“So, you're perfectly fine with the idea of us being married?”
She agreed that she was. “Why wouldn't I be?”
“Because you don't even know me. I could be a man that you don't want to be with. I could be so many things. How could you just blindly go with something you think is supposed to happen?”
“You make it sound like it's a bad thing. I have been looking forward to meeting you. When I say that I have been dreaming about you for a long time, I don't think you really understand how long it's actually been. Over ten years. I have been looking forward to this, and the wait has been excruciating.”
For a minute, Tevin didn't say anything, and then he finally asked if it was all she thought it would be.
Molly shrugged. “We haven't gotten to the good part yet, have we? I know that part will be everything I’ve looked forward to. Just imagine how much better it will be when I have you inside of me.”
It wasn't hard for him to imagine. The woman had gotten underneath his skin, and Tevin was pretty sure that she knew it.
“So, what exactly are we waiting for then? If we have no choice and all, since it’s all fate.”
“Like you said, I just think that we should get to know each other a little bit better. It's hard, though, waiting when I know something so good is ahead for us. It really is harder than you can imagine. Every time we’re together, I want to touch you and let you touch me.”
Maybe he couldn't quite imagine what she described, but he certainly knew that he liked the sound of it. How much better would it feel?
“I didn’t mean to freak you out, Tevin, but I didn’t want to lie about it. You ask me anything and I will tell you the truth, whether it’s pretty or not.”
“You didn't freak me out.”
“Liar.”
“Okay, maybe you did freak me out a little bit, but that's all right. I think you would freak me out any way that I met you. You're a bit overwhelming.”
Molly shrugged. “I have definitely heard that before. Trust me, Tevin, you’re going to be the one that is overwhelming. I’ve seen it already.”
Chapter Thirteen
Molly was the one that was having trouble sleeping that night. Since they had been together in the shower, she was not satisfied with the results. It had felt good, and she had even found completion, but it wasn't exactly what she was looking for. Molly had the wherewithal to know what was missing. She had lived it countless times while she slept; the problem was, now it was real and even harder for her to prolong the inevitable. Why did she even want to? Molly had to ask herself several times because she honestly wasn't sure.
When it all just felt so impossible, Molly finally turned to him and wanted more attention. He was asleep, of course, but after she rubbed herself on him a little bit, he started to come to life. His lips were on hers and her body was pressed into the mattress underneath him so quickly that it took her breath away. Molly wasn't even sure if he was all the way awake, but he knew exactly what to do anyway. Apparently, he did not need to be conscious to drive her wild.
His eyes finally opened, and they met with hers moments after he pulled away. It was like he was just starting to realize what was going on and the pullback was a painful one. She felt like he was turning her down, and she pulled away just the same.
“What are you doing?”
“You really have to stop asking stupid questions. Is it not clear what I’m trying to do?”
He growled at her and told her that it wasn't right.
“Why isn't it?”
“Because you told me a little while ago this is not how it was supposed to happen. Remember?”
Molly didn't remember anything. All she remembered was how good he had always felt and how badly she wanted to feel that way again.
His refusal to give in to her wishes made Molly frustrated. She pushed him away and turned her back to him, laying on her side. Molly wasn't even one hundred percent sure of what she thought was going to happen or how he was supposed to react. She was mad at not being able to have what she wanted.
She started to get up, and he stopped her. “Where are you going?”
“I just need a minute.”
She wasn't going to get it.
“You are not leaving me in the middle of the night. I thought I made myself clear.”
“No, you haven't made anything clear. One minute, you are ready to go, and the next minute, you’re telling me to slow down. Everything is so back and forth, up and down, that I can't even keep track. You can't tell me that you don't want me. I know better.”
“Just because I think that we should wait a little while doesn’t mean that I don't want you. It's just a lot to take on. I mean, I've never even gotten serious with a girl, and you're talking about marriage. That’s a lot to throw on a man; you have to know that.”
It was probably hard for him to understand. It was hard for Molly even. If he needed time, she was just going to have to give it to him. Molly shouldn’t have stopped him before. There wouldn’t be a question or tension between them now.
Lying back down in the bed with him, she was amazed at how good it felt to be in his arms. That was where she was supposed to be, and if it took him a little while to figure it out, she was going to be okay with it.
“You know, this isn’t as simple as you’re making it out to be. The Syndicate is going to come and take you away. You are only here temporarily.”
Molly snuggled closer, unafraid of the Syndicate or any plan that they had for her. She’d already seen the future, and they weren’t in it. That told her all she wanted to know. The Syndicate wasn’t going to be a problem for them. Not for long.
“I am not worried about it, Tevin. You’re going to keep me safe.”
Tevin sighed in the dark room. “You don’t know how badly I want that to be true. Really, I do.”
She told him to relax. “You will protect me, Tevin. I’ve seen it happen already, so there is nothing to worry about.”
