Inarus sighed. “There have been some bumps with repairs.”
“What kind of bumps?” How hard was it to replace floors and slap on a fresh coat of paint? Sure, the door and a few windows needed to be repaired too, but it was all pretty straight forward.
“It’s hard to explain. Do you have time to come by Sanborn Place today?”
I eyed Dia’s comatose body. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there.”
Warm breath caressed my shoulder, and Declan pressed his body against mine as I snapped my phone closed.
“I’m coming with you.” Declan nuzzled my shoulder.
“I figured you’d say that.” I leaned back into him.
“Who was on the phone?”
I rolled my eyes. “As if you couldn’t hear.”
A growl vibrated in his chest.
“You’re going to have to play nice eventually,” I told him.
Inarus and Declan weren’t each other’s biggest fans. It might have something to do with Inarus betraying me, playing a role in a shifter’s death, and then putting the moves on me when Declan considered me his. But that was all water under the bridge now.
If I could move past it, so could they.
Declan only glowered.
Sometimes he was too stubborn for his own good.
2
It took us forty minutes to get from the secluded Pack Compound and into downtown Spokane where Sanborn Place was located.
I rode passenger as Declan drove the Pack’s burnt orange Hummer down the freeway before taking the Lincoln street exit.
“You’ll have to driv—”
I lifted a hand to stop him. “No. I’m not driving this tank on wheels. I have a car. I don’t need to drive yours.” I shivered in my seat. “Besides, it wouldn’t feel right.” Driving this monstrosity of a vehicle would be a slap in the face to my baby.
Declan’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “You’re being unreasonable. You need a car. I’m providing you one.”
“I have a car. My Civic is in the shop. I’ll have it back in a week. Two tops. I’ll be fine until then.”
Inarus had agreed to port me around if I needed to go anywhere, anyway.
Given that we worked together, our destinations usually coincided with one another.
I hated teleporting. It made my skin itch and my insides feel like they were riding a roller coaster from hell, but it definitely cut down on the commute.
Declan growled beside me. He’d been there when Inarus had made the offer. And a small piece of me had gloated when he’d snarled at the suggestion then too.
“Your Civic is dead. It’s not coming back. It’s gone to junkyard heaven and you need to come to grips. Just drive this car on the way home. You’ll like it.”
“No.” I didn’t want to replace my Civic. The mechanic said there was hope. And I was choosing to hold on to it.
Declan made an exasperated noise.
That made two of us.
I didn’t want this orange tank. I wanted my car. My 2010 two-door Honda Civic that I’d had decked out to take on a tank much like this one.
It’d sported quarter inch bulletproof glass, a reinforced frame, and was encased in high mobility armor all the way down to the undercarriage.
It’d been virtually indestructible.
At least until Aiden—one of my mother’s telekinetic henchmen—had used a grinder to cut me out of it after ramming into my car on a deserted street with his truck at high speed.
Now my poor little Civic sat outside the Compound looking like a dilapidated husk of its former self.
But Aiden was dead.
I smiled.
He’d deserved it.
Of course he died only after he’d tried and failed to abduct me. Then succeeded in hiring someone else to abduct me, strapped me down to a cold metal table, and tried to suck my pyrokinetic abilities out of me. But the joke’s on him.
Because instead, I managed to suck his telekinetic abilities out of him and, as I’d expected, pyskers couldn’t survive without their psyker bits and pieces.
Psychokinesis was the core of who and what we were. Try to separate it from our human skins and well… it didn’t work out.
“What if—”
“Nope.” I drummed my fingers along the door with a grin. There wasn’t anything Declan could say to convince me to give up on my car.
And there was that growl again.
I could see the tension in the hard line of his jaw but didn’t bother addressing it. Declan was dominant and protective. He was also possessive and a control freak.
The car might not seem like a big thing. But it was. If I gave him an inch, he’d take a mile.
He wouldn’t mean to. Taking over was a just part of who he was. It was a part of being Alpha. But it was a part of him that would smother me if I let it.
He had to fight the need to dominate and protect me, and he usually managed. But I had to manage expectations in this relationship.
I needed my independence like I needed air to breathe.
I didn’t want to look back one day and realize I was an Alpha’s mate and only an Alpha’s mate.
Most women—especially post Awakening—would welcome his protection with open arms.
I wasn’t most women.
We pulled into the parking garage and Declan turned off the ignition. He released the steering wheel but made no move to get out of the car.
I waited. Whatever he had to say needed to be said, or he’d be insufferable the rest of the day.
I saw a flash of gold in his eyes through my peripheral.
I waited some more.
The gold ebbed, and he shook himself.
“I don’t like him”—here we go—“putting his hands on my mate.”
Here’s what it boiled down to. Jealousy.
“It’s not intimate. He grabs my hand or touches my shoulder, and away we go.”
He was making a bigger deal out of this than it needed to be.
Declan’s upper lip curled, exposing his canines that thankfully hadn’t elongated. Yet.
