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Finally, she reached the stainless steel counter. Many employees pottered around, dressed in aprons and hairnets. Behind the glass case was everything from sandwiches and bagels to donuts and cupcakes.
Larkin placed her order, resisting the temptation to greedily add one of the pre-prepared white boxes of cupcakes. The latter were her weakness, and she was feeling inwardly unsteady after the branding business and her one-nighter with Teague.
Her demon, on the other hand, was still feeling so self-satisfied about it all that it had been smirking all morning. It wasn’t annoyed that Larkin intended for there to be no repeat of last night. Purely because it didn’t believe she’d hold out against him. Honestly, Larkin couldn’t promise that she would.
She moved to the cash register and paid for her order before heading to the collection point on the far left of the counter. She took a seat on one of the stools at the small bar there . . . which was right around the time that she felt someone’s eyes on her.
Larkin instinctively glanced to the side, her lips thinning when she saw Holt slowly heading her way with two males close behind him. That quickly, her demon’s smirk died a fast death. She blanked her expression as she reached out to Piper. Don’t move from the table.
The woman’s psyche all but clashed against hers. Is that blond dude him? The motherfucker who has the nerve to call himself your anchor when he’s been anything but that to you?
Yes, unfortunately. Stay where you are while I get rid of him.
Fine. But if he or his goonies make any unwise moves, I am so heading over there.
The aforementioned goonies took up positions around the bakery, hyper-alert. They were clearly sentinels. Holt, however, came to stand in front of Larkin.
Her psyche lunged toward his with such force she inwardly winced, but she’d been ready for it; had already shored up her mental barrier to prevent the bond from forming. That annoyingly didn’t stop its call from pounding through her brain, shoving at her willpower.
Even as anger rose up inside both her and her demon, she didn’t allow her expression to change. Nor did she slip off the stool so that he didn’t have the height advantage. It wasn’t an advantage that he could use—Larkin didn’t worry for a moment that she couldn’t take him down if necessary. “I would have thought you’d be back in Canada by now.”
He gave her a pointed look. “I won’t be so easy to get rid of, Larkin. I could see that I’d given you a shock when I showed up at your place a few days ago, so I gave you time to get used to the fact that I’m back. Now we need to talk.”
“No, we really don’t.”
His jaw briefly tightened. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to make time for me. But I’m not going anywhere. Not until I’ve fixed things between us.”
“You can’t fix things.”
“I don’t accept that,” he said, inching up his chin slightly. “There were so many hurdles for us when we first met. They aren’t there now. I don’t have a Prime who’s giving me shit and threatening to take away my position if I don’t turn your loyalties. I lead my lair now. I’m not under pressure to bring you into it. I can visit you here in the US as much as I want.”
“Oh, so you don’t care that I would never move to Canada or switch to your lair?” Doubtful.
He hesitated, poking his tongue into the inside of his cheek, and she got the feeling that he was being mindful to choose his words carefully. “I wouldn’t say I don’t care,” he finally said, speaking slowly. “Of course I’d rather have you close so I can better protect you. But if you wish your circumstances to remain as they are, I’ll respect that.”
Her entity let out a disbelieving snort. “So you being Prime of your lair is what’s made the difference? That’s why you feel we can finally form the bond?”
“Yes.”
“Huh. Weird.” She scratched her cheek. “I mean, you’ve been Prime for five years now. Yet, you stayed away until recently.”
Surprise flashed in his eyes. If he hadn’t expected her to do a little research on him, he was dumb as a rock.
Hearing her order number be called, Larkin edged off the stool, intending to cross to the collection point. But the dickhead in front of her blocked her path. “You need to move, Holt. Now.”
“I told you, we have to talk.”
“What’s the point when you’re not even willing to be straight with me? You claim you’re here right now because you ascended from sentinel, but there’s more to it than that, isn’t there? Here’s what I think happened. See, I learned that you came to Vegas a month ago on a trip of some sort.”