Molly spent the day walking in a meadow of wildflowers that Tevin had taken her to. She’d been looking for some herbs to help her sleep, even though Molly knew what would work like a charm. Tevin wasn’t ready yet, though, which meant that she was going to have to make do with some valerian root and a little chamomile. It should work, even if better medicines were available.
The ride back was extra hard on her. Flying with Tevin was a fun time, and she absolutely loved it, but her whole body was stretched against him. Every movement of his dragon body made her aware of how much she needed him. By the end of it, she was panting hard and rushed off of him as soon as they landed. Space was hard to get on top of him, and only when her skin wasn’t touching his was she able to think straight.
He called after her as she ran away, telling her that she had forgotten her roots. Molly didn’t care. She was worried about keeping her sanity at that point.
“Are you all right, Molly? You look strange.”
Molly could barely catch her breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she didn't have to rub her thighs together to realize that she was soaking wet. Molly was just fine but waiting for Tevin to get with the program was harder than she could have ever imagined.
“I am fine.”
Her words came out of clenched teeth, and obviously, he didn't believe her. She had run off, and of course, the first person she ran into was Tevin's brother. He was looking at her very strangely, and she knew that it was because of how she was acting. She was practically hyperventilating, and it must look weird to an outsider.
“Where is my brother?”
He had a look of concern on his face for a moment, and she assured him that he was right behind her.
“I really must be going. I will see you in a little while.”
She practically ran away from him because he had too many questions, and his eyes seemed to see everything. It was hard enough to deal with one brother.
When she got to the room that they shared together, she immediately went
inside and hid in the one place where she knew she was safe to be. This time though, she locked the bathroom door. If he wasn't going to give her everything that she needed, it was best for her to spend a little time away from him. Get her body where it didn't feel like it was fighting against her.
She heard a knock on the door a little while later and then Tevin trying to open it up.
“Molly, you can't keep running off like this.”
She opened the door quickly and told him that she didn't have a choice. Her voice was getting louder, and she could hear the desperation in it. Didn't he understand what he was doing to her? It was hard to anticipate a man for so long, only to have to wait just a little bit longer. Molly was sick of waiting.
“I am not running off. I am doing what you said you wanted. You wanted some time to figure things out. I already have them figured out and waiting on you is just a bit too much. Trust me when I tell you that we have a lot of fun when you get it together, but being around you like this, I’d rather not. Just give me some space, please.”
He swallowed hard.
“Do you know how hard it is to not touch you? It's impossible. What you don't seem to understand is even though you think you have seen a future with us together, you seem to forget that you are owned by my employer. I am only here to keep you safe and away from people that want to take you back. That's it. There is no room for us to have this great love affair that you seem to think we're going to have. I don't even see how it's possible.”
That just made Molly more upset. He was questioning what she knew to be true. It was a fact as far as she was concerned, not some daydream that she had just made up because she was bored.
“You get that I'm a witch, right?”
“Yeah, trust me, I know. Not a lot of people are so happy with your kind around here. The only reason that they haven't said anything is because you're with me. In what world could we actually be together?”
“I am not going to try to convince you of something I know is real. I am sorry you don't feel it. It's my fault for trying to push fate. It will happen when it happens. I have been waiting for you for as long as I can remember, Tevin. I have been waiting a very long time. Don't make me wait forever is all I’m asking.”
She shut the door and put her back against it. How was she ever going to get out of the situation she was in? She saw the future with them together, but she never did see how it was all supposed to happen. Molly hoped that it didn't take too long because she had waited long enough.
Chapter Fourteen
Jamie was terrified for the next set of instructions from Chelsea. They had to get one more thing out of the grips of the Syndicate before she would help them. Jamie wasn't even sure if the witch was going to help them or not. They had already procured one thing for her, and she had changed the bargain. Now it was something new, and she was supposed to just go along with it.
They were supposed to get an old relic for the witch, who said that it was instrumental in her getting her full power back. The safehouse that it was housed in was better, bigger, and well-guarded. They were going to have to bring even more people in to do the job, and it made Jamie afraid.
Her husband must have seen the turmoil on her face because he had that empathetic look. The one she couldn’t avoid. Dylan pulled her in close and asked her what she was thinking about.
Jamie smiled and shrugged a little bit.
“I guess I keep wondering how I even got here.”
He frowned. “What, like with me?”
She waved him off and told him he was being ridiculous. “No, silly, just with all of it. I don't understand how starting a business because I wanted to see people happy and in love could turn into something so ugly. It makes me wonder if I should have done it at all. I always wanted to do good and to put more happiness into the world, but dealing with the Syndicate, it's hard to imagine that the good outweighs the bad.”
