by Mandy Rosko
“I…” Lois looked down at the floor without thinking. She quickly glanced back up into Dane’s eyes, but it was too late. She felt so small in that moment, and he saw it, too.
Dane didn’t move right away. He still stared at her with that harsh glare, then he started moving again. He walked right up to her. Lois tensed when he grabbed her hand and put the handle of the takeout bag in it.
“Go have your lunch with Miranda. We’ll protect you to the best of our ability, we will,” he promised, his voice softer this time, but still seeming harsh, especially when he shook his head. “But there’s never a guarantee of anything.”
Meaning she could still get killed.
“Why would Dennis target me for anything? I didn’t do anything.”
Dane sucked back a deep breath, his large chest expanding and falling. “You shouldn’t try looking for sense where there isn’t any. There doesn’t have to be a reason. The fact that he wants to come after you is enough.”
He turned away from her, and every time he gave her his back, something inside her crumbled a little more. She was once again struck with the reminder that she shouldn’t care. This little crush she had on him because he’d saved her life wasn’t a big deal, and he wasn’t required to care about her. They didn’t know each other, and he’d already done more for her than he was obligated to do.
But just before he turned the corner, Lois spotted the blood that spread through the grey cotton of his t-shirt. She almost called out to him, but then he turned the corner and was gone.
Lois said nothing. She pulled back. No, it was better to leave him alone. He didn’t want to be bothered by her, and he clearly wanted to be left alone. A former Navy Seal probably knew how to take care of himself anyway.
Lois hoped Miranda was getting dressed, because she suddenly wasn’t feeling so great, and she needed her best friend to talk to.
7
Anna got invited to their little chat in Lois's room. It seemed she was now part of their former group of two. Jax had showed up about an hour ago, and he'd brought two of Lois's gym bags full of stuff. Clothes, her art books, laptop, and drawing tablet.
She'd be able to work with this stuff, but there was more she would need if she was going to comfortably work.
Since she was fairly sure she was going to be sticking around for a while, regardless of what Dane said or wanted, Lois asked Jax if he could make another trip, and next time maybe bring her along so she could find what she needed.
The fact that he hadn't packed any underwear, or any of her bras for her, was also a problem.
Anna had laughed at that. "Aw, that's cute. He didn't want to dig through your underwear drawer."
When put that way, Lois was glad he hadn't dug through it either.
That was fine with Lois, and she, Anna, and Miranda decided to have some girl time after putting all Lois's stuff away.
Anna was a shifter, and she knew Dane, so despite her somewhat cute, immature nature, her opinion of the man was helpful as they all sat around eating Dane's steak sandwiches.
It wasn't the ice cream Lois would have liked, but sandwiches were a comfort food, too.
And Dane was right. These were really good, even when cold. She was going to have to go back to that diner.
"Honestly, he's acting like you're mated to him."
Lois abruptly stopped chewing, and she looked at the blonde, who was pulling a thick piece of steak out of her sandwich. Anna popped it in her mouth and started chewing before she noticed Lois was staring at her.
"What?"
"Mate," Lois said, and she and Miranda looked at each other. "You mean, like in the same way Garret is mated to Miranda?"
They were all sitting on Lois's bed in a circle with the food between them for picking at.
Anna looked at Miranda, then shrugged. "Well, yeah, there aren’t that many kinds of mates."
"There's more than one?" Miranda asked.
"Oh, sure," Anna said. "All I ever heard about was how you were Garret's fated mate growing up. That means you were born to it. It was in your bloodline. It was how he knew your dad would have a daughter that would be his mate. You can smell that sort of thing on family."
"Right," Miranda said.
Lois caught the change in Miranda's tone as she was reminded of her father. Anna didn't seem to notice, or she was pretending not to in order to keep the conversation from getting too awkward. She grinned. "When I was a little girl, I used to hope Garret would bring you home early so I could have my sister sooner. I once asked him why he didn't, all offended and stomping my feet. I wanted someone to play with, right?"
Miranda nodded, and now that Lois could see where this was going, she smiled, too.
Anna continued. "Well, he got all embarrassed, and I think he was trying to explain to me that you were way too young, and I would be a grown up by the time you came along. I don't think he liked having to tell his little sister that people who mated with children were bad people, but too bad for him. Had to have that conversation eventually, right?"
Now Miranda was laughing. "The poor guy. You tortured him good, didn't you?"
"He loves me."
But now that Anna's story was over, Lois wanted to get back on topic.
"So then, I'm not the same kind of mate as Garret and Miranda?"
Anna shook her head. "If you were his fated mate, he would have smelled it on you the second he saw you. If you have any relatives living nearby and he was in the same store as them, he would've smelled you on them, in their blood. That's how fated mates tend to find each other. They track the strength of the scent through people, relatives. Most people have a lot of relatives." This time, Anna did seem to realize what she'd said, and she glanced at Miranda before quickly looking away, smiling and clearing her throat. "If you and Dane are mates, then it was something that happened after you came here." Her eyes widened, and she suddenly turned into a living embodiment of excitement as she practically bounced in place on the bed. "What if it happened when he jumped in front of you and saved you from Miranda? That would be so romantic!"
