A Mate for Griffin

by Charlene Hartnady

  Sarah had returned to work on the previous Monday, but it wasn’t the same. One of the children had told her that she had sad eyes. From the mouths of babes. There was no way she was wallowing in self-pity. She planned on taking it one day at a time. Following her normal routine was imperative and that meant getting up in the morning. Getting dressed and going out also formed a part of her routine. She had planned to go grocery shopping. There was a new movie release. A romantic comedy that looked really good. She was going to force herself to watch it and she would laugh at the funny parts and would absolutely hold it together during the sad ones.

  “Sarah, honey…” Lance stepped forward. “Can I come in?” he smiled. “I’m used to rendering females speechless, but this is ridiculous.”

  “Oh yes! Sorry, I’m just a little shocked at seeing you. Please come in.” She moved back and pushed her back against the wall so that he had enough space to enter.” Her apartment suddenly seemed really small.

  “Nice place.” Lance walked in and made himself comfortable on her couch. “A little pokey but sweet.” He grinned at her. “So how are you doing?”

  “I’m good. Can I get you something to drink?”

  He shook his head.

  “Some breakfast maybe?” She raised her brows.

  “I’m good thanks, honey. I just had the equivalent of a double whopper burger”—he bobbed his eyebrows—“with all of the trimmings.” He threw her the naughtiest half-smile.

  Sarah had to smile back. “Please don’t elaborate on that one. How is Brynn doing?”

  Lance nodded, his smile widened. “He’s doing really well. His left arm has begun to regenerate. His face is back to normal…back to being just a regular ugly fuck instead of a serious ugly fuck.”

  “And the others?” Her voice had grown quiet but she couldn’t help herself.

  Lance clenched his jaw, his eyes turned really serious. He shook his head. “No…the bomb inflicted too much damage. I can see by that look that you’re still blaming yourself. Stop it! It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask them to come after you. To blow up your escort vehicle, to kidnap you for money. They were evil fucks. This is all on them and the bastards that organized the whole thing in the first place.”

  “Have there been any new developments on that side?” She knew that a team had gone to the cabin to search for clues, but that was the last she had heard.

  Lance shook his head. “We got what we could from their cellphones, but whoever is behind this was using a burner phone. It was too late to call in at midday and no one was at the rendezvous site that evening. Everything led to a dead end.” He smiled. “We really have to try and keep one of those fuckers alive for once, for questioning.”

  He must have caught the horrified look on her face because he quickly added. “You were right to kill those sons of bitches. I’m sorry I said anything.” He leaned forward and touched her arm lightly on the side. “How are you? You must be happy to be back to your normal life.”

  Thrilled. Her best friend had seen her once since she got back. It wasn’t Paige’s fault, she was on vacation in Mexico. A trip she had planned a year ago. Sarah nodded. “Yup,” she said simply.

  “You miss us, admit it…” Lance smiled. “Griffin is—” His phone blared. It was some or other rap tune about going home and getting it on all night.

  Lance looked at the display. “I need to get this.” He winked at her.

  Damn, she found that she was sitting on the edge of her seat. Desperate for any news on Griffin. In short, she was pathetic.

  “York. How goes it bro?”

  Sarah forced herself to sit back. She sucked in a breath.

  Lance laughed. “Good. Thanks! I owe you…” He stopped to listen. “I won’t fight. I can’t make any promises for him though.” He choked out a laugh. “Did he look pissed?” He listened again, his smile grew even wider. “Thanks, man. He’s as weak as a day old pup. I’ll…hang-on.” He pulled the device from his ear and looked at the display. “There’s someone on the other line…” Lance made a snorting sound. “I’m sure you can guess who it is. I’ll speak to you later.”

  He pushed a button on the phone and answered with a cursory ‘hello.’

  The person on the other end blasted him. Lance held the phone away from his ear and cringed. When the shouting finally died down, he put the phone back against his ear. “Are you finished?”

  This was followed by another blasting. Someone was clearly really angry with Lance. He had probably gone after someone else’s girlfriend or something. She wouldn’t put it past him.

