So why the hell does my mate think I abandoned her?
“My apologies.”
He massages his abused throat, but to his credit, doesn’t attempt to stab me in retaliation. He understands better than most that loyalty means everything in this world, and when you surround yourself in the company of murderers for hire, you’d be a fool to trust blindly. “For what it’s worth, from what I’ve observed of your mate… I don’t think she actually cares about your money. She just doesn’t want to be alone.”
With a snarl, I swipe my hand, slashing a rift of silver mist through the air that I step through into my office. I don’t want to hear it, don’t want to accept how badly I messed up where my mate is concerned. Because I’m starting to realize… I did. Fuck up, that is, and it’s a hard pill to swallow.
My fated mate doesn’t evenlike me.
All I ever wanted since my family was murdered was to become strong enough to protect the one I built. They may be murderers, but they’re better men than most. We’re selective about the jobs we take, and while our morals are firmly in grey territory, you couldn’t ask for better men to have your back. Because each and every one of them knows what it means for society to fail them when they needed it the most. Becoming a Shadow Knightmeanssomething.
That sometimes, you have to become a part of the darkness in order to destroy it.
“I’ll fix it.”
Because that’s the crux of it, right? Accepting that life doesn’t always go according to plan and adapting. And when it comes to my mate?
I’m not just going to adapt. I’m going to slaughter every obstacle in our way to ensure she has the life she deserves.
Chapter 20
Kiara
Stryker strangles the steering wheel, practicallydaringthe SUV to slide for an excuse to rip it off. “I still don't understand why you felt the need to sneak through the vents. Why didn't you justtellme what you overheard? I could have handled it instead of you delivering yourself up on a silver platter to human traffickers. Gods only know what sort of abilities they might have had. If one could teleport, you could be halfway across the world right now and I wouldn’t even know where to start searching for you!”
“Because if it went poorly and I got arrested, I didn't want to drag you down with me. I thought she was a fox, not a freaking kitsune! How was I supposed to guess they were trafficking mysts?”
He glides into the space outside of my house and throws it in park, pivoting in his seat to face me fully and cups my cheek. “Any man that's willing to sit back and watch you get in trouble to save his own ass is a piece of shit that doesn't deserve to be in your orbit. You know what would have happened if you’d told me?”
Discreetly, I tug my coat sleeve down a little more. I managed to hide the bruises before he saw them, but with him glued to my side since I showed up covered in blood with a kitsune in my arms and told him we needed to get the hell out of there, then the whirlwind of getting her safely settled into town, I haven’t had a chance to heal them. Honestly, the backlash is worse than letting them heal on their own, but it’ll lead to questions I don’t want to answer, so I’ll have to suck it up tonight when I’m alone.
“You’d have thrown me in the car and told me it was too dangerous to try and steal from men auctioning off animals and taken me home?”
“Close. I'd have sent you out to the truck to have it running and waiting with the doors locked. Stole your shifter friend even if shewasa regular fox, and dropped anyone that got in my way. Then passed her to you to check over and hold while we got the hell out of dodge.”
My stomach churns with disappointment. “So you would've had me sit around twiddling my thumbs while you did everything yourself.”
“Sweet girl, I'm not sure what kind of bondgroups you've been around, but let's get one thing straight. You know what a mate's job is?”
My throat tightens. I sawdozensof bondgroups growing up, each more helplessly in love than the last. Devoted and obsessed. And yet, no matter how much centers, male or female, are supposedly coveted, nobody’s ever treated me that way.
“To... love me?”
Stryker pins me in place with a fierce look. “To do whateverthe fuckhe has to to take care of you and make you happy. Physically, financially, and emotionally. So if someone needs to be punched in the throat for the way they speak to you? They'll be breathing through a ventilator. If you need a bigger house? I'll have a realtor ready to show you some options by the end of theday. And if you want to save a shifter from being auctioned off?” His stormy gaze holds mine, unrelenting. “Then I'll be the first one through the door because this iswhat I do. I protect people.” His thumb caresses my cheek and he rests his forehead against mine. “Let me take care of you, too.”
Chest tight, I rub the heel of my hand over the ache. “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Nothing’s that easy.”
“Of course it’s not, and anyone that tells you otherwise is selling something.Fallingin love is easy; it’s choosing to love them every day after, even when things aren’t perfect, that’s the trick. Building a solid foundation is hard work, and if someone isn’t willing to put in the effort, they’re not worth keeping around. It’s supposed to be you and them being a team against theproblem, not each other. And Kiara?”
Heart in my throat, I meet his eyes as they crinkle at the corners with his soft smile. “I’ve never met a problem I couldn’t solve until now, andyou’rethe one I came to for help, remember? I need you, too. So what do you say? Room for a defective myst on your team?”
A defective myst. Is that seriously how he sees himself?
Heart threatening to beat out of my chest, I try to respond, but my words stick in my throat. Nothing I say could come anywhere close to expressing how much his declaration meant to me, how desperately I needed to hear that. Hell, I don’t even know where to start, but actions speak louder than words, so I crush my lips against his.
He freezes for only a moment before threading his fingers through my hair, angling my head to take control of the kiss. And for once? I let myself fall into him without worrying about what tomorrow will bring. Every brush of his lips against mine, each roll of his tongue as he steals the breath from my lungs, I surrender to the inevitable storm that is Stryker Thorne.
A small eternity later, guilt nestles in my chest as reality trickles back in. “What does me saying yes look like to you? If I were to also have a fated mate or two, how would that work? Do I need to come to you first, or-”
