“I don’t need you to keep me safe.” She slammed the back door open and strode outside. “I will not slip up again. I will be on the alert. And—” whirling on him, she snarled “—what do you care anyway? It’s not like you want to claim me as your life mate.”
Beth noted his stunned expression, but she was a little busy being stunned herself. That had just come out. Like lava bursting over the top of a volcano, the words had rushed out, carried on a wave of rage and pain she hadn’t even realized she was experiencing.
But then, she’d never been very in touch with her feelings, Beth acknowledged. According to Dr. Hewitt, the psychologist she’d switched to on moving to Toronto, who also happened to be married to an Argeneau, she’d learned to disassociate from her feelings while young. It was how she had survived the traumas of her mortal life. It was how she’d survived a childhood with an abusive, alcoholic father, and being sold into a brothel, and being a prostitute, and the horrible, violent turning, as well as everything that had followed directly on it.
Unfortunately, disassociating didn’t mean the feelings weren’t there, just that you weren’t connected to them, so were taken by surprise when they suddenly exploded all over the place. And that was pretty much how she was feeling right now, like she’d vomited her guts out on the lawn in front of Scotty . . . And now he knew that she knew that they were life mates. He also knew it bothered her that he wouldn’t claim her.
Sighing, Beth turned and continued to the garage. Much to her relief, Scotty was no longer following.
“Feck,” Scotty breathed as he watched Beth enter the garage.
“I did tell you, you were handling it all wrong.”
“Aye, ye did,” Scotty said wearily, not bothering to glance around to verify that the speaker was Magnus. He’d recognize his voice anywhere. They had been friends for over eight hundred years, nearly since the day Scotty had been turned.
“How much does she know?” Magnus asked, stepping up beside him to peer at the garage as the door closed.
“As far as I can tell?” Scotty said and then shook his head. “Everything.”
“Everything?” Magnus asked with a wince.
Scotty nodded on a sigh and ran a hand wearily through his hair. “Except mayhap that I had ye watchin’ over her fer the last century. As far as I know, she does no’ ken that yet, but according to Matias she and everyone else ken about me trying to prevent her becoming a hunter, and she just said . . . Well, she obviously kens we’re life mates and I’ve no’ claimed her.”
“Hmm,” Magnus murmured. “It would probably be better if you gave her some time to herself to cool down.”
Scotty merely grunted.
“So . . . what do you want me to do?” Magnus asked. “I can follow her to whatever hotel she picks and watch her, or—”
“Nay,” Scotty said with frustration. He knew he should probably give her space, but he couldn’t afford to. She was safer with them. He just had to convince her of that.
“Nay?” Magnus asked.
“Nay,” he repeated. “I’ll talk to her.”
Leaving Magnus behind, Scotty headed across the yard to the door of the garage, his determination building with every step he took. He entered without hesitation, only to stop abruptly to give his eyes a minute to adjust. The lights weren’t on in the garage. The only illumination came from the afternoon sunlight creeping weakly through the small dirty windows on each side of the garage. It took a moment for his eyes to sharpen and begin to define shapes and colors, and then he looked around.
There were five vehicles in the six-car garage. The closest bay was empty. Scotty supposed that was where the SUV Matias drove was supposed to stay. From where he stood, Scotty could make out the tool-strewn work counter along the back of the building, an open door leading into a tiny bathroom and another door leading into a larger office. Beth was in the office, picking through keys on a key rack hanging on the wall.
“What do you want from me, Scotty?” she asked wearily without ever taking her eyes off the keys she was sorting.
Scotty hesitated, and then glanced to the wall on either side of the door he’d just entered to find the light switch. He flicked it on, and then walked to the door of the office to peer at her. “I just want to see ye safe.”
“That’s kind of you,” Beth said, finally settling on a set of keys and turning to face him with them in hand.
They stared at each other silently for a moment, and then Scotty sighed and moved forward, saying, “Lass, I ken ye can look after yerself, but everyone needs help sometimes and—” He paused and blinked in surprise as she suddenly slid around him and scurried out the door.
Damn, Scotty thought. When Beth had simply stood there waiting, he’d believed she was willing to hear him out. But she’d just been waiting for him to stop blocking the door so she could escape, he realized. Mouth tightening, he turned on his heel and hurried after her.
Beth was at the SUV in the second bay when he caught up to her. She already had the door open and was about to slide into the driver’s seat. Scotty caught her arm, tugged her back and slammed the door closed.
Cursing, Beth jerked her arm free and whirled on him. “Why are you doing this? You don’t even want me.”
“Aye, I do,” he growled, and then to prove it, he caught her arm again, this time to drag her forward and cover her mouth with his.
That was a big mistake, and Scotty knew it at once. He’d had Beth every which way possible in the more than a century’s worth of dreams he’d had about her, not to mention the ones he’d shared with her. But those dreams had offered the equivalent of the heat from a match. The reality, just a kiss, brought on the raging heat of a towering inferno.
Scotty was immediately and painfully excited, his instant erection pressing urgently against the cloth of his tight jeans. His body was also humming and blood was rushing in his ears, sounding like the war cry of a thousand warriors before a battle. He was definitely going to prove he wanted her, but there certainly wouldn’t be any talking. They were both being swept up by the passion immortal life mates enjoyed. And he could already tell it was going to be one hell of a ride.
Beth froze when his mouth first covered hers. It was something that had happened perhaps a million times in her dreams over the last hundred and twenty-five years, and still she wasn’t ready for the reality of it. None of those kisses had prepared her for the way his heady scent enveloped her, or for the feel of his steel-hard arms enclosing her, or how his firm body now pressed against hers. And they certainly hadn’t equipped her for the hungry way his mouth devoured hers, his tongue immediately demanding entrance.
In truth, Beth wasn’t sure if she actually opened to him, or Scotty simply forced his way in. But it didn’t feel like a taking. She didn’t feel invaded. Instead, she was overwhelmed by sensation. The taste of him, the feel, the smell . . . and the need that was suddenly trying to claw its way out of her. That, at least, she recognized. Although it had never felt as strong as this or as violent. It had never left her clinging to him, her body surging against his with a demand of its own.
Beth was still so angry at Scotty that she wanted to slap him, but that didn’t stop her from driving her hands into his hair, catching at the strands with her fingers and dragging his head to the angle she wanted as she finally began to kiss him back.
For a moment, it was almost like a battle, each of them trying to devour the other, and then Scotty turned with her in his arms and backed her up against the SUV. The moment he had her trapped there with his body, he tore his mouth from hers and bit at her neck, nipping, but not puncturing, as his hands began to tear at her clothes.
Scotty didn’t remove her top—he tore it from her as he had her knickers in the dream the night before. Her bra quickly followed, although he merely dragged the straps off her shoulders and down her arms far enough to free her breasts before leaving the straps there to reach for the plunder he’d revealed.
Moaning, Beth leaned her head back against the SUV and closed her eyes as he squeezed and suckled at first one erect nipple and then the other. But she couldn’t stand that for long. Her need was too desperate to bother with foreplay. She’d had more than enough of that in their dream. In fact, she was more excited now than she’d been as she’d waited on her hands and knees for him to enter her before the arrival of the dogs had woken her from their shared dream.