  Lance smiled, looking every bit the naughty shit he was. “You calm yourself down. I need to go, I’m kind of busy.” He put the phone down and turned it off. “Some people can be so damned rude. Now, where were we?”

  We were discussing Griffin. Please tell me more. She shrugged.

  “Oh yes, I was about to tell you how Griffin is doing.”

  She tried not to lean forward or to seem too interested. When he didn’t answer she finally blurted. “And, how is he?”

  “Why did you leave, Sarah?” Lance suddenly turned serious. He folded his arms.

  She shook her head. “I can’t really talk about it.” She wasn’t about to explain the whole thing to Lance. “It’s hard to explain and…you wouldn’t understand.”

  Lance raised his brows. “I’m not an idiot. I know that Griffin chose you to try and play match-fucking-maker for us.” He gestured between the two of them. “You are an amazing female, Sarah. I wish that it was like that between us because I could see myself settling with someone like you.”

  “Okay.” It was the last thing she had expected to hear.

  “You don’t love me.” He leaned forward. “You love Griffin, don’t you?”

  She shook her head. “It isn’t something I want to talk about right now.” Ever.

  “Bullshit. Talk to me. Griffin went to you with the hair-brained idea and you agreed because you couldn’t get enough of this.” He gestured to his crotch area and even thrust his hips.

  Despite the situation, Sarah burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny? You were in lust with me. I understand that. Not many females can resist my charm.”

  She shook her head, feeling her cheeks heat.

  “Just admit that you were in lust with me, little Prim, so that we can move on.”

  “Yes, Lance. I was in lust with you. Happy?” She made sure that her voice sounded as bored as possible so as not to inflate his ego any more.

  He grinned and nodded. “That wasn’t so hard now was it?” He didn’t wait for her reply. “You agreed to stay, and the two of you began working on a plan to get me to fall madly in love with you. During that time, you fell madly in love with Griff. At first you were in denial, and then when you realized that you were in over your head, you ran. How am I doing so far?”

  She shook her head and sucked in a breath, intent on arguing.

  “The two of you are complete fucking morons. You do realize that, don’t you?”

  “What? No…what the…” Her mouth hung open and she struggled to answer him. “No…just no. We aren’t idiots or morons. Maybe you should go. You’re…wrong.”

  “Wrong.” He rolled his eyes and snorted. “Like fuck I’m wrong. You asked how Griffin was doing, well…You understand us vampires right? We need to fuck and drink in order to heal from injuries like Griffin suffered.”

  She felt like blocking her ears. Running away. “Maybe you should leave.” She practically shouted.

  He leaned further back in the chair and even put his hands behind his head. “You do realize, that it is nothing short of a miracle, that Griffin survived a second time, especially considering those bullets were silver. Hell, even if they had been steel, he still should never have come fucking back. It was a miracle.”

  “I know.” She whispered, not wanting to recall the horror they had went through that day. The deep-seated fear. The loss. The devastation. Being taken like th
at, nearly being raped, none of it had hurt her like seeing Griffin’s body. The pain she had felt when she thought he was dead. Not just pretend dead, but really dead. She wiped away a tear.

  “Listen to me.” Lance leaned forward. His voice was softer. His eyes filled with concern. “He shouldn’t have come back in the first place. It should’ve taken longer than it did. He should have been unable to move for many hours…fucking days afterwards. You have no idea, the pain and the effort it would’ve taken him just to breathe, let alone to put one foot in front of the other. To fight. I don’t know anyone who could pull that off.” He shook his head slowly. “I’m in awe of him and have a newfound respect for the male. It’s a fucking miracle.”

  “I know all of this. Are you trying to hurt me? Why are you telling me this?”

  “Griffin loves you. He seriously fucking loves you, Sarah. He came back from the dead, for you. Did everything he did, for you. I think it’s sad that you haven’t realized it.”

  She shook her head. “You’re wrong. He sees me as a friend.”

  “A friend.” Lance snorted. “Not a fuck. He went into bloodlust mode and didn’t kill you. Another small fucking miracle.” He muttered the last.

