He slid into the booth beside me instead.
A waiter appeared immediately. “Hi, I’m Jack. Can I get your drink orders?” I peeked at the drink menu and ordered a mimosa. It was rude not to order alcohol when their claim to fame was great food paired with alcohol, right?
“I’ll have the same.”
Jack nodded and left to place our drink order. Declan rested a hand on my knee and casually stroked it as he looked over the menu.
I tried to ignore the heat pooling in my stomach at the mere touch of his hand on a part of my body that shouldn’t feel like an erogenous zone and focus on my menu.
Declan gave me a knowing smile I chose to ignore.
Something about having brunch in such a suburban part of town without anyone trying to kidnap or kill me was refreshing.
Our waiter returned and placed our mimosas in front of us, then pulled out a small notepad and pen from his apron.
“Are we ready to order?” he asked.
I looked up from my menu and smiled at him. “I think so.” I skimmed over the selection one last time before saying, “I’ll take the wild huckleberry pancakes.” I reached across Declan to hand him my menu.
“That’s one of my favorites,” he said. “And for you, sir?” He turned to Declan, who was still staring intently at his menu while his hand drew lazy circles on my leg.
“Huevos ranchero, breakfast fajitas, and the ham and cheese omelet.” He offered the waiter his menu, who didn’t bat an eye at such a large order.
“I’ll put your order right in.” He turned on his heel with a flourish, leaving Declan and me alone.
Declan’s hand slid higher up my thigh as I turned my body to fully face him.
“This is nice.” I glanced down at his hand caressing my thigh and heat crept into my cheeks
He slid an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. “It is.”
Feeling flustered, I bit my lower lip and searched his face for clues to what he was thinking.
His eyes honed in on my mouth before quickly darting away, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Are you sure you want to stick to the no-sex rule?” he asked.
I licked my lips. “Why? Are you experiencing some self-control issues?”
Gold flecks danced in his eyes as he leaned in close to whisper into my ear. “Not at all. I’m the epitome of self-control. It’s you I’m worried about.”
I pulled back and frowned. “Me? How so?”
Declan chuckled. “You’re already having a hard time keeping your hands off of me.” Declan eyed my hand suggestively. I rolled my eyes when I realized I’d placed it on his leg when he’d leaned in.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable?” I pulled my hand back and set it demurely in my lap.
Declan grabbed my hand and placed it back on his leg.
“Not at all. I just want you to know that should you change your mind, I’d be a willing participant.”
I laughed and didn’t bother fighting the grin that tugged at the corners of my lips.
Our waiter returned with a tray piled with plates of heavenly smelling food.
He placed a heaping stack of golden fluffy pancakes in front of me and managed to make Declan’s three orders fit on our small table without dropping anything.
"Is this how much you normally eat?" I took a bite of my wild huckleberry pancakes as I stared at the pile of food in front of Declan. Butter and sugar danced along my taste buds.
I moaned and closed my eyes, savoring the deliciousness of my meal.
When I opened my eyes, Declan was staring down at me, a perplexed expression on his face.
“What?” I brought my hand up and wiped my mouth just in case I’d managed to smear huckleberry syrup on my lips.
“If you expect me to follow your no-sex rule, you are not allowed to moan like that. Or lick your lips. It has me thinking of other ways to make you moan and other places I want your hot tongue …” he trailed off suggestively.
I sucked in a shocked breath and nearly choked on my food.
When I finally regained control of myself, Declan had already worked his way through his ham and egg omelet and had moved on to his huevos rancheros.
Thinking I’d better change the subject, I asked, “So, how did you wind up becoming Alpha?” I knew some of the basics. That he’d ruled the pack for the last nine years and that he was the youngest shifter to ever become a Pack Alpha at the age of twenty-four.
In nine years, Declan had also gone unchallenged, which was virtually unheard of. Having been living in the Compound for the past several months, I knew Declan was a well-loved Alpha, but it was still surprising that no one, not even a shifter from an outside Pack, had ever bothered to challenge him.
Declan set his fork down and leveled me with a serious gaze. “You don’t know?”
I shook my head. Shifters were secretive, and while the how of Declan becoming an Alpha was probably public knowledge within the Pack, it wasn’t information that would have been openly shared with outsiders.
“You’ve probably never heard of the Alpha before me since it was before the Awakening, but Bram was one hell of a sick fuck.” He paused and clenched his fist. “My father was Alpha before Bram took over.”
I worried my lower lip. When a new Alpha took control of a Pack, it usually meant the former Alpha had been killed.
“Bram challenged him?” I asked.
Declan shook his head and scrubbed a hand over his face. “No. He didn’t have the balls for that. He ambushed my father, his own Alpha, on a hunt. It was four on one. My father never saw it coming.”
Anger radiated off of Declan in waves. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Bram led the Pack for two long years before I was dominant enough to challenge him.”
“How did he gain control of the Pack in the first place if he never issued a formal challenge?” I asked.