He pulled her into her arms and told her that everything was going to be just as it was supposed to be. “We're going to find Molly and she is going to be fine. We're going to take down every last one of those Syndicate assholes that have hurt us and never worry about them again.”
“Promise?”
While she knew that it was an impossible thing to promise, she still wanted to hear the words, whether they were true or not. It made her feel better, and Dylan was always good at that. He always knew just the right thing to say, even when the world around her was completely crumbling.
“You know that I can't make a promise like that, even though I want to give you everything. I will promise you that I will do everything that is possible to make it happen. I will burn down every single Syndicate safehouse. I will track every last one of them down until I know that there will be no one left to come after you and our family. Anything I have to do to keep you safe, Jamie, I will do. Until my dying breath.”
She knew he meant every last word. There was no telling what was going to happen the next day, or who was going to be sacrificed for their cause. But at that moment and on that day, it was all worth it, and she felt safe in knowing that.
They kissed, and for at least those few minutes, Jamie didn't worry about anything. She was so fully there in the present with him that nothing else could get to them. It was all just perfect.
The next morning brought news. The scouts had been at the new location all evening to get a feel for how the safe house was run. There was a whole fresh shift of people that came in about ten hours after they got there. It made sense that there would be two twelve-hour shifts and that the place was under twenty-four-hour surveillance.
A plan started to form, and even though it was a dangerous one, Jamie was ready to ride it out. She had to argue with her husband again because he didn't want her to go, but she insisted that she had to. This was still all because of her dealings with William. She had accepted her responsibility; it was only going to go away when the last girl was returned.
The whole day was full of anticipation and chatter all around the encampment. Their numbers had risen considerably into many new people to help attack. The part of the plan that Jamie was not too keen on was what the men planned to do. They planned to get information out of the people that survived the attack. The time before when they had gotten the crystal for Chelsea, everyone had been executed, and this time, it would be different. This time, they were going to get a hard answer before they walked away just in case Chelsea decided to go back on their deal. She had reneged before, and it was still a possibility.
When the sun finally started to go down, Jamie had another little scuffle with her husband about going with. She was adamant that she was not going to stay back, no matter what.
“I have to see this through, Dylan! You know how much this means to me.”
“I know that you feel responsible for these girls, but Molly is not going to be there.”
“She could be. You don't know that she's not.”
“Just like at the last place, we will make sure to release anyone that is held captive. If she is there, we will let her go. You don’t have to be there for that.”
“I have to be there, Dylan, so please don't try to make me stay. I just can't.”
He frowned at her but finally gave in. As big and bad as Dylan was, as many men as he had killed, she knew that he would always do her bidding. This time was no different, even though his reluctance was well noted by the end of it. He wanted her to know that he wasn't happy about it, and she knew. But Jamie didn't care. She was still going.
Jamie wished that she wouldn’t have gone. The Syndicate had known that they were coming, or at least had an inkling, because of the previous attack. There were not only several guards outside patrolling, but three times as many on the inside when they got there.
It was a blood bath, and though they had made it out alive with the artifact that the witch needed, it had come with a heavy price. Half of the people that walked into the building didn’t come back out. It was far too many people
, and for all of the time that it was going on, Jamie was clinging to the side of the man that was going to save her. His beast had come out early, and she had kept up as best as she could.
Jamie had been made to do things she had not wanted to do. She had killed people and seen things that she could never unsee. The safehouse was destroyed, and about twenty women were set free, but there was no sign of Molly or that she had ever even been there. She was still gone, and for once, she started to think that they might not find her. If the next place was progressively worse, Jamie did not see how they were going to be able to survive it.
Dylan held her close as they traveled to the witch’s house. They did not go as their beasts, running through the woods to their destination. They were just too tired. Jamie laid her head back on the cushy car seat, trying to forget the horrors of the day.
“I am sorry I got you into this, Dylan.”
He growled at her. “Enough of that, Jamie. This is not your fault. You didn’t know who William was.”
Jamie wanted to argue the point. She could have done a better check, asked more questions, there was a lot that she could have done. She should have known that she was in the presence of evil and she had not.
“There were just so many people, Dylan. I do not think I am ever going to get them out of my mind. Their screams…”
She shuddered at the thought and tried to push it away. Jamie was rattled, and it was going to be a while before she felt whole again. When he asked her if she was ready to call it quits, Jamie disagreed.
“No, we just have to get this over with. Hopefully, the witches will help us now. We may very well need Chelsea. Her sister was helpful, took out a lot of the guards, but Chelsea is the one with the power. You can just feel it coming off her. She is the one that we need. If we do not have her, I don’t know…”
Jamie did not want to put it into words. She did not have to, though. It was clear that something had to be done, and they were going to do it. No matter how painful it was going to be, Jamie knew that they were going to have to see it through all the way to the end.
Alpha Shifter Bride Service: (A Paranormal Romance Series) Page 49
