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“It’s about time for me to relocate,” I beganquietly.
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean? I thought California was where you stayed. You have a home here. Your business is here.” The panic was evident in hervoice.
“Actually,” I began slowly, “I have homes all over the world, and business headquarters in countless cities. After all, I can’t stay anywhere too long, Maggie. Think of the questions as I fail to age.” I stared up at the cloudless sky. “I love it here. Don’t get me wrong, but I need to leave the area for at least thirtyyears.”
“Wow.” She exhaled slowly. “I’ll be fifty-five and ready for retirement then.” Maggie groaned. “And my father will be long gone.” Her eyes filled withtears.
I pulled her into my arms. “You don’t have to be old in thirty years. If you and I are mated, you’ll age the same way Ido.”
“And I’ll have a lifetime of watching everyone I care about die. I’m not sure that’s better.” She averted her eyes and I had the strange sensation she was intentionally makingexcuses.
“Unless we’re mated, then you have my whole family.” I grinned. “Lots more people to love, people who age like us.” I couldn’t handle listening to any more objections so I stared out over the ocean. Watching the waves rush toward the shore and hearing them crash on the cliffs below had always soothed me. “I was thinking of maybe living in Italy for a while. I never finished telling you about the castlethere.”
“Dear God,” she mumbled. “I won’t fit in. I’m not built for that life. None of that is me.” She seemed ready to relay a list ofprotests.
“You don’t have to fit with any of that. We can build the life you want…anywhere you want to build it. All you have to fit with…is me.” I pushed off the bench, floated out to the center of the hot tub, and then turned so I was facing her. Slowly, I moved closer until I could place my hands on the bench, one on either side of her thighs. “Maybe you want to hear less about the castle and more about themating?”
Maggie looked past me, out over the horizon. “Sure. I guess.” She shrugged, but her eyes told a different story; they would never lie to me. Those glorious green irises flashed when I spoke. They showed her fear and also hersorrow.
I kicked off the wall and floated backwards until I reached the opposite side of the hot tub. Sitting there, I was still long enough to have one foot on either side of her. At first, I think she worried she was trapped, but then she seemed to understand my need to be touching her and laid her hands on myshins.
“The mating is really nothing more than making love,” I quietly explained. “You’ve done that before, right?” My gut clenched. The Alpha in me hated the idea of anyone else being with her. The realist, however, knew she’d gone to college and was twenty-five yearsold.
Whether she knew it or not, Maggie grimaced. “I’ve had sex a couple of times, if that’s what you mean. I dated a guy in college. It was nothingspecial.”
I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until I exhaled. “The guy or thesex?”
“Both, I guess.” She wiggled a little and I could sense her discomfort with thediscussion.
“Did you have an orgasm? Was it painful? Help me understand.” I drew my legs back and leaned forward, resting my elbows on mythighs.
“An orgasm? Ha. No. The sex lasted for all of three minutes. Do we really have to talk about this?” She glared atme.
“It’s important to me, to us. I want this to be an amazing experience for you.” I reached out and took her hands inmine.
“Who says this is happening?” Maggie stared at meblankly.
My mouth opened. I was ready to work through her objections, but before that could happen, there was a buzzing sound overhead, like a small engine. I looked up and realized a drone had flown into the yard. “Inside, Maggie,” I ordered. “Let me handlethis.”
She scrambled to get out of the hot tub, but slipped in the process. I saw her wince and then she sat hard on the stone edge. My mate was hurt. Someone was spying. These incidents coupled together had anger building inside me. I growled as I hopped out of the water and rushed to her side. I scooped her up in my arms, grabbed her towel, and dashed to the doors for the kitchen. Yanking them open, I skidded into the house. “Sit here,” I urged. “I’ll be right back.” And then I left her sitting on the cold marble counters while I ran backoutside.
The drone was hovering near the door, just out of reach. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get my hands on it so I could snatch it from the sky and disable it. Soon Fredo was behindme.
“Sir,” he began carefully. “Yourtemper.”
When I should’ve been kind and gracious, knowing he cared about me and the family, my rage managed to get the better of me. “I know all about my temper,” Isnarled.
“Try this, sir?” Fredo shoved a broom atme.
I took it and started swinging at the drone. The camera was moving. They were transmitting photos of the property, pictures of Maggie in a bikini, images of our private time together. Nothing I tried worked. The drone was always slightly out of my reach. In my mind, I pictured the owners laughing at me, at the way I was chasing after this stupid device. There was a rushing sound in my ears. Soon, my sight blurred. I knew what was happening. My body longed to shift. My dragon side needed to remove the threat. I meant to yell. I planned to shout. Instead, when I opened my mouth, flames shot out and the drone finally fell from the sky into the nearbypool.
Somehow, that wasn’t enough to soothe me, to calm my rage. The pounding in my ears grew. It was still too light out for me to shift outside. I stumbled past Fredo, through the kitchen door. Using my arm to shield Maggie from my face, I attempted to move past her and go straight to my burnroom.
“Stop, Blaise,” Maggiemurmured.
I didn’t listen. I kept going and I soon heard her behind me, the patter of tiny wet feet chasing after me on the hardwood floor. As I tried to turn down my hall, I skidded, miscalculated, and slammed into the wall. Maggie did the same thing, only she landed in my arms instead. I couldn’t look at her, I was so afraid of scaring her off, of further alienatingher.
“Breathe, Blaise,” she whispered. “Focus on me, on my feelings foryou.”