  “Griffin was fine. He’s a good person. He would never hurt me.” She felt anger at his words. “You shouldn’t speak about your friend in that way.”

  “It’s a fact. He went into bloodlust…” He repeated unnecessarily with a frustrated shake of the head. “You are a weak human. He should have torn you limb from limb. Drank you dry, but he didn’t. Why? Because he loves you.”

  “If he loves me so much, then why isn’t he here? Why did he let me leave?” She sniffed, suddenly realizing that tears were coursing down her cheeks. “Where is he if he loves me so damned much?”

  “Back to my original point about the two of you being morons.” Lance narrowed his eyes. “The only reason I went along with the whole matchmaking bullshit, was to try and get the two of you together. Meeting you both every fucking day, the strip poker, pretending to take you back home with me, I touched the fuck out of those silver earrings so that I could use the TLC line on you…” He winked. “All of it.”

  She had to smile through her tears. “You knew?”

  He nodded. Sarah sniffed. “Calling me Prim? The way you looked at me? You were trying to get Griffin and I together?” She frowned. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Well you had better damn well believe it.” Lance winked at her again. “For the record, I called you Prim, because you are prim. Prim and proper is a mouthful. I looked at you because you are one hot as fuck female.” His gaze tracked her body. “I’ll keep checking you out, Prim. Griffin can get fucked if he thinks I’ll stop.”

  She had to laugh. “You’re a big softy and you do care about Griffin.”

  He looked horrified. “You’ll destroy my reputation, and don’t you dare tell Griff that I care.” His whole demeanor softened.

  “I think he knows.”

  Lance shook his head. “Nope, I don’t think he does.” He swallowed hard. “Griffin is fucked up. He’s a mess. Looks like fucking shit. He hasn’t rutted anyone since you. He has barely taken any blood, and when he does, it’s from Eleanor.”

  She shouldn’t feel so happy to hear him say that but she did.

  “Don’t look so pleased with yourself. He is going to get booted from the elite team if he doesn’t sort his shit. I’ve tried not to intervene, but the two of you obviously need me to spell it out for you. If you give me a pen and paper I’ll write it down for you, he—”

  There was a loud banging at the door, followed by a loud growl. Gooseflesh rose up on her arms. Her heart picked up speed. It was Griffin. He was here. She’d never been more happy or more afraid in her life.

  Chapter 19

  Griffin hit on the door for a second time. He would give it another ten seconds and then he was tearing it from its hinges. Lance was dead. If he had so much as put a finger on Sarah, he would find a way to kill the fucker despite being so damned weak.

  The door opened and Sarah took his breath away. As in, he had to grab the door jamb to keep himself from falling over his own damn feet. Her sweet smile, her bright blue eyes, her silky…then he noticed Lance lazing on the couch in the living room behind her and his blood ignited in his veins.

  “You!” he yelled, pointing at the fucker.

  Lance had the audacity to smirk at him. “So glad you could join the party.”

  He felt everything in him bristle. His jaw clenched and his hands curled to fists. Sarah put a hand on his chest to try and stop him. “No, don’t…”

  He fucking lost it. On a low growl, he gently picked her up and positioned her out of his way. “Stay there.” he growled, as he ate up the short distance between himself and his best-fucking-friend. Make that his ex-best friend.

  Lance raised his brows. “We need to talk.” He put his hands up and didn’t make a move to stand.

  “Fuck talking.” Griffin punched him so hard that the entire couch flew back. Lance landed sprawled on his back.

  Sarah gave a squeal from somewhere behind him.

  “It’s not what you think. I—” Lance stayed on the floor. He didn’t even attempt to try and stand. His own fucking fault. Griffin felt his boot connect with the male’s side. Something gave a satisfying crack.

  Ah, the sweet sound of a rib cracking.

  Little arms slid around his waist. “No, don’t, please…no…” Sarah moved in front of him, shoving herself in his way. In harm’s way. Her eyes were wide and brimming with tears. “Stop, Griffin. You need to—”

  “What the…? Sarah.” He picked her up. “How many times do I need to tell you not to get in between fighting males?” He couldn’t help but to stroke the hair from her face as he turned. Sure to put himself in the way of fire, even though Lance had yet to move.