“I don’t give a shit if it’s intimate. No man, human, shifter, or otherwise, should have his hands on my mate.”
I got that. I did.
If I saw a woman touch Declan, it would make my blood boil too. But I knew the difference between an intimate touch and a casual one.
“I don’t want your car—”
He snarled, and gold flecks filled his irises once more.
I shoved down the immature teenager inside of me that wanted to tell him to fuck off and continued.
I wouldn’t let him control my life. But I knew this was hard for him, and if I could make it easier in some small way without giving in entirely, I would.
“But I’ll use the company car until mine is fixed.”
“You will?” Relief washed over his face.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes, knowing that in a few moments Declan would change his mind.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah. It’ll take me longer to get back home each day, and it increases the risk of my mother’s men tracking me, but it’s not a big deal. I don’t mind the commute, and I can take what she has to throw at me.”
Declan’s brows furrowed, and okay, maybe I hadn’t shoved the immature part of me down far enough, because now Declan was trying to figure out what was more important.
My safety. Or his jealousy of Inarus.
Safety won out.
“Just port with the damned psyker,” he growled.
He opened the driver side door and stepped out.
I hid my smile with the back of my hand.
“You sure?” I followed him to the staircase that would take us to street level and the doors of Sanborn Place. “Because I want you to be comfortable. If Inarus—”
“I’m sure.”
With a wide grin, I slipped my hand into his and walked upstairs.
His grip tightened on min
e for just a moment.
I squeezed back and flicked my eyes toward him.
Heat filled his gaze, and I suddenly had the urge to stop right there on that flight of stairs and haul him down to me.
I didn’t. But that didn’t change the fact that I really wanted to.
“Your emotions are leaking,” I told him and hoped he’d get a lid on it.
The mate bond made two people closer than I’d ever thought possible. It allowed us to experience emotions from one another. And right now I felt lots of hot and sexy things that made my toes curl and a flush rush up my neck.
“We have rules,” I reminded him and ignored the need to fan myself.
As a condition to giving this whole mating thing a go, I’d enacted a six-month no-sex rule. But I was seriously reconsidering that decision.
Visions of our legs intertwined and skin on skin assailed me.
With shifter strength and speed, Declan lifted me off the ground and had my legs wrapped around his waist and my back pressed firmly against the stairwell wall.
He nuzzled my neck and goosebumps broke out over my skin.
God that felt good. So good.
“You said no sex. That doesn’t mean we can’t—”
I gasped.
I braced my hands on his shoulders, but I didn’t know if I meant to push him away or pull him closer.
“Yes. Yes it does.” My voice was breathless, “Because not sex with you will lead to sex with you. Put me down.” My heart hammered in my chest, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to melt into his embrace.
Declan chuckled, and his heat-filled gaze held mine. “You sure?”
No. I definitely was not sure. In fact, I was pretty sure I wanted anything but for him to let me go.
But I didn’t voice that aloud.
Instead I swallowed hard and nodded.
With deliberate slowness, he set me down on my feet.
I straightened my shirt and readjusted the twin daggers I had sheathed at my waist.
I exhaled a deep breath, but it did nothing to slow my racing heart.
Declan looked cool as a cucumber. His Alpha mask back in place and his expression relaxed.
Not fair.
We climbed the remaining steps to the office, and Declan opened the door.
“After you.” Declan’s grin was filled with mischief, and I couldn’t figure out why until I came face to face with three shifters with smug expressions on their faces and a very confused Inarus.
My cheeks burned. Damned shifter hearing.
I turned and smacked Declan on the arm. “Not cool.”
Declan cupped my ass and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Just claiming what is already mine.”
3
Diamond Rock Construction was on site helping Inarus get everything back in order. Between their manpower and his TK abilities, it looked like they were almost done.
Thank God.
The front window and doors had already been replaced. Carpet had been stripped out. And most of the furniture that needed to be removed was set-aside in a pile, leaving the office open and ready for us to bring in new furniture.
“You guys are ahead of schedule.” I scanned the room taking in the new hardwood floors—that I couldn’t afford—and the freshly painted walls that were now a soft seafoam green instead of their original gray.
“You made upgrades.” It wasn’t a question.
But Christian Kennedy—the Diamond Rock Construction contractor—answered it anyway.
“Just a few at Declan’s request. Hardwood floors, new paint, new fixtures on all the doors, and—”
I held up a hand halting him and turned to Declan. “Sanborn Place can’t afford this.”
“They don’t have to. I’ve taken care of—”
“No.” My blood heated. Dammit. I couldn’t believe he did this.
Turning to Inarus, I forced my voice to remain even. “Care to explain? I thought I made myself pretty clear on what was supposed to happen here.”
He sighed and sent a scathing glare toward Declan. “I know. That’s why I called. These are his men. Whose orders do you think they follow?”