Declan’s anger and frustration emanated through the bond and filled me with sorrow. Our food now forgotten, I stroked Declan’s back and waited for him to continue.
“He lied. He came up with an elaborate story that my father had attacked him, and that the challenge was issued during a confrontation. The shifters who’d helped ambush my father backed up the story. Bram was feared. He’d done horribly cruel things to those who opposed him in the slightest. We all scented the lie, knew it was an ambush, but there was no one dominant enough at the time to challenge him and win.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, knowing my words weren’t enough to ease his pain.
"And your mother?" I knew she was dead as well but hadn't heard the circumstances.
“She died three months after we lost him. It’s difficult for a shifter to carry on when a mate is lost. The broken bond—” he shook his head, “it isn’t something most can ever recover from.”
I sucked in a breath at the unsaid implications. Had I rejected him, had I been able to break the mate bond as I’d wanted to at the beginning … I didn’t want to even think it. Declan mattered too much. To the Pack, to me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
A sad smile lifted the corner of his mouth as he looked down at me. “You haven’t accepted the bond.”
My heart burned in my chest. I rubbed absently at the ache.
“I’d survive if you walked away.” He looked away, and a part of me wanted to reach out to him. To reassure him that I wasn’t going anywhere. But something held me back.
“Physically at least,” he said, almost as an afterthought.
I suddenly realized that I’d allowed Declan to slip past my defenses and my need to keep everyone at arm’s length. He had risked his life for me more times than I could count.
Sure, he was overprotective to a fault, but he also trusted that I could take care of myself. He stood up for me to the Pack and had shown me every kindness possible. But most importantly, he had handed me his heart.
Declan had come to mean so much to me in such
a short time.
I knew in my heart that I would be devastated if anything happened to him. And that admission left me shaken to my core.
We didn’t know each other. Not really. We hadn’t dated. We’d only been in one another’s lives for the past six months.
Was that enough time to fall in love? To make the decision to spend your entire life with someone?
I reached out and kissed Declan, unsure of how else to reassure him that I wasn’t planning to walk away.
His lips softened beneath mine, but he didn’t deepen the kiss.
I pulled back, and Declan touched his thumb to my lower lip.
“I don’t ever want to lose you.” His voice was a whisper filled with so much emotion. It vibrated through the bond and filled me with hope.
“Then don’t.”
17
Aria
There had been no further incidents over the past week, and even though I was relieved, my skin prickled with an awareness that things couldn't stay calm for long.
The more time I spent with Declan, the better I understood him. The more connected I was to him.
Declan and I were slowly developing a routine. We sparred with one another almost nightly, and though it aggravated me to know that he was pulling his punches, he never let me win, and he challenged me every match.
He pushed me to do better. To be better. And he never coddled me.
These past two nights, after our spar sessions, we’d been able to go to our room and have a semblance of normalcy. We watched old DVDs and ate popcorn. And I learned that Declan had a completely inappropriate sense of humor that I found wildly endearing.
But most of all, Declan was letting me into his world. I hadn’t realized how much that would mean to me—to be a part of something bigger than myself. To feel like I belonged somewhere and to someone.
I sat in on Clan meetings. They were boring and frustrated me to no end, but I realized why they were necessary. I was in awe of how well Declan navigated the shark infested waters. He had a brilliant mind, and he moved the Clan Alphas into the positions he needed them to be in like pieces on a chessboard, and when that didn’t work, he snarled and roared until they all shut up.
I snickered. A good roar seemed to always silence a room, unless that room was filled with children, of course.
I went with him to visit the children in primary. I hadn’t realized until now that he visited them daily.
Thinking about him crawling on the floor and making tiger roars for the entertainment of the young pups and cubs warmed my heart.
He would make an amazing father.
The prospect of having a child with Declan made my breath hitch. Was I really so far gone that I was already thinking of our future children?
I stretched my arms over my head and tried not to picture tiny tigers of my own running around our room.
If we had children, would they be able to shift? Would they inherit any of my pyrokinetic abilities? I didn’t know of any other shifters mated to a nonshifter and as far as I knew, pyrokinetic abilities weren’t something passed through every generation. Neither my mother nor father were psykers, but my grandfather on my papa’s side was an aerokinetic, able to manipulate the air and its currents. Was it possible for a shifter child to inherit both of our strengths?
A knock on our bedroom door snapped me out of my thoughts.
“Come in,” I called out, curious to know who’d be visiting me at such a late hour. It was eleven at night, and Declan hadn’t come to bed yet. But if he’d been the one at the door, he wouldn’t have knocked.
Inarus opened the door but didn’t step inside. Smart man.
Dressed in dark jeans and a form fitting long sleeved thermal, he stood awkwardly at my door, one hand shoved in his pocket, the other holding three metal spheres that hovered in the palm of his hand.
He usually only had them out when he was distracted, his mind playing out scenarios or contemplating a difficult task. I wondered what was on his mind now.