  “Please stop hurting him.” Her lip wobbled.

  Griffin had to swallow hard as pain coursed through him. Sarah was in love with Lance, it stood to reason that she was trying to protect the male. “Stay behind me.” He felt a muscle tic in his jaw.

  Griffin turned, he kept a hand on Sarah’s waist, forcing her to stay where he wanted her. Lance grimaced as he rose to his feet. He massaged his jaw. “Good to see that you can still throw a decent punch.”

  “Cut the fucking bullshit. Sarah is in love with you. I’m not sure why but she is. You happen to be a colossal dickhead.” He pointed at the male. “If you hurt her. If you even think of using her in any way. If she sheds even one fucking tear…I’m coming after you. I will kill you.” His chest was heaving, but he couldn’t help it. “I will bury you myself, because there will be no coming back when I am done with you. Have I made myself clear?”

  Lance crossed his arms on his chest. He ignored Griffin and cocked his head to the side, so that he could look at Sarah over Griffin’s shoulder.

  Griffin couldn’t help but to growl. Low and deep. His chest vibrated. It was a sound that spoke of possession. It was a warning for the other male to stay away from what was his. It was bullshit and useless.

  “See what I mean?” Lance raised his brows. “Everything I told you is true, especially the part about him being a moron and an idiot.”

  “I will fucking…” Griffin stepped forward, wanting to knock the asshole’s smile right off his face. Wanting the motherfucker to choke on his own teeth.

  “No, don’t.” Sarah grabbed his arm. The one he hadn’t even realized that he had raised. Ready to pound the fucker.

  Lance just stood there. What the hell was wrong with the male? Why wasn’t he retaliating?

  Sarah continued to tug on his elbow, trying to get him to lower his raised fist. Griffin sucked in a breath and forced himself to calm the fuck down. He turned to her. “I won’t hurt him.”

  Her whole demeanor relaxed a whole hell of a lot and it killed him to see how worried she was for Lance. Shit! Why had he even come here? Sarah was an adult. She could take care of herse
lf. As much as he hated to admit it, she didn’t need him.

  He pointed at the male. “I meant everything I just said. As much as I would love to see you broken and fucking bleeding, I will spare your…” He half choked on the word. Griffin clenched his jaw for a second. “…your female the ordeal. I need to leave.” He turned back to Sarah. “I wish you all the—”

  “Stop,” Lance growled. “You’re not going anywhere until we talk. I’m sure you’re familiar with the term, talk. Such a young fucking pup…” he rolled his eyes. “Communication. It is the first rule of any relationship. Never assume anything. It is something I only just recently learned myself, so I will forgive you the oversight.”

  What was this asshole on about?

  “If the two of you had just spoken a little with one another. Hell, if you had come to me and talked things out, this whole thing could’ve been avoided but the two of you are clearly too stubborn.” He gave his jaw another rub and groaned. “Let me fill you in on the conversation so far.”

  He could hear how Sarah’s heartbeat picked up. She moved to stand next to him. She looked nervous. Hell, he could scent fear on her.

  “I know about the whole matchmaking scheme you two cooked up. In your endeavor to get Prim and I together…”

  Despite himself, he growled at the use of Lance’s nickname for Sarah. Then he realized what Lance had just said. He knew. He fucking knew.

  “Yeah, asshole.” Lance raised his brows. “Believe it or not, I’m not a total idiot. Where was I…oh yeah…while playing matchmaker, you fell head over fucking heels in love with Sarah only, you didn’t realize it. I was trying to get you to wise the fuck up when Sarah here realized that she was into you as well. It was a bit of a shock, hey Prim?” Lance locked eyes with Sarah, who made a strange noise in the back of her throat. “That’s why she cut and ran that night. She was afraid of her feelings for you and didn’t think you felt the same.” He rolled his eyes. “Idiots. Sarah here was just about to confess her undying fucking love for you when you showed up at the door.” He pointed to the door in question. “Now…” he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Can the two of you just kiss and make up already? Talk to one another. It’s pretty simple. Stop running and hiding, and talk.”