by E A Price
Well, even if they didn’t have a big wedding, she needed a new dress for the occasion. Ooh, she couldn’t wait to go shopping for it.
Her phone rang again. She jumped on her bed and answered it. “Hey, sweetie, I was just thinking about you.”
“You were?” asked the hopeful voice on the other end.
Her panda growled in fury. “Myron! What the hell do you want?”
“Ling, I need to see you,” he pleaded.
“Tough, I’m hanging up.”
“No, please, if you don’t come to me I don’t know what I’ll do. I might just end it all!”
Jeez! “Myron, don’t say that.”
“I can’t live without you, and I won’t live without you.” He started crying down the phone, and Ling felt her willpower crumble.
“Look, I don’t know what to say…”
“Come and see me, I’m at the Howling Moon Motel, room 217. Hurry!”
He hung up, and Ling stared at her phone. Aww, hell.
Her panda was all for leaving him out to dry - ruthless, little beast. But Ling knew she couldn’t just ignore what he had said. She was mad as hell at him, her conscience wouldn’t allow it, just in case he was about to do something drastic.
Ling rubbed her temples. She considered calling Marcus, but she didn’t want to make him mad or worry him about the fact that her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t stop calling her. He had enough on his plate.
All she had to do was get out the house, past her cop sentry, convince Myron to seek help, and sneak back in, all without Marcus finding out. Easy peasy.
*
Ling got out the yellow convertible and turned back to her sister. “Just wait here, I won’t be long.”
‘Whatever.” Shuang shrugged and went back to playing on her phone.
Escaping her house had actually been pretty easy, once she got the co-operation of her little sister. Thankfully, Shuang came pretty cheap; all she wanted was Ling’s red evening dress and matching pumps. Given that it had been Myron’s favorite dress, it wasn’t hard to part from it.
Shuang made a big deal about going out to the store; Ling shifted to her panda and scampered into Shuang’s care while she distracted the bear shifter cop who, luckily, had come back on duty. When they were safely out of sight of the house, Ling shifted and pulled on the clothes Shuang had hidden in her bag.
Ling braced herself and knocked on the door to room 217.
“Come in!” called Myron.
She entered the room cautiously and screamed at the sight before her. Myron was sprawled on the bed, buck-naked, in what she was sure he thought was a provocative pose. Oh, her nausea started acting up again!
“Myron, for heaven’s sake! Put it away!” she cried as her panda yapped indignantly.
“Red!” he crooned, “I’ve missed you, come here, baby.”
She looked around the room at anything but the naked man and his waving penis. “What the hell, Myron? I rushed over here because you said it was a matter of life or death!”
Myron sat up on the bed. “It is! I can’t live without you; I left my wife to be with you.”
“Yeah, well, unless you cover yourself up, it will definitely be life or death because I will kill you!” she growled.
Stiffly, he pulled on a robe and Ling was able to relax a fraction. Ugh! What had she ever seen in this arrogant asshole? Her panda agreed vociferously.
“I left my wife so we can be together; I thought you’d be a little more grateful,” he said hurtfully.
Ling scowled at him. “No, we can’t be together. You lied to me about being married, and used me for sex; I can’t forgive that. And besides, I’ve met someone else.”
“What? Who?” he snarled, eyes flashing.
“It doesn’t matter.” She turned to leave, and Myron roared at her.
“So what? You’re just leaving me hanging? Do you have any idea how hard it was to get away from my bitch wife? Do you know what kind of hell my life is right now? How embarrassing my situation is?”
Ling turned on him; her eyes flashed to angry orange. “About as embarrassing as finding out you’re your boyfriend’s mistress and then having him fire you, I imagine.”
She turned and made it out the door before Myron grabbed her arm. “Please Ling, don’t go.”
Ling grunted and wrestled with him; her panda shrieked, and her tiny claws pushed forward, sinking into his arm. She wriggled for a few minutes trying to free her arm before she kicked him in the shin. “Never call me again!” she shouted over her shoulder as she quickly ran to her sister’s car.
