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He bit her chin. “I’ve waited long enough to be fully bound to you. I don’t like that I have to wait longer.”
“I’m not fond of the situation either, but there’s nothing we can really do about it. Which makes the whole thing suck even more.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it does.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Looking down at the bush dog playfully attacking the living room rug a few days later, Luke exhaled heavily. She could be as destructive as a bored pup at times. In her view, everything was a potential chew toy. She’d lunge at whatever she could sink her teeth into. Chew it. Claw it. Even eat it.
He didn’t know what bothered him more—that she was wrecking yet another object in their home, or that his cat wanted to join in the “fun.”
Luke scratched his cheek. “How about we go outside?” he proposed, knowing Blair would communicate his words to the animal. “You can play in the backyard.”
The little female didn’t even look at him.
“So that’s a no, then.” Luke would have tried to take the rug from her if he didn’t know she’d misinterpret the move as a let’s play a game of tug of war. That was how it always went if he tried taking away a new “toy” she’d claimed. And he never won such games, or walked away uninjured.
There would be no distracting her with another toy either. Once she’d settled on one, she wouldn’t abandon it until she was ready. And by ready, he meant bored.
The phone on the coffee table rang. Blair’s phone.
Luke grabbed it, checked the screen, and then held up the cell. “Your brother’s calling.”
Eerily dark eyes slid his way, but she didn’t release the rug. Just kept on growling and snarling and tearing into it.
“You gonna answer the phone or not?”
She attacked the rug with renewed vigor. Which basically meant that Blair wasn’t pushing for supremacy, likely enjoying his frustration with her female. Little witch.
“Don’t think you won’t pay for this later, Blair.” He swiped his thumb over the phone’s screen and answered, “Hey, it’s Luke. Your sister can’t come to the phone right now. Her female is currently in charge, and she’s busy tussling with inanimate objects.”
Mitch snickered. “If the bush dog’s in one of those moods, you’d be wise not to take your eyes off her for long—she’ll get into all kinds of shit.”
“I know that from prior experience. Want me to pass on a message to Blair?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind. Quick warning, I don’t think you’re going to like this much. The odds are that her female won’t like it much either, so you might want to move away from sensitive canine ears. A pissy bush dog is not fun to deal with.”
His scalp prickling, Luke stalked into the kitchen but didn’t close the door, enabling him to keep an eye on the little female. “I’m out of earshot. Tell me.”
“My parents want to meet with Blair.”
Luke froze, and his cat let out a long hiss. “Why?”
“They don’t like the growing distance between her and them. It’s eating them up. They want to fix it.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re certain that that’s truly what they want? That they aren’t simply hoping to have the chance to toss more dogshit on her doorstep or to talk her into returning to your territory?”
“My mother swears that she has no intention of making an ugly scene. She says that, like my dad, she wants to make peace.”
“Just like that?” asked Luke, his voice oozing disbelief.
“I can see why you’d be skeptical—”
“Of course I’m skeptical.” Luke paused as the bush dog darted out of sight. Well at least she’d gotten bored savaging the rug. “As much as I figured that Noelle would back down eventually, I didn’t think she’d do it this soon.”
“I don’t believe she would have if it wasn’t for one thing—she’s scared for Blair right now. Truly afraid. There’s no missing that the stalking is escalating, especially after the hit and run, and my mother is terrified that she’ll lose another daughter. Noelle wouldn’t survive the loss, Luke. I know she wouldn’t.”
Luke let out a long breath, rubbing at his nape. Could Noelle’s fear for Blair have lit a fire under her ass and led her to back down? Maybe. That kind of terror could certainly shift a person’s priorities and remind them of what was truly important. It could make them determined to fix any rifts even if only so that they’d then be around to protect their loved ones. But that didn’t mean this was the case with Noelle, did it?
“I’ll pass the message onto Blair and see how she feels about it,” said Luke.
“I appreciate it.”
Luke frowned as the again-growling bush dog dragged a sneaker past the doorway by its laces like she was heaving dead prey to a den, quickly disappearing out of his line of sight. He shook his head at her antics.
