AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I'm her guard, Tilly.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she rolls her eyes, turning her attention to her phone, and I snatch it from her hand. “Casen, give it back!” she snarls as I go through her messages. They were whispering about something, so I knew they were up to no good. I found Rose's message, asking if I had come to Tilly looking for her yet. I grit my teeth when I see the next one, saying she was going to ask Vince to run her into town to meet her boyfriend. Tossing the phone onto her bed, I storm out, heading home to where Vince and I now live. The house was too crowded. His car is still here, so I know she hasn't escaped me yet.
Stomping up the steps, I walk inside and instantly pick up her scent, then her voice comes from the sun room out back. The moment the door closes, the house falls silent as I walk wet footprints through the place. Stepping into the sunroom, I find Rose on the floor with a game controller in her hand. Vince and her are playing Mario Kart. She snickers the moment she looks at me, causing Vince to snap his head in my direction.
“Are you okay, bro?” he asks, leaning down and grabbing his beer bottle from the floor.
“Don't you have patrol duty?” I ask him.
“Not until midnight,” he shrugs, and I eye the bