Anna rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not stupid, son. That’s why the camera is outside. He’s not likely to have entered the salon as a polar bear, now is he?”
Alex shrugged sheepishly. “I guess not.”
“The feed gets sent to my laptop,” she told him. “I’ll burn a copy of the footage onto a DVD and drop it off later.” She looked around the salon and sighed. “I’d been meaning to drop by for a haircut. I’d heard good things about the place.”
Felix looked around, a lump forming in his throat.
Leo patted his shoulder. “We’ll get the forensic stuff done this morning, Felix. After that, you can get the place straightened up.”
He nodded. The salon needed major repairs and it would take a long time. That kind of delay could kill his business. His clients would need to find somewhere else to get their hair styled, and if they liked their new hairdresser, there was no guarantee they’d come back.
“So, I say we meet back here about 2pm,” Katie suggested.
Felix looked at her.
Katie grinned at him. “Did you really think we would leave you to clean up by yourself? Dad was by earlier and said he’d fix the plumbing for you. Tell him which sinks you want installed and he’ll handle it. Mum called cousin Ellie and asked her to sort out the electrics. The rest of us can handle everything else.”
“We can get this place sorted in no time,” Anna said, looking around.
“Thank you,” he choked out.
The salon began to empty, everyone talking about what they could do to help. Before long, it was just him and Sara.
His mate sniffled a little and raised her head to look at him.
“I’m so sorry, Felix,” she said. “This is my fault.”
He laid a finger on her lips. “No, sweetheart. It isn’t. You didn’t ask for any of this. There’s only one person to blame for this and you know it.”
“This happened because of last night,” she insisted.
He shrugged. “Totally worth it.” It was. He would have paid any price to have Sara as his mate, even his salon. Maybe even his fabulous hair, although he really, really didn’t want to test that.
She stared at him, her expression adorably confused.
He smiled. “Definitely worth it.”
Chapter 13
There was no one home.
Snarling, Ryan kicked a plant pot. He had hoped that the overgrown kitty cat would have gone to check out his precious salon and left Sara home alone. Instead, the house appeared empty. Sara must have gone with him.
He smiled to himself. He’d made sure his wayward mate would be able to scent him all over the salon and know that she had caused this with her appalling behaviour.
At first, he had been furious when he had felt the mate bond snap, knowing immediately what it meant. His rage had lasted for an hour before his mind had cleared enough to think. At which point, he’d headed for Felix’s salon, determined to make the pussy cat pay for stealing his mate. Satisfaction warmed him as he recalled the damage he’d done.
Eventually, when he’d run out of things to break, his mind had cleared further, leading him to a startling conclusion. It was so simple that he couldn’t believe he’d never thought of it. He didn’t care about being mated to Sara. It actually wasn’t necessary. Now that he realised it, he didn’t know why he’d ever allowed himself to be tied to the filthy half-breed in the first place.
No, he didn’t need Sara. He just needed her to give him cubs. A mate bond wasn’t strictly necessary for that. All he needed to do was get the bitch pregnant. He didn’t need to break her bond with the lion, and wasn’t sure it was even possible. It didn’t matter. He just needed to get his hands on Sara and keep her long enough to make sure she carried his young. If it came to the worst, and he had to let her go, he would come back for his offspring later. It shouldn’t be that hard to snatch a cub. He might even be able to repeat the whole exercise again. Maybe a few times.
This way, he got to continue his family line without being bound to the inferior woman. Which left him free for any pure blood polar bears he could find. Sure, he hadn’t found one yet, but there were bound to be some. They couldn’t all be polluting their blood lines like Sara’s family. How stupid could she be? With an abomination like her freaky mutant sister, you’d think she’d have learned her lesson about crossing species lines. Yet she still shacked up with a lion. His lip curled in disgust.
Yes, perhaps she did him a favour. Now he could have his cubs without embarrassing himself with such a pathetic mate.
He just needed to play this carefully.
Striding away from the house, he whistled to himself, already making new plans. Everything he wanted was still within his reach.
Chapter 14
Sara dragged another bag of rubbish to the door, almost stumbling under its weight.
“Here.” The bag suddenly got a little lighter as Felix helped her take it outside. Stepping back into the salon, they looked around. The place was so packed with volunteers that they could hardly move. Felix’s dad was installing new sinks. Ellie, another of Felix’s scarily large extended family, was working on the electrics. The water damage hadn’t been as bad as they’d feared, causing no lasting problems. Most of the previous afternoon had been spent clearing out the broken equipment and cleaning up. It had taken hours to get rid of the stench of Ryan. Sara shuddered.
“You okay?”
She looked up to see Felix watching her.
Snuggling into his side, she smiled up at him. “Yeah. I’m good.” She looked around. “I’m amazed at how many people turned up.”
“Most are family,” he said, watching as Katie and Harley got into a slap fight. They were finally broken up by their parents, their mother grasping one of Katie’s ears and their father doing the same to Harley.
“Just how big is your family?” she asked, suddenly a little nervous. He seemed to have numerous siblings and cousins, making it difficult to keep track. Every day, yet another name was casually tossed out and the term ‘cousin’ applied to it.
“Umm, fairly large,” he hedged. Oh, that couldn’t be good.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Well, just the one sister and four brothers,” he said. “Dylan, Jackson, Aiden, Harley, and Katie. Plus a few aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s not like there’s enough of us to populate a country or anything.”
“Seems like it sometimes,” Ellie said as she passed by. “Especially when that lot are involved.” She nodded her head toward Felix’s siblings. “Always seems like there’s a lot more of them than there actually are.”
Sara giggled.
Others had turned up too. Alex and Tara were pitching in like everyone else. Alex’s mother was keeping everyone in line, but was also doing her fair share of work. Ethan and Dana were painting the walls. It was a little chaotic, everyone working at the same time, rather than focussing on one job at a time, but somehow it worked.
A ringing noise interrupted his thoughts, and he noted Ethan dig his phone out of his pocket.
“Hunter,” he said.
Leo snickered. “Alex asked him to stop doing that.” Sure enough, Alex was shooting an exasperated glance at Ethan.
“Stop doing what?” Sara asked, confused.
“Calling himself Hunter,” Leo explained. “He’s hoping it catches on, but nobody else calls him that.”
“It’s not his name?” she asked.
Leo laughed. “No. He just thinks it would be a cool nickname. I believe it’s short for ‘Mighty Hunter of Bad Guys’ but that was a bit long to remember, so he shortened it to Hunter. He thinks he should be called that in recognition of his hunt for the Shifter Stalker.”
“He didn’t catch him though,” Sara pointed out. “Tara told me it was Dana’s brothers who took him out.”
“I would have caught him,” Ethan insisted, coming to stand beside them. “And they took him out by accident, so it does
n’t count. Which is why Dana said I could have the next bad guy.” He looked hopefully at Sara.
“Mine!” Katie called from where she had Harley in a headlock.
Sara shrugged. “Sort it out between you.”
“Any news?” Leo asked Ethan.
Ethan scowled. “The video surveillance clearly shows Ryan entering the salon, so we’ve got him for this. Not to mention the DNA from his bodily fluids.”
Sara let out a breath, sagging against Felix in relief. He wrapped his arm tighter around her, nuzzling at her hair.
“Have they picked him up?” Felix asked.
“No, not yet,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “They haven’t managed to find him yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Still, in the meantime, you should be careful to stay out of his way.”
“Not a problem,” she muttered.
The day passed quickly, the company and the hard work exhausting. Where did Felix’s family get all that energy? Sara was dead on her feet, barely aware of where she was and what she was doing.
“Hey, I think we should get you home,” Felix said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead. “Before you fall asleep standing up.”
Too tired to even argue, she allowed him to steer her out to the car and settle her into the passenger seat. The next thing she knew, he was lifting her out of the car and carrying her into the house. Vaguely, she realised that it was his house rather than hers, but she was too tired to care. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she relaxed and let sleep take her.
***
Felix stretched lazily, careful not to jostle his sleeping mate. His body was still a little tired and sore from the amount of work he’d been doing to repair his salon. Hopefully it would be complete soon and then he would get his business up and running again.
Sara snuggled into his side and he wrapped an arm around her, enjoying the feel of his mate lying next to him. They hadn’t had much time together since they’d mated. The last two days had been spent working hard in the salon, and by the time they got home, they were too tired to do anything except collapse into bed to sleep. They would have to make some time to relax and do something fun together.
Sara’s body jerked a little as she woke, but this time she didn’t pull away.
“It’s just me,” he assured her, stroking her hair as she relaxed into him.
“I know,” she whispered. “There’s just that moment when I first wake up… It’ll take time to get used to you being there.”
“We have plenty of time,” he said, letting the strands of her hair slide through his fingers. She did have very nice hair. Not as fabulous as his, of course, but then nobody had hair as great as his.
Her leg slid over him, the skin silky smooth, and she rested her hand on his chest, absently tracing symbols on him.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She grinned up at him. “I’m writing my name on you.” Leaning down, she kissed his chest, her lips brushing him gently. She repeated it, pressing little butterfly kisses on his skin, working her way down, until her breath danced over his straining cock.
“I believe we have some unfinished business,” she said, smiling up at him.
Swallowing hard, he nodded, not trusting himself to speak. It had only been a few days ago that they’d been in this position and were then interrupted by Alex.
She kissed the very tip of him, licking around the head and humming to herself in pleasure. Felix threw his head back and gritted his teeth, trying desperately to remain in control. His lion pushed to the front of his mind, wanting to flip Sara over and drive into her, to secure their mating bond by taking her over and over until she knew beyond any doubt that she was his. Felix remained in control, knowing that he couldn’t do that to his mate. Sara had been traumatised, and although she was doing remarkably well, he knew she needed control to feel safe. His lion would just have to accept that for now. Perhaps someday, Sara would have recovered enough to allow him to be more dominant in sexual play, but he wouldn’t rush her. Sara was his mate, the most important person in his world, and he’d be with her in any way he could. Even if she always had to be in charge.
