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When I don’t immediately protest, he moves until his legs are pressed against the side of the bed, his head tilting back to meet my eyes.
“You need to know there’s no scenario where I accept a rejection from you. So if you do it, you better be damn sure you’re ready to deal with the consequences. Because neither of us is going to be very happy if you try to break our mate bond while we’re staying in this tiny house together.” His warning makes me bristle.
“You’re going to stay here?” I don’t love the idea of being stuck here together—he’s right that the place isn’t very big—but I’m relieved that he might not be planning to drag me to some other stranger’s house in the middle of nowhere.
“Yes.”
The memory of Leah’s painting haunts me. If he plans to stay here, there have to be boundaries.
“There have to be rules if you stay here.”
“Okay.”
He agrees so easily that I instinctively take a startled step backward, throwing myself off balance in the process. His hands shoot out to grab my bare legs to steady me.
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“What kind of rules do you want, Tasha?” His voice is low, and I’m pretty sure he’s trying to give me bedroom eyes, though his features are so dark it comes off more intimidating than anything.
“You have to show me more respect. You can’t keep acting all caveman on me and not letting me think for myself. If this is real and we’re really bonded, that bond doesn’t make me your property. Things aren’t like they were for our grandparents.”
His hands tighten around my calves.
“Trust me, I know that.”
“Then let me decide for myself.” I stare at him expectantly.
“I can do that.” I raise an eyebrow, and he grins almost boyishly up at me. My wolf swoons like the traitor that she is. I barely manage to swallow down my annoyance with her. “Okay, I can promise to at least try.”
It’s as good of an answer as I’m going to get out of him.
I pretend to think about it even though my mind is already made up. I have a stubborn streak of my own, but I’m not so naive as to think it rivals the one Paxton has. If I push too hard, he’ll dig his heels in. If he really wants me to consider what he’s truly after—the two of us actually accepting the mate bond—there’s a lot of compromise to weed through before we get there.
And my first compromise needs to be letting him stay. No matter what Leah’s painting might have warned, he’s right that I’m not safe here without him. I don’t have any way of controlling the power that seems to curl around me protectively, and as much as I know Dominic would do anything for my sister, I’m not sure how much I trust his pack to be the only ones protecting me.
If someone out there has really put a bounty on the heads of the Jarreaus, it’s only a matter of time before even the shifters with pack affiliations decide they want to cash in.
“Now, will you please get some sleep?” Paxton asks, interrupting my inner musings.
I nod. I am really tired.
Paxton moves his hands to help me down. When I set my hand in his, there’s a spark. Not a cheesy, romantic spark. An actual spark. It doesn’t feel like anything to me, but Paxton flinches like I’ve zapped him.
“Ow. Fuck.”
I try to jerk my hand out of his, but he holds tight to me even as he winces. He doesn’t let go until my feet are safely on the ground beside him. Only then does he release me and shake his hand.
“What was that?” he grunts.
“I… don’t know.” There wasn’t any sign of the unexplained white light when he barged in here, but he grabs my hand, and I’m shooting sparks at him? I don’t understand it.
He didn’tlet go until you were safe, my wolf points out. But I don’t need her to point it out because I didn’t miss it. Even with actual sparks burning his hand, he chose me. I just don’t know if I can do the same for him.
* * *
Tasha.
There’s nothing familiar about the voice that says my name, but I move toward it anyway. I’m walking through the dark as if someone shut the lights off on me. How long have I been asleep?
