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Wick leapt off Justice, landing several feet away from him. Justice stood and squared off with Wick as if preparing for him to run again. But Wick wasn’t running. Bloody hell. He was tired of running. Tired of this. Justice was his true, beloved mate, goddamnit. Wick should already be head over heels in love… damn-sure not starving. Frankly, it was starting to piss him off. His other half was supposed to be turned on by everything about him. Not disgusted. Wick’s eyes flashed, warning Justice to keep his distance.
“I’m not disgusted. I shifted back because I could still feel your thoughts. Even the ones you tried to shield. You thought I was staying in my wolf form because I can’t be with you as a man.” Justice stood tall and proud in his nakedness. He had no reason to cover himself or be ashamed. His chiseled body was art personified.
Wick had to turn his head. Justice was amazing. He wanted him in the worst way, but Wick couldn’t let his Beloved think he could run all over him and he’d just take it. He needed to say his piece but he couldn’t look Justice directly in his bright blue eyes when he did. His anger seemed to flee suddenly whenever he did. He also couldn’t gather his thoughts when he looked at those eyes. Eyes he could still see in the dark of the night. It pained Wick to say his next words but he had to. “Do you feel our pull at—?”
“I feel everything.” Justice’s deep voice cut him off. “Times ten.”
“You sure don’t act like it,” Wick slung back at him. “I send away my escort to show my trust. I bring you a gift that you reject.”
“I didn’t reject your gift,” Justice said matter-of-factly.
“You were not appreciative. Where I come from, people show their gratitude—”
Justice pushed his chest out, his voice carrying. “I don’t know where you come from. We just met. Yes, we are mates. I feel it like nothing else. But you wanted me to lay down and let you bite me the second we met. You never gave me a chance, Wick.”
“I didn’t mean to. But I still don’t know how you were able to not answer my call.” Wick yanked his dark suit jacket off and tossed it to the side. It was ruined from the run anyway.
“It wasn’t easy.” Justice shook his head. “I’m not proud of my initial reaction to you. I thought you were… you know… doing something to my head to make me feel—”
“Wait. You thought I was making you think you were my true mate? You thought I was that deceitful having never even met me.” Wick began to move forward. The hurtful words propelling him right into his Beloved’s face. How dare he pre-judge Wick? “You thought I left my home, my family, and flew to the other side of the world just to trick you, you over-confident, furry fucker. I came here to do a job, just like you. I rule a species of people, Justice, just like you. I have zero time, patience, or energy to put into fooling you.”
The King was speaking, his forehead pinched and his fangs exposed, using only a minuscule ounce of his strength, but emanating enough force into the atmosphere that the nocturnal creatures called out in surprise. The air shimmered a thick, choking haze, displaying Wick’s anger… and his hurt.
Justice growled low when Wick poked him hard in his broad chest. Wick wasn’t frightened like any normal person would be because in the pit of his stomach, he was certain Justice wouldn’t hurt him, so Wick growled right back.
“Do not challenge my wolf,” Justice warned him.
Wick refused to avert his eyes. Forget that.
Justice’s body began to shake. It still didn’t strike fear in Wick’s heart, it actually excited him. Justice pulled back and stared long, like he was trying to decode something in Wick’s eyes. Wick’s vision flashed again, before going back to dark. Each time it did that it felt like he was looking through new eyes.
“I can see him.”
Wick’s snarl dropped, his anger quickly replaced by anxious curiosity. “What do you mean, you see it?”
“I see his eyes. He wants out,” Justice said with so much assurance, Wick began to believe it might really be okay and he had nothing to fear. “You’ve never met your animal?”
“No.” Wick felt ashamed, like he should know. Here he was in front of the most powerful shifter this side of the world and Wick was blessed with the same gift and didn’t know how to possess it. Maybe he wasn’t worthy. “My best friend – an extremely smart man – has searched for an understanding of what was inside of me since we were young vamps. He never found anything about vampire shifters, or even hybrids.”