She snapped at Shuang to drive, and, for once, her sister did as she was told.
Ugh! How could she had fallen for that? He was the biggest dickhead on the freaking planet! How could she have ever been contemplating a life with him?
She closed her eyes and smiled as she thought of Marcus. Just the thought of him sent delicious warmth through every inch of her body. She wondered what he was doing right now…
*
Marcus drove away from the Howling Moon Motel with a grim expression. His snake thrashed around, rumbling in fury. He hadn’t meant to be there; he hadn’t meant to follow her - he just couldn’t help himself.
He had been a little concerned about knowing where Ling was so, in a fit of worry, he had dropped a tracking device into her purse before he left her that morning. Okay, so it was possibly a little creepy and controlling, but damnit, her life was in danger. Just in case she had to leave her parents’ house, he wanted to know where she was at all times. He found looking at the map and seeing the round, flashing, tracking dot at her parents’ house to be relaxing.
After trying to sort out Ling’s house, and visiting a couple of very unhelpful farms looking for the python, he had taken out his laptop and was alarmed to see the dot was at the Motel. Marcus had sped there to find Ling and a big, gorilla shifter roughly embracing outside a motel room. The gorilla had to be her ex, Myron. Clearly he wasn’t out of the picture like she claimed.
Marcus was furious, and his snake was even worse. While he was running around town trying to keep her safe, she was cheating on him. He couldn’t believe how wrong he had been about her. He was so sure that they were true mates…
His phone rang, and on autopilot, he answered. The news he heard should have made him happy, but all he could think about was a barren future without the woman he loved. What was he supposed to do now?
Chapter Seventeen
Marcus tensed as he saw Ling sitting on the porch, sipping from a glass. She waved at him. She looked beautiful in a blue sundress. More than anything, he wanted to run over to her and wrap his arms around her. She would have been so perfect for him.
He tensed remembering the scene he witnessed outside the motel. He desperately wanted to pretend he never saw it, but he knew he couldn’t. It would fester and eat away at him, making him even more paranoid and jealous.
Ling smiled as she saw him coming. “Hey! Is something happening? My cop bodyguard just upped and left; my sister was devastated.”
Marcus eyed her warily. “Jackson and Logan found the python shifter; he was living with his new wife to the north in some kind of cult. He’s been brought back for breaking his parole, he’s in jail.”
“That’s wonderful!” she squealed before throwing herself at him. She kissed him soundly and was a little alarmed when he stayed rigid against her passionate onslaught. Her beast whined in worry. Maybe he was just tired…
Ling smiled at him and led him over to the porch seats, and poured him a glass of lemonade.
Marcus tracked her movements. “What have you been doing all day?” he asked unemotionally.
Ling squirmed a little under his grim gaze. “Nothing, just hanging out at the house.”
“Is that all?” he demanded.
Ling’s bottom lip wobbled. There was something wrong. Her panda squeaked at her to tell him about Myron, but she was too scared. What if he didn’t believe her? What if he assumed she had
slept with Myron? “Yes.”
Her nerves were on edge for lying, but the truth was too risky, she couldn’t lose Marcus. Lord, why hadn’t she just called the cops when Myron pretended he was going to kill himself?
His snake bellowed at him. She was lying to them! She had snuck out to see that fucker Myron and then lied about it! She was still seeing him; she was having sex with the fucking gorilla and laughing about how dumb Marcus was for trusting her.
Fuck, he should have stormed over there and ripped that gorilla to shreds! That would show her. That would show her who she belonged to.
Marcus closed his eyes and forced himself to breath in and out. No, he wouldn’t get angry, he wouldn’t get violent. He wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes he made with Kelly. His gut twisted at the thought, but Ling had cheated on him, and he had to end the relationship before things got worse.
“You’re lying to me,” his voice was laced with hurt and bitterness.
