“When are you going to bite her?” My question must seem abrupt, given that he has no way of knowing which direction my thoughts went. He gives a blank look before shaking his head.
“Um, I’m not sure. I don’t…” He sighs, running a hand over his hair. “I don’t want it to seem like I’m only trying to bond so I can feel her emotions, which, honestly, would be really useful in situations like tonight.”
“You should ask her when she wants to.” I shrug, crossing my arms. “Or, you know, bite her because she begs you to in the midst of a hormone war inside her body due to designation nullification drugs being injected into her system. Like I did.” I grin. “Easy peasy.”
Sam snorts. “You’re a little shit, you know that?”
I grin, walking over to him and tossing my arm over his shoulders. “Yeah, but you love me, Daddy-O.”
Before he can shove me off, the bathroom door is opening, and our omega is stepping out. She looks just as amazing as before, and Sam is rendered both motionless and speechless by the sheer beauty of our mate.
“Trouble…” His voice is pained.
“Nope.” She shakes her head vehemently, then wags her finger. “I don’t wanna hear one word, Samuel Theodore Wright—yes, I asked your daddy for your middle name.” Sam’s mouth gapes open, and I step away from him, not wanting to be associated with whatever she’s mad at him about. “We have a plan—one where my omega-ness actually comes in handy for once—and we are not jeopardizin’ that because you don’t want me lookin’ like this in public!”
Sam huffs. “Jo—”
“And, you will not be killin’ anyone for touchin’ me! If someone needs to die, I’ll do it myself, thank you very much. You can go through one night of mild discomfort if it gets rid of Mikhail Vasiliev and puts us as allies with Luka and—”
“Jo!” Sam snaps, and Fireball pauses.
“What?”
He sighs, and in the smoothest fucking move I’ve ever seen, sidles up to her and runs his hands up her waist. “I wasgoingto say,” he arches a brow as he looks down at her, “how absolutely fucking delectable you look.” He starts to lean down, and hereyes dart to his lips. “And if we didn’t have somewhere to be, I’d lay you down on this bed right now and—mmph!”
My hand clasps against his mouth as I scowl at him. If I don’t get a kiss, neither does he. “Mind the lipstick, Daddy-O,” I snipe, and Jo steps back, giggling.
“Sorry, Sammy-boy, he’s right. And sorry for middle-namin’ you. I might be feelin’ a little on-edge myself.” She does a little twirl. “You like it? Mabel did my hair for me.”
“It’s gorgeous, just like you.” He smiles down at her, and then I remember that they finally fucked yesterday. Gave it to her so hard you could hear her scream from downstairs, and I was stuck jacking off in the bathroom like a teenager.
No wonder he’s being so…soft with her.
“I’m gonna head out now,” Mabel appears in the doorway, shuffling nervously from foot-to-foot. “For real this time.” There’s now an inch of space between her shoulders and her hair, and damn, maybe after all this murder-y business is done, Fireball should open her own hair salon.
“Can I walk you back?” Jo asks as Mabel takes a few tentative steps away from the bathroom.
“No,” she shakes her head, “you don’t got much time, and I can manage.”
“Well, alright then…” Jo frowns as Mabel gets closer to the door.
There’s something about Mabel. Something that reminds me of a little rabbit that’s been kicked around. She kind of makes me feel the same way Adela does, but…more. Like she needs extra protection and confidence.
So, being the great big brother that I am, I raise my hand for a high five as she gets close. “The haircut looks great, Mab—” I cut off when she flinches back, and dammit, if my heart doesn’t break just a little. I look up at my hand, still raised in the air, realizing what it must look like.
“Oh, Mabel…” Jo starts to go to Mabel, but I want to fix what I did. How do I make her not afraid of me?
Think, think…well, if you want bears to be afraid of you, you try to make yourself as big as possible. But Mabel isn’t a bear, she’s a rabbit. So the opposite must be true, right?
Mabel is the opposite of a bear, and I want to do the opposite of scare her.
I drop to my knees, trying to make myself as small as possible. “Look! Look, I’m not dangerous or scary. I’m just a little guy—not a threat at all.”
Jo has frozen in place, staring at me with a shocked expression. “Hayden, what are youdoin’?”
“Mabel is a rabbit—not a bear,” I state the obvious, glancing up at her from my spot on the floor. “And I want to do the opposite of scare her.”
“I…” She shakes her head. “What?”
