame my Kteer for that last part.
So after dinner, I poured myself a large glass of wine and went out to the back porch.
Here was my favorite part of the house: a special-order hot tub, large enough to fit my frame.
I brushed the snow away from the candles ringing the porch railing and lit them, then stripped out of my clothing and climbed in, sighing in almost-contentment as the hot water closed over my aching muscles.
I rested my head on the cushions and locked my gaze on the mountains, their snow gleaming white in the moonlight.
I was halfway through an audiobook I could queue up to listen to out here, but it just didn’t seem right tonight.
I shifted, allowing one jet to connect with my lower back, and had a flash of Sofia out here.
Sofia, smiling shyly as she stepped into the water with me. Holding my hand, shivering in delight. Her nipples pebbling in the cold—would they be large, to match the size of her breasts? Would their color match her lips?
My mouth pooled with saliva, and my palms itched to trace her delicious curves.
With a groan, my hand closed around my cock, stroking it slowly beneath the water.
Sofia, here in my hot tub. Sofia, in my home, in my space. Allowing me to care for her, allowing me to provide for her.
Mate.
In the hours I’d spent with Rosa, she’d never mentioned a father or a male in Sofia’s life. I hadn’t asked; I didn’t want to take advantage of the trust both females were showing in me. But the knowledge gave me hope.
Hope that, if I was patient enough, my dream of sharing all this with my Mate might become a reality.
But Sofia was clearly skittish. I couldn’t scoop her up and carry her off to my cave like a beast of old. I needed to tread carefully. My patience and control would pay off.
They had to.
In the meantime, it was stupid to sit here in the darkness and jerk my cock. I forced my hand away, curling my fingers into fists until I felt the sting of claws against my palm, and focused on the flames of the candles.
Patience, I told myself. Control.
Both had always worked well for me before. I would learn what I could of my Mate, gently swaying her to see me as an option for her future, and I would woo her with gifts and kindness and doting. My Kteer and my cock could stand to wait however long it would take.
I just had to hope my heart would as well.
Despite the soak in the hot tub, I didn’t sleep well that night either, and I was up early on Monday. I knew the team would badger me about how haggard I looked. Well, Kardok and Torrk most definitely would; Bardon would just eye me worriedly, because that was his job.
They’d all guessed by now, I suspected. I only had to look in a mirror to see the way my eyes were glowing; the same way Kardok’s had last summer when he’d refused to acknowledge Lila was his Mate.
With nothing better to do, I decided to go to the café early. Rosa wouldn’t be there, and Mondays were Sofia’s busy days, but perhaps I could draw her into a conversation.
Bramblewood’s Ice Festival was approaching; maybe I could find a way to hint I’d like to take her and Rosa there. Surely the kitling would enjoy the fried treats, and I would like to show her mother the sculptures.
I parked my truck at the rink and began my usual walk toward Second Avenue. But the closer I got to the Sunrise Café, the more uncomfortable my Kteer grew, until the damned thing was howling in my chest.
Something was wrong.
Something was wrong with Sofia.
My pace increased until I was almost running toward the café. I turned the corner, and her scent hit me.
Fear. Blood. Sofia.
My Kteer howled with rage at being confined, and I hurtled forward.
Only to screech to a stop on the salt-covered sidewalk as she stumbled around the corner of the café, from the rear parking lot. She wasn’t looking at me, but over her shoulder, and in that moment, I felt my heart freeze.
One side of her face was swollen, already turning a sickening greenish-purple. There was blood on her mouth, and she cradled her arm as if it had been hurt. She stunk of vomit and terror and pain, and my careful constraint?
It vanished.
I was reaching for her when she ran smack into me, and when my hands closed around her arms and she shrieked and began to struggle, I knew she wasn’t fully aware of her surroundings.
“Sofia! Dkaar, who did this to you?”
She turned horrified eyes up on me, and I saw the moment she recognized me, because they filled with sudden tears and she slumped, her relief obvious. My hands were shaking, and I tried to be gentle when I pulled her against me.
“Who did this to you?” I whispered harshly, knowing I’d lost that control and patience I was famous for. “Sofia—”
I smelled the cigarette smoke before I saw him; a tall, dark-haired human male sauntering around the corner of the brick wall, everything about him oozing confidence. Against my chest, my Mate whimpered and pressed closer to me, and my Kteer howled in rage.
Especially when the male pulled the cigarette from his lips and sneered at me. “Get your hands off my wife, animal.”
Her blood was on his knuckles.
I snapped.
One moment I was holding Sofia in the middle of the street, and the next, I was standing between her and this monster, my hands thrown out to the side, claws extended.
Determined to protect her.
The bastard had the balls to actually take a step forward, reaching into his jacket as he did so.
I threw back my head, opened my mouth so my tusks sprang free, and roared, “Mine!”
Then as he pulled a gun from a shoulder holster, I surged forward and slammed into him.
I didn’t punch him; this wasn’t that kind of fight.
I merely hauled back and hit him, feeling his nose crunch beneath my blow, my claws drawing blood down his cheek.
He flew backward, hitting the brick wall with a thud.
“Mine!” I roared again, but his eyes had rolled back in his head, and I knew he wasn’t going to bother either of us for a few minutes.
So, my Kteer still howling for blood, I forced myself not to rip the male’s head off, and I turned back to Sofia.
She’d sunk down to the ground, and when I approached her, she whimpered and shied away, huddling around her hurt arm. My heart clenched at the realization I’d scared her, and I forced myself to gentle my expression as I squatted beside her.
“Let me help you, dkaar,” I rasped, unable to soften my words any further, not with the rage pumping through my veins. “Please. You need to get away from here.”
From him.
I saw her dark eyes flicker past me, to the place where her attacker had fallen. She shuddered once, then nodded without looking up at me, and I told myself it was enough.
As carefully as I could, I scooped her up, taking comfort in the way she settled in my arms and pressed her face against my shoulder. I turned us toward the Bramblewood Ice Complex, I felt her silent tears soaking through my coat, and I began to run.
Mine.
The doors of the Bramblewood Ice Complex slid open with a hiss, and I stalked inside, Sofia still cradled against my chest. The scent of ice and disinfectant hit me, familiar and grounding, but it did nothing to calm the storm inside me.
My Kteer was practically a living thing, clawing at my ribs, demanding I turn back and finish what I’d started with that male.
But Sofia needed help. Now.
I didn’t bother with the front desk. I knew the layout of this place better than my own home.
My boots pounded against the polished concrete as I took the hallway at a run, my breath coming in sharp bursts.
The medical wing was just past the locker rooms, and I prayed to whatever gods were listening that someone was already here.
The door was unlocked. I shouldered it open so hard it banged against the wall, and the two females inside—Dr. Martha Ross, the team’s nurse practitioner, and Teresa, the physical therapist—both jerked their heads up in alarm.
Martha was the first to react. She was human, but she’d been working with orcs long enough to know the difference between a male in a rage and a panicked one.
Her gray brows shot up, but she didn’t flinch. “Dakvaar? What the—?”