He and Declan were tolerating one another and I was grateful for it. But, I didn’t think Declan would be thrilled to have Inarus’ scent swirling around our room. I was glad he didn’t step inside.
I jumped from my perch on a large armchair and walked forward with hurried steps when I realized his face was etched with worry, his dark brows casting shadows across his cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. My heart hammered in my chest, an awareness that the last few weeks had just been the calm before the storm hitting me in the pit of my stomach.
Inarus pressed his lips into a thin line, his scowl deepening. “Remember when Twitch came looking for you at Sanborn Place?” He didn’t wait for my answer. “I gave him my number and told him he should call me if he needed to get in contact with you. I just got a strange message from him.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and held it out.
I took it and read the text message displayed on the screen. Twitch's texts were just as scattered as his verbal conversations.
Trouble. Hurry. She’s coming back. Help.
I handed Inarus back his phone. “When did you get this?”
“Less than five minutes ago.” I stared at the clock on the nightstand. I didn’t know when Declan would be back, and if Twitch was in trouble, I didn’t have the time to wander around the Compound trying to find him.
I wrung my hands together and worried my bottom lip. What choice did I really have?
Declan was going to kill me.
“One minute,” I said and rushed to find a scrap piece of paper.
I found an old business card in the pocket of a pair of my discarded jeans and quickly scrawled a note to Declan.
Ran out. Heading to meet with Twitch. Don’t worry, I’m not alone. Be back soon.
I left the crumpled business card on his pillow and grabbed my leather jacket. Slipping it on, I slid my daggers into their sheath at my waist and headed for the door.
“Come on.”
Inarus wrapped his hand around my forearm halting my momentum.
“Aria, something doesn’t feel right.”
“I know,” I agreed. “But you know Twitch. Half of what he says never makes any sense. If he’s in real trouble, we can’t wait for it to feel right.”
I slipped past him and made my way toward the staircase that would lead me to the Compound’s main entrance.
We passed Brock and Devin along the way. The were locked in conversation, and I kept my head low, hoping to avoid their attention.
“Hey, where are you heading off to?” Brock asked. He eyed Inarus suspiciously.
“I’m checking on a friend,” I told him honestly.
Both men frowned. “Does Declan know …”
I cut him off. “I’m a grown woman.” Irritation bloomed in my chest.
“So that’s a no?” Devin said.
I sighed dramatically. “I left a note, and I don’t have time to argue. Come if you want to babysit me. I don’t care.” I turned, not bothering to wait for a response.
“I’ll go with Aria. Go find Declan and make sure he’s apprised of the situation,” Brock said to Devin, who swore under his breath.
I rolled my eyes and didn’t slow my stride. I could live with two escorts, I told myself.
Babysitters wouldn’t kill me.
18
Aria
The drive to the city seemed to take hours. My skin prickled with the awareness that something was off.
Because Brock was with us, we’d driven rather than had Inarus port us to Sanborn Place, worried that if something was amiss, it would be better if he weren’t physically drained from having ported two people along with himself.
As the Pack SUV crept along the asphalt, it dawned on me that that had been the right choice.
The street was empty and the glow of the street lamps was dim, but neither hid the fact that Sanborn Place was currently occupied by more than one person. Twitch never brought friends.
Brock brought the car to a
stop across the street but left the engine idling. Shadows crossed in front of the darkened window. Two men at least, neither thin enough in stature to be Twitch.
“I don’t like this. We should wait for backup.” Brock tightened his hands on the steering wheel.
A crash sounded inside the building, echoing in the deserted night like a bomb had gone off.
I swung my door open and jumped to the ground. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as a muffled scream poured out of Sanborn Place. Shit! Twitch!
Brock swore behind me but opened his door to follow suit.
“What’s the plan?” Inarus stepped beside me, three small metal spheres hovering in his right hand palm.
I pulled my daggers free and eyed the building warily, forcing myself not to run straight for the still-broken door.
“They already know we’re here. You and I will go in through the front. Brock, go through the back.”
He growled deep in his throat as his face began to contort with his partial shift. Fur sprouted along his arms, and his fangs extended, overlapping his bottom lip.
“Don’t die,” he snarled, his words barely coherent as he loped off to the back of the building.
Well, here goes nothing.
Clenching my hands tighter around the hilts of my daggers, I charged through the shattered front door with Inarus close on my heels.
The room was pitch black, but as soon as we stepped inside, someone flipped the lights on, illuminating the room and blinding me for three sharp seconds until my eyes adjusted.
Someone slammed into me from behind, and I crashed into a nearby desk.
I gritted my teeth and ignored the ache in my hip as I faced my attacker. He was short and square with ash blond hair and eyes so dark they were nearly black.
He grinned, displaying a mouthful of crooked yellow teeth. Attractive.
My lip curled, and I called my fire to me. It rushed to respond, coating my arms in flames.
Branded by Fire: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Series (Blood & Magic Book 4) Page 10
