Chapter 9
I just stood there in the bedroom doorway, my hands hanging limply at my sides as I tried to process my emotions.
Maximus sprang out of the bed, as lithe and agile as only a supernatural could be. “Jess!” His exclamation was loud as he dived toward me, naked in all his glory, but not aroused, so clearly I’d caught them between rounds. I had just enough time to register the darkening anger on Cardia’s face before I was hit with a wall of muscle.
“I’ve been so damned worried about you, Jess.” His voice cracked a little as he pulled back, both hands gripping my biceps. “Where the hell were you?” His emotional tone shifted into a growl, fangs slightly descended and his eyes shaded to black.
I’d never seen him vamp out in such a short time, especially when he wasn’t hungry. But that wasn’t my most prevalent thought. I was having a breakdown similar to the one I had the time I thought Mischa was a dragon shifter. I knew the only way Maximus would be in bed with this chick while his brother and I were missing was if she was his true mate. Not to mention he generally never slept with the same female more than a few times. He liked to cut them off before they got attached. It had been three weeks with this Cardia.
The first few months after finding your mate were intense. Supernaturals had trouble leaving the house and going out into public. Plus, I had not missed the vamped-out nature of the interloper. Her clawed hands and descended fangs screamed of a territorial reaction.
I was pissed. Anger coursed through me with the force of a speeding train, flooding my gut and ricocheting out. It wasn’t that I felt the way for Maximus that I did for Braxton, but still, this was the beginning of the end of our perfect pack life. I would have to pull back from the very close proximity I had with the Compasses. Cardia would not tolerate that.
I let my expression dissolve into blankness, taming my inner turmoil. “It doesn’t really seem as if you were too worried about me.”
It was either cut him down or lose my shit and cry like a baby.
Yes, I was being a bitch, mate bonding couldn’t be fought against. What my parents had done was insane in the scheme of supernatural relationships, separating themselves to protect Mischa and I from the marked hunters; it was unnatural. As I had this thought I realized I wanted to see my parents. Where were they? I assumed they had been given their own apartment close by.
Maybe somewhere for me to escape to.
I was avoiding thinking about Maximus, even though he was standing before me, seemingly trying to figure out what to say in response to my anger.
Tears pricked at my eyelids. I refused to let them fall. I deliberately removed both of his large hands and took a step back, working hard to calm myself. I hit a hard wall of warmth, and for a second I sank into the comfort that was Braxton. My shock and pain had been so great I hadn’t even realized he’d been standing behind us.
I tore myself from the dragon shifter. “I have to go. I need some air.”
“Jess…” Maximus’ voice was hoarse now. He held out a hand toward me. “Please, don’t go, we need to talk.”
I shook my head. I needed to grieve and come to terms with everything I’d lost. And I needed to do it alone.
“Don’t follow me.”
I issued the last warning before I ran out of the room, and using every facet of my shifter speed dashed across the apartment and out the front door. I was in the elevator when three Compasses burst out the door – Maximus ripping his pants on, the doors sliding closed between us.
“Jess, it’s not safe for you to be on your own,” I heard the vampire say desperately, right before the metal sealed them away from me.
Silence descended. I sank against the cold steel wall, my heartbeat erratic. Damn, I was hurting, a pain that was soul deep. I knew I would eventually be happy for Maximus. I wanted my boys to have love and a mate. I wanted to be the aunt to their kids, but I’d thought that was a long way in the future. Not today. Not when there was so much shit happening in our world. I wanted to climb into bed between my dragon shifter and vampire, have my fey and wizard there also, just like we’d done so many times over the years.
But it would never again be like that.
Instead of crying, I channeled the crap-ton of emotions churning inside into anger, my weapon right now, and exited the building on a wave of self-righteous rage. I stormed along the streets, aimlessly wandering and yet still finding myself in that main street of food.
What can I say, food and I have a bond which I’ll probably never replicate with any male.
I stopped near a colorful falafel store, though I wasn’t really reading the menu in the window. I was actually paying attention to the small group which had been trailing me for some time—not the Compasses—and I was starting to get the feeling they had more than fun on their minds.
Since I was in a shit of a mood, I decided to get off the main path and have a little stress-relieving entertainment. If I couldn’t have sex, maybe some fighting would help.
I strode between two Chinese food stores. No dead end, so I wasn’t boxing myself in. Rocks scuffed on the path behind me. I smiled. Three supernaturals. I scented two shifters and a vampire. They’d decided now was the time to approach.
Turning, I lowered into a fighting stance.
Front and center was a tiny brunette – her hair braided down her back in a single line – female, a shifter but not wolf. Something close … fox maybe. Flanking either side of her was another, much larger male shifter, also fox – and third was a vampire. They continued straight at me. I waited, poised on the balls of my feet, hands relaxed but ready at my sides. I also had an ear out for any approach from behind, in case they were going for the whole distraction ploy.