Lois's mouth got dry. That was about the time she started to look at Dane with something other than annoyance. In fact, almost immediately after he'd saved her life, a little hero worship had lodged itself in her chest for him. He suddenly seemed so much more handsome, more redeemable.
But then he'd kicked her out of his room, and he hadn't healed the way everyone else in the house said he was supposed to. Lois had been worried, but she'd ignored the feeling building within her, not wanting to be that creepy girl who didn't know boundaries.
Katie had been worried, but when she'd thrown her hands in the air and told Dane to go fuck himself when he'd yelled at her the last time, Lois had taken over for the other woman.
Part of her reasoning had been to satisfy her need to be close to Dane, but most of it had been because she'd hated knowing he was injured and no one was taking care of him.
Lois rubbed at her chest. That was why she'd allowed herself to go back. She'd thought she could handle her feelings, that they were going away because her selfish motives weren't as high a priority as just taking care of him.
Miranda's voice was soft and careful, as though she was trying not to frighten a nervous rabbit. "Lois? Do you feel something for him?"
Lois snapped her eyes up to her friend. Miranda's purple eyes were big, confused, and boring right into Lois, as though trying to see the truth.
Lois didn't have to say a damned thing. Miranda could already see it. It was in the way her eyes softened, and in the way she reached her hands out, as though wanting to give Lois a hug.
"I'm fine. I'm fine." She shook her head, though. "Just because I have a crush on him doesn't mean we're mated, right?"
Lois looked to Anna for this one.
"I mean, you've had to have some crushes on boys before, right? That didn't mean you were mated to any of them?"
Anna was a healthy and beautiful-looking blonde, delicate and ful
l of energy. What guy wouldn't be attracted to her?
Anna blushed and looked down at her hands.
"Don't tell me you were never boy crazy?" Lois said. It wasn't the fact that Anna wasn't boy crazy that seemed so insane. It was that she looked so good and hadn't been boy crazy. Every beautiful teenage girl had to have posters of her favorite boy bands on her walls and drew hearts around their crushes in the high school yearbook.
Lois was hoping that was the case right about now anyway.
"I've have crushes before, and some boyfriends," Anna finally admitted. "Never anything that lasted, though."
It was the way Anna refused to look at Lois or Miranda that made her think there was more to this. Maybe Garret had been a little too over protective of his little sister?
Okay, Lois could breathe a little easier now. Now that she had some evidence to support her theory that she was not linked to Dane for life against both of their wills.
Did he think this way, too? Maybe this was why he didn't like her so much. Lois wouldn't like any man she'd been forced to be with.
"It's not just that he saved your life and you have a crush on him," Anna said, finally glancing up at her.
Lois frowned. "What else could it be?"
Anna bit her lips. Miranda was leaning closer, as if this was something she just had to hear. Lois couldn't exactly blame her for it. This was the most intense and interesting thing she'd ever heard also.
Anna took in a deep breath. "It's that he's not healing right. It's taking too long. He's healing at the pace of a human."
Lois's heart was slamming. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"It happens when two people who are mated, or on the verge of mating, start ignoring each other. It's not supposed to be a big deal if there's no injury at all. Katie once told me that people can break off a mating and be just fine so long as no one is hurt the way Dane was hurt."
"How long does it take to break off something like that?" Lois asked.
Anna shrugged, her expression somewhat helpless. "I have no idea.”
Miranda ran her fingers through her hair. "Garret thinks Jax broke off a mating with someone."
Lois looked at her friend. "Really? Who?"
Miranda shook her head. Anna quietly reached for one of the cold French fries. "I don't know. He just said that for several years, Jax wasn't healing like he used to. He was still strong and could still fight, but he nearly died one time. It's why he can't fly."
Lois hadn't known that Jax could fly, but now that she did, and also knew that the option was no longer there for him, her heart clenched.
What if something was taken from Dane? His shoulders and back had gotten most of the attack. Any one of his wounds could get infected.
It was likely paranoid thinking, but now Lois couldn't get it out of her head, the possibility that Dane might have to get an arm amputated or something.
"He was bleeding when he walked away from me."
Both women she sat with tensed.
"Really?" Anna asked. Her face was suddenly pale. "Do you get a warm buzz whenever you touch him? Like an energy, or even an electric feeling?"
"I get that with Garret," Miranda said.
She did get it, but Lois needed more. "Describe it more. What kind of energy?"
Anna scratched her head, struggling to think of another way of describing it. "Like, do you feel good when you smell him in the room? And you've been taking care of him, so I know you've had to have touched his skin sometimes. The first time might've felt like lightning on water, but in a good way, if that makes sense." Anna looked at Miranda.
"That's how Garret described it." Miranda brightened, and she looked to Lois, waiting for the confirmation.
Lois swallowed hard. She nodded. "It wasn't the first time he touched me, but...I thought it was because Miranda had lost control and was on top of us.” Lois imagined Miranda in that form, completely wild, animalistic, and not recognizing Lois at all as she lunged.
