“Let him go.” When she looked at him, Mitch was worried that she didn’t know him or what they’d shared just that morning. Swallowing twice, he tried again. “Please let him go. He didn’t do anything wrong. I pissed off his mate and she...well, Kari was going to teach me a very important lesson in not pissing her off when she’s bigger and meaner than me when you showed up.”
He could tell that she was struggling with it. He’d been a real bastard since he’d gotten home this morning, and it hadn’t gotten any better when they’d been called out so soon after he’d gotten there. He wanted to think it was because he was tired, but to be honest it was because he was stressed out about a great many things, and having a mate, a vampire mate, was on the top of his list right now. Vinnie stared at Steele like she was still thinking of killing him.
“Did he frighten you, or was it the cat?” He said that he’d been more pissed than frightened. “Yes. I could feel that too. If I let him down, will he kill me, you think?”
Before he could ask Steele what he’d do, Steele answered Vinnie. “No, I won’t do anything to you. You were protecting him and that’s fine. I can understand that more than you know.” She looked at him, then at the cat as Steele continued. “You’re his mate, I’m assuming.”
“I am. I don’t like it any more than you do, but there is little to nothing I can do about it now.” That sort of hurt, but Mitch didn’t say anything. “My mom, she’s not too thrilled about it either. I think she might be trying to hire someone to kill him. I won’t let it happen, but I’m just giving you a heads up in the event she shows up sometime.”
She let him down and took a step back. Addie’s cat moved toward Steele, but she kept her distance from the vampire. Mitch wasn’t sure what the fuck he was supposed to do now. But when Vinnie moved to the shadowed side of the house, he realized how early in the day it was and went to her.
“Are you all right?” She nodded, but he could tell that she was exhausted. Or hurt, maybe both. “Should you be here at all? I mean, out in the sun like this?”
“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter, now did I?” He wanted to point out that he’d not either, but didn’t. He’d been snapping enough today, and he thought taking that attitude with her might get him a great deal of pain. “What did you do to get yourself in that position anyway?”
“You.” She asked him how it had been her fault. “How you say that you don’t know what to do with me, and that your mother is finding a hit man to take me out. Kinda hurts, if you want to know the truth. Well, I got news for you. I don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to do with you either. Am I...? I don’t know. Food and sex for you now? Do we live in that dark place during the day and not go out until night? You would not believe the things that are rolling in my head right now. And when I left you this morning, the thoughts and scenarios just kept getting stranger.”
“You could have asked me instead of running away like a wounded child.” He felt his temper getting the better of him and took a step back. Then another. “Are you planning to run again? I do hope this is not going to be a trend with us. You getting your pants in a knot and me having to rescue you.”
Mitch rushed her. There was no other word for it. Pressing her against the wall with his body, he kissed her hard as he rocked into her heat. As she wrapped herself around him, her arms and legs seemingly becoming a part of him, he cupped her ass and held her to him as he moved his mouth down her throat to her pounding pulse.
“Bite me.” He wanted to. Needed to really. But he had no more idea of how to do that than he did how to sprout wings and fly. Looking up at her, he could see her need and feel it as it washed over him. Christ, he wanted to fuck her right now.
“I can’t bite you.” She nodded, but the facts didn’t change that he really wanted to. “You’re not going to be easy with this, are you? I mean we’ve known each other for less than two days and I’ve had better sex with you than with anyone before. I’ve become someone that I don’t like, and I don’t have any idea what I’m doing.”
“You’re my mate. Do you know what that means to a vampire?” Mitch told her what he knew. “Yes, you’ll be my bed partner and my food. I cannot drink from another person unless you give me permission or to save my life. Sex with you will be like it was last night, but more. So yes, it will get better as we grow together. We are together until we die, or someone kills me. And you should also know that you’re going to be around for a good deal longer than any of your friends. You’re like Hugo, a part of my life now.”
“We’ll never age, you mean, right? Am I going to look like this forever? By the way, how old are you, Vinnie?” He’d never asked a woman that in his life, and felt his face heat up when she laughed at him. “If you don’t want to tell me, then don’t.”