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There’s rustling and then, “Tasha? Are you okay?”
She doesn’t give me a chance to answer, but I don’t care. I’m so unbelievably relieved to hear her voice.
“Tasha, there’s something you need to know. There’s a rogue, Paxton Glass, he thinks—“
“I’m here,” my stalker interrupts, scowling.
The line goes silent for so long I’m worried we lost them before Tess speaks again. “Paxton?” she asks before she whispers something unintelligible, presumably to Dominic. “The two of you are together? Whose phone is this?”
I tear my eyes away from the phone screen and force myself to make eye contact with the stranger. Paxton. Paxton who might actually be stalking me.
As my sister continues to ramble rapid-fire questions, Paxton and I lock into some kind of staring contest. He studies me openly, so I do the same to him. I catalogue the fact that his eyes are actually a dark brown and not a solid black. For some reason that makes him feel slightly less threatening than true black eyes would, even though that has everything to do with genetics and nothing at all to do with whether he’s dangerous or not.
I let my eyes drop to Paxton’s jawline even though I feel like I’m playing with fire looking him over so openly. His facial hair is short but growing a little wild at the edges as if he hasn’t properly trimmed it in a few days. His jaw looks like it could have been cut from marble by a proper artist. He’s a dark-skinned Adonis.
Why is an attractive man stalking me?
The only possible answer is that he’s currently attempting to lull me into a false sense of security. Losing my mate has made me wary of rogues—no matter how good looking he is. I can only assume he’s planning to harm me in some way, otherwise why would he have someone else leading me to him in the dark? Or be breaking all kinds of shifter conduct by being here with me now?
I’m not safe.
“Tess.” My voice shakes as I say my sister’s name, and it’s enough to quiet her instantly.
Paxton must see it, the moment my fear really kicks in. He’s faster than me. He snatches the phone off my knee and ends the call as my sister’s voice calls out to me. A moment ago, I thought he looked handsome. Now all I see is that he looks dangerous.
And angry. Really, really angry.
“I just can’t win with you,” he grinds out. “This is fucking exhausting.”
He chucks the phone over my shoulder, and I wince as I hear it thump too far away to realistically think I can be fast enough to get ahold of it again before he stops me. All the effort he seemed to be putting into acting nonthreatening fades away. I watch in horror as his muscles start to tense. I shouldn’t have let my guard down even for a second, I realize as true fear spears my chest, my heart rate skyrocketing.
Before he can reach for me, I launch myself off the bench. He’s close enough that my movement knocks him off balance. Desperation claws at my throat as I throw myself into my only remaining option.
I shift.
“Dammit, Tasha!” He yells loudly enough that I know someone in the pack has to have heard it. Guards will be on their way here already, but I know there’s no way they’ll come fast enough.
I move as fast as my legs will carry me, relieved when I don’t immediately hear him coming up behind me. In fact, it’s so quiet that when the mind link kicks in, I’m startled enough to stumble over my own paws.
Stop running from me.
I barely have time to right myself again before he’s hovering over me. He’s big, even in wolf form. I tense up to run again, but he launches himself at me. I close my eyes in preparation of hitting the ground hard, but he manages to roll me carefully onto my back without nearly as much violence as I anticipated.
I know you can hear me, Tasha.
He’s right, and that is scarier than anything else he’s done so far. Because the last time I mind linked with anyone outside my own pack, that wolf was Jimmy.
My mate.
6
Paxton
I know you can hear me, Tasha.
Her eyes flash with irritation, and I’m so damn relieved. She can hear me, and it’s pissing her off. I was starting to think Tasha Jarreau might be too proper and too much of a doormat to handle me. Her eyes light up with something that says otherwise.
My mate has some fight in her after all.