Then Dane had been there, pushing her down, giving his back to Miranda right before those claws could sink into her skin.
Lois had panicked for the first couple of seconds, then everything had gone into slow motion as she realized where she was, who was on top of her, and what was going on.
She'd seen Dane's fur the first time he'd shifted and grabbed her, kidnapped her, but as he shielded her body, his fur had seemed softer. She felt the heat of his body, heard the vibrations as he cried out in pain before Garret could get Miranda off them.
He'd wobbled. Some of his blood had dropped onto her, but he'd still risen to his feet, his breath puffing as he stood in that shape that was part bear and part man. He roared at Dennis and his pack. Lois had grabbed a big stick, just in case she'd needed to watch his back.
Her body had shaken like she'd been electrified. She'd thought it was because of the fear and shock, but now she was thinking it might've been because of something else.
"I think I need to talk to him," Lois said. She put her container with the remainder of her food back in the middle of their circle. She got to her feet.
Because it was her room, Miranda and Anna started getting up.
"No, it's okay. You can both stay here and finish."
"Are you sure?" Miranda asked.
Lois nodded. "Yeah, I might need you here in case I come back."
Though, she was going to do her best not to start crying if Dane rejected her, which he was going to have to try really hard to do if he wanted to get rid of her.
He was hurt, and Lois could help him recover, but he was being too much of an idiot to let her help him. He had been bleeding when he left her in the hall. She hadn’t said anything to him. Was he even taking care of that?
She left her bedroom and marched down to Dane’s. It was in another wing of the house, near where Miranda, Garret, and Anna slept. Of course she knew which door to knock on since she’d been coming here to change Dane’s bandages over and over again for several days now.
“Dane, it’s me. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he called. “What do you need?”
The fact that he wasn’t answering meant he was hiding something. Maybe he’d been trying to change his bandages on his own and had his shirt off. Maybe he didn’t want her to see how bad it was.
“Can I come in?”
“That’s not a good idea.”
Yeah, he was definitely hiding something.
She tested the doorknob. It didn’t feel locked.
She still felt the need to call out a warning to him despite how she was about to invade his privacy. “I’m coming in.”
“Don’t come in!”
She went in. Then stopped short at the sight of the creature in Dane’s room.
Not a creature. That was Dane. Lois recognized him. She recognized the face and muzzle, one that had fur and looked like that of a bear. His body was in the shape of a man’s, though taller and also covered in fur. His enormous hands with his thick fingers had hooked claws.
And he was naked.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry!” Lois shut the door before someone could walk by and see him. It didn’t occur to her to walk back out again and wait outside.
“Why did you come in here?”
Lois turned around to look at him. She kept her eyes on his face and tried not to look down. It wasn’t like she could see anything. Not with all that dark hair, but she didn’t want to risk it.
She could definitely see the glossy shine at his shoulders. She didn’t need to see his back to know that he’d be bleeding there, too. It was like she could smell the blood in the air.
“Why are you bleeding again? Did Dennis hurt you?” She hadn’t seen them exchange blows or anything, but she couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him either. She could have missed something.
“I’m fine,” Dane rumbled. “He didn’t attack me.”
Now that she was in the same room as him, she could make out how his voice was different. It had been diff
erent the last time she’d seen him like this, but through the door, when she’d been worried…yeah, she hadn’t realized he would be in this shape.
He was taller than he was when he looked completely human. She’d walked beside him that day he’d saved her life. He’d been slouching a little then because of the wounds on his back. He stood straight now, showing off just how tall he was. His head almost touched the ceiling. At least it looked that way from her perspective.
“You’re not fine. You’re bleeding.”
“I said I’m all right.”
Lois started walking towards him. “You’re not fine. Let me see it. I said, let me see it!” she snapped when he backed away from her.
The fact that he was so big and scary-looking—and she might as well mention huge one more time—but was still backing away from her, trying to get away from her reaching hands, might have been funny had it not been for that heavy smell of blood.
Lois tried to breathe through her mouth to get away from the smell. When she could practically taste the iron on her tongue, she went back to inhaling through her nose.
Lois grabbed a fistful of his hair—on a spot that wasn’t bleeding, she was sure—and held on tight, making sure he couldn’t back away from her. “Let me see it. I can help you clean it.”
“It’s healing.”
Lois stared at him, then quickly decided she didn’t believe a word that came out of his mouth. “No, it’s not. You’re bleeding too much. Sit down and turn around.”
Dane growled at her. His black lips lifted, showing off pink gums and teeth, and that big, wet nose scrunched, but he still did as he was told.
And Lois realized she hadn’t been scared. He’d growled at her like an angry, impatient dog, and she’d kept her back straight and glared back at him like it was nothing.
She was either starting to get to know him a lot better, or the mating thing was real and having an effect on the way she reacted to him.
Lois tried not to think about just how he affected her. She cleared her throat. Even when he was sitting, making the bed creak under his weight, he was still almost as tall as she was.