Ling bit her lip and, encouraged by her little animal, the truth came tumbling out. “Myron called me; he sounded upset and said he was miserable without me and that he was going to kill himself. I panicked, so I snuck out to make sure he was okay. When I got to his motel he was there waiting, naked. He… he tricked me. When I realized, I left straight away. I’m sorry; I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry or get upset.”
Marcus sneered at her, “You preferred for me to see the two of you in a motel parking lot?”
Oh, god! Ling ran around the table and kneeled in front of him. “I’m sorry; it wasn’t like that. He was trying to grab me and I kicked him and ran off. Nothing happened. I only went to him because I didn’t want him to get hurt. I don’t love him, but I couldn’t have forgiven myself if he had hurt himself. I love you, Marcus, and I’m really sorry.”
He looked down at her big, tear-filled eyes, and a part of him flipped for her, but another remained stone cold. He’d heard too many lies before; he didn’t want his second marriage to be the same as his first. He couldn’t bear to become the old, angry, jealous Marcus again. He needed to be on his own.
Carefully he stood up and maneuvered Ling back into a chair. Her lips quivered hopefully, but he looked at her sadly. “I won’t be made a fool of again. This, whatever we had, is over.”
Her voice cracked as the tears spilled down her cheeks, “Marcus? Please don’t…”
He tried to drown out her sweet voice and made his way to his car. His animal was howling at him, but Marcus refused to listen. This was for the best, wasn’t it?”
*
Ling clutched the cushion to her as she watched TV. It was some kind of nature documentary about bees or wildebeest or something. She was barely concentrating.
All she could think about was Marcus. After a fit of tears, she had come to her senses. She had hurt him; she needed to give him a little space to calm down and then she would go see him again. She was sure that he felt as strongly about her as she did about him, and she was certain that they would patch things up. About 90% certain. Besides, she’d made a little discovery that afternoon that might make a difference to the way he felt.
She frowned as her mother switched the TV off and ushered a rugged looking young man into the room. He was maybe ten years younger than Marcus, a couple of inches taller and broader than Marcus; his hair was a few shades darker than Marcus, his face was a little friendlier than Marcus’…
Yep, everything just came back to Marcus.
“Ling, this is Brent,” her mother proclaimed proudly.
“Ummm, hi, Brent.”
“Hi, Ling, it’s wonderful to meet you at last,” he said warmly.
“Uh, you too.” Stranger I’ve never heard anything about.
“You ready to go?” he asked brightly.
“Ah, what?” Alarm bells were ringing.
“She is!” cried Fang, “if you will just excuse us for a moment, we’ll fetch her purse.”
With a grip that belied her small stature, Fang pulled her daughter into the kitchen.
Ling looked at her accusingly. “What’s going on?”
Fang gave her an innocent, wide-eyed look. “Nothing, he is my friend’s son, he works at the zoo. As you recall, I told you about him, and you agreed to go on a date with him.”
Ling pursed her lips, “I don’t think that’s accurate, and it was before I met Marcus.”
Fang harrumphed. “Who has ended your relationship, and good riddance!”
Ling folded her arms. “We’ve had an argument and Marcus was upset. For which, I can’t blame him. I went to see an old boyfriend and then lied about it; he has every reason to be angry with me. But once he calms down, I’m sure we’ll get back together.”
“How sure are you?” asked Fang through narrowed eyes.
“Mother, I want to marry Marcus and I want to bond with him. I don’t want to go on a date with Brent. It might make things worse between me and Marcus.”
“Well, Brent’s here now, and given that you’re no longer in danger, you should get out and enjoy yourself.”
“So send him away,” said Ling firmly. It really was time she stood up to her mother.
“Well, couldn’t you just go out with Brent as friends, after all, you don’t want to hurt his feelings or his mother’s, do you?” Fang gave her a pleading look, and Ling felt her resolve start to waver. Fang noticed and continued to wheedle her, “His mother is quite wealthy and influential. I’m on the Board of the children’s hospital, and she gives a lot of money to us. If she were upset, that money might stop. You don’t want that to happen, do you?”