Her lips slid over him, taking him into her warm, wet mouth, and a groan escaped from him. He felt her smile around him as she sucked gently, one of her hands grasping his base, the other sliding down to caress his balls. He twitched a little, only narrowly stopping himself from thrusting into her mouth. His hand found the top of her head, stroking her hair, but not grabbing it. Careful not to control her movements and keeping his hold loose, he cupped the back of her head as she lapped and sucked at him.
It was too much, too good, and he wasn’t going to last for long. She hummed as she took him deeper, her tongue stroking him. The scent of her own arousal filled the air, and he couldn’t wait to reciprocate, to taste his mate and give her the pleasure she was currently giving him. His breath came faster and his head tilted back again. Not long now.
Sara tightened her grip slightly and sucked hard. His balls drew up, and he found his release in her mouth as she drank him in, her mouth continuing to milk him for more. Finally, she released him with a pop, and grinned naughtily up at him.
“Morning,” she said, her voice husky.
“Morning,” he coughed out, barely able to speak. He grinned back at her. “Your turn.”
Her expression clouded a little. “I’d like that, but you can’t hold me down.” She bit her lip, gnawing nervously on it.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” he informed her. “I’m just going to lie here while you get undressed.” Sara had been too exhausted to change last night. He’d managed to remove her shoes, but hadn’t wanted to risk disturbing her further. Once he’d settled her, he’d undressed and climbed into bed with his sleeping mate.
“You’re just going to lie there watching me?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. She didn’t seem opposed to the idea.
“Well, I’m already naked,” he pointed out. “And I’ve seen you undressed before, baby. You know I like what I saw. So get to it.” He flapped a hand at her.
Rolling her eyes at him, she got out of the bed and shimmied out of her jeans, her long top blocking his view. A little growl escaped him. Laughing, she pulled the top over her head, folded it neatly and placed it on top of her jeans. He felt himself smile. Even when undressing for her mate, she was a neat freak.
His eyes were glued to her chest as she reached behind her back to undo her bra, letting it slide slowly down her arms before it joined the neat pile of clothes on the floor. Her breasts sprang free, and he licked his lips at the sight. He would feast there later, spend hours worshiping them, but first…
Her hands went to the waistband of her underwear and stopped. He flicked a glance up to her face and noted her smiling at him.
“Just checking you were paying attention,” she said, smirking at him.
“Tease,” he growled, making her laugh.
She slowly slid the fabric down and stepped out of her underwear, finally and gloriously naked in front of him. His eyes drank her in, roving over the perfection of her body.
“So, now what?” she asked, a little tremor in her voice. “I’m not sure how this is going to work.”
“Trust me,” he said, beckoning her closer. “Straddle me.”
She did as he said, swinging her leg over to sit astride him, his cock brushing against her wet folds. He shivered a little. Later. They’d get to that later, but first he wanted to taste her.
“Further up,” he said, cupping her ass and gently guiding her further up his body.
“Felix?” she asked, but she moved into a position above his chest.
“Further,” he growled, his hands continuing to knead her ass, enjoying how it felt in his hands.
“Oh!” Sara gasped, finally realising what he wanted. She bit her lip, clearly unsure.
“Let me see that pretty pussy of yours,” he purred at her. “Let me inhale your sce
nt, taste your honey. There is nothing I want more right now.”
Swallowing hard, she inched up his body, finally stopping right above his face. He breathed in her heavenly scent, closing his eyes for a moment.
“You can put your hands on the headboard to steady yourself,” he told her. “You’re still in control here, sweetheart, and you can move at any time. Meanwhile, I have access to the prettiest girlie bits I have ever seen.” When he looked up, he could see the blush spread across her cheeks.
He slid his hands over her ass, careful not to hold too tightly. He could see how wet she was for him, the delicious aroma tormenting his nose. With his tongue, he reached up to stroke at her and she lowered herself a little, allowing him better contact. The first swipe of his tongue was bliss, her flavour exploding on his taste buds. His lion purred happily inside his mind. He nudged at her clit with his tongue, feeling her legs tremble. This would be perfect. This would be…
The doorbell rang.
“Ignore it,” he said.
Someone pounded on the front door.
Sara slid back down his body, her expression disappointed. Inside his mind, his lion howled with rage.
“Sara?” Tara’s voice called from outside.
“How attached are you to your family?” he asked her.
She slapped playfully at his arm. “I don’t think she’d interrupt us if it wasn’t important. She’s newly mated too, remember?”
True. Dammit. What had happened now?
He sighed, kissed Sara’s nose, and swung his legs out of bed, stalking to the bedroom door.
“Clothes, Felix!” his mate reminded him.
Grunting, he pulled on a pair of jeans and stomped down the stairs. Opening the door, he found Tara and Alex on his doorstep, both with grim expressions.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, standing back to let them in. “Ryan?”
“We don’t know,” Alex told him. “Tara needs to speak with her sister.”
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