I put my hands on my hips. “You and I,” I told Declan, “will discuss this later. And you—” I met Christian’s gaze and held it. Silver flooded his chocolate colored eyes, his beast rising to the challenge, “you are not authorized to do any more upgrades at my place of business. Are we clear?”
The tension in the room thickened, but I refused to look away. Shifters took direct eye contact as a challenge.
Usually I avoided it, if only to prevent their panties from getting in a bunch.
I wasn’t a shifter, and I didn’t follow their customs. But Christian needed to know that I was in charge here.
A growl sounded behind me. Declan. But I still didn’t turn.
Christian’s eyes flicked toward Declan and back again, so fast I almost missed the movement.
Three more seconds passed. His lips curled back exposing a hint of fang.
Bad move, buddy.
My heart rate quickened, and I reached for my daggers. I didn’t want this to get physical, but if that was what his beast needed …
A roar exploded out of Declan that had every one of my hairs standing on end.
Christian took two steps back.
“Are you challenging my mate?”
See? Bad move.
Christian paled. “I … I would never …”
As funny as it was, I didn’t want to get a reputation of Declan having to fight all my battles.
“Stop it.” I turned toward Declan, taking in the fury in his eyes and the lines of tension in his face. “I’m not a shifter. It’s not a challenge just because—”
He narrowed his gold-flecked gaze on me, and I met it.
“See. Not a challenge.” I smiled.
Declan made an exasperated noise. “This isn’t a joke. I can’t allow—”
“It’s nothing. And Christian isn’t going to perform any more upgrades, right?” I raised my brows, and he nodded.
“No ma’am. No more upgrades.”
“Good. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, you can show me what you’ve done and what you have left to do. I want copies of all the receipts. Sanborn Place will pay for all of it.”
Declan tried to speak, but I held my hand up. “No. I won’t take your charity. This is my business. Mine. It is separate from the Pack, and I am wholly responsible for it. If you want to help me, don’t approve upgrades I can’t afford. I won’t accept charity, even from you.”
Declan’s lip curled, but he nodded. Twenty minutes later we’d covered the remaining work list, crossed a few things off of it to save my budget, and made a plan to reopen our doors early next week.
With any luck, business would pick up and things would go back to normal.
Christian and Declan were on the other side of the office discussing something I couldn’t hear when Inarus approached me.
“I’m sorry. I would have called sooner but …”
“It’s fine.”
Inarus stared down at me, his blue-gray eyes piercing. “It isn’t. I didn’t want to cause friction between the two of you. But the list kept growing.” He sighed and ran his hand through his jet black hair.
“You didn’t,” I assured him. “I’m sure this won’t be the last time Declan oversteps. I’m expecting it. And we’ll deal with it every time it happens until it doesn’t anymore.”
“You’re sure you …” Inarus trailed off, and I nodded to his unspoken question.
“I’m sure. We didn’t have the best start, but we’re here now. I know you don’t approve.” I paused and chewed my lower lip, hoping he would refute me, but he didn’t.
“You don’t need my approval. You’re an adult.”
I glared at him “You kinda suck at being a friend, you know that?”
He nudged my shoulder. “Yeah, I’m a work in progress.”
Well, at least he o
wned it.
4
We drove through the Compound gates, our headlights illuminating the road before us and the two women standing at the front doors to the Compound.
“What the hell?” Declan broke off with a curse.
He parked, slammed the door behind him, and stalked toward our unexpected guests.
I followed, though at a much slower and less threatening pace.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. This wasn’t going to be good.
“How did you get past my security?” Declan’s voice was a thunderous roar.
I sighed. No hello. No thanks for coming. Nope, just right into questions and threats.
That really wasn’t the best tone to take with the witches you wanted help from.
“And good evening to you, Declan. Miss Naveed.”
I nodded toward Olivia Fields and gave her daughter, Marcella, a small wave.
She returned it, but when Declan took a threatening step forward, she shifted to hide behind her mother.
Annoyance thrummed through me.
I smacked Declan on the shoulder. “Stop that. You’re scaring her.”
Declan scowled at me, but when I indicated the child, he took a deep breath and two steps back.
Better.
“I’m sorry,” he said to Marcella. “I mean you no harm. Your mother’s visit is … unexpected.” The last word came out with a growl.
She peeked out from behind her mother and gave him a wavering smile, her violet eyes still wide.
Declan crouched down to be eye level with the thirteen-year-old girl.
“What brings you two here tonight?” he asked. His shoulders were relaxed, his expression friendly. I could still feel his agitation through the bond, but he was doing his best to temper it.
Declan had always had a way with children, but I’d assumed it only worked on shifter children. He had a way of making them feel safe and protected.
Nothing could ever hurt them so long as he was around.
But seeing Marcella respond to him, I realized that his comforting presence wasn’t exclusive to shifters.
Her smile broadened, and she moved to stand in front of him, her fear rapidly fading.
She rubbed awkwardly at one arm before glancing at her mother for permission to speak.
Consumed by Fire Page 2