Ling inwardly groaned, and her panda huffed at her. “You know I don’t.”
Fang beamed. “Excellent, here’s your purse, have a nice time.” She thrust it into Ling’s arms and pushed her into the living room to find Brent waiting patiently.
He gave her a killer smile, to which she was completely immune. “Ready to go.”
“Yeah, sure,” she replied unenthusiastically. Who knows, maybe she would enjoy herself. Her panda growled. Yeah, okay, there was no way that could happen. She just prayed Marcus didn’t find out about this.
Chapter Eighteen
Ling sulked in the passenger seat as Brent drove her to their date. He said they were having a picnic. She couldn’t care less; he could have taken her to split a Happy Heart donut in a Stop ‘n’ Go parking lot for all it mattered.
She was, however, surprised when he led her into the closed Playa Lunar Zoo. “I work with the animals, “ he explained in response to her curious glance.
He set up the hamper on one of picnic benches in the middle of the square.
“This is kind of nice,” said Ling, unenthusiastically.
“Yeah, well, one of the elephants is sick, and I wanted to be close by in case they needed me. Plus the zoo cafeteria sells these hampers; I got this one cheap because it was going out of date today.”
“Oh.” If she hadn’t of been so hung up on Marcus, she might have taken offence at how little he appeared to care about their date. Back at her parents’ house, he’d been sweetness and light; now, he barely seemed to care if she was even there.
Brent sighed. “Look I don’t know what you’re expecting from this date…”
“I have a boyfriend – well fiancée actually, who I love very much. He’s not speaking to me right now, but I’m sure we will get back together soon. And I only came on this date to please my mother,” she blurted in a rush.
To her surprise, Brent threw his head back and roared with laughter. “Thank god, I was worried you were expecting a proper date.”
Ling raised her eyebrows. “So, you don’t want to be here either?”
“Hell no, I mean, no offence, but you’re not my type. I also have a boyfriend, who I love very much. And, like you, I only came here to please my mother.”
Ling rubbed her hands over her face and giggled. “Jeez, I’m relieved to hear you say that. Doesn’t your mother know you have a boyfriend?”
&nb
sp; Brent sighed. “She does; that’s why she insists I go on these dates. She’s convinced that I just haven’t found the right woman yet.”
Ling grimaced. “Ouch! How did she make you do this?”
“She’s a big donor to the zoo; without her help we’d have to shut down our facilities in Kenya and India. We rescue animals that have been hurt and treat them, if they can go back into the wild they do, but if they can’t, we bring them here. Without her money, we couldn’t do that. So, what about your mother? Doesn’t she know about your boyfriend?”
Ling nodded and nibbled on a piece of cheese. “She just doesn’t really like the fact that he’s a snake shifter, plus we’re technically broken up at the moment.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Brent warmly.
“It’s gonna be okay; he’s pissed at me, but I’m sure he’ll get over it.” About 80% sure at that moment.
Brent nodded in encouragement and Ling found herself recounting everything that had happened. Brent listened sympathetically and added the appropriate oohs and aahs.
“I think Marcus is overreacting,” he said between bites of a turkey sub. “He seems a tad possessive.”
“He is, but I don’t mind that, I kind of like the way he feels about me. The way he looks at me, it’s unbelievably intense, I just… I can’t describe it; words don’t do it justice, but it’s like I’m the most important person in the world to him, and like I’m everything to him.” She rubbed her arms. “I’m just so annoyed at myself for not just telling him the truth in the first place. I stupidly thought I could protect him.”
He took her hands and rubbed them. “I’m sure he’ll come round.”
She smiled sadly before yelping as Brent was knocked to the ground by a flying blur. Ling scrabbled to her feet as Brent started gasping for breath. An absolutely huge boa constrictor had wrapped itself around him, trying to squeeze the life out of him.
“Marcus!” cried Ling in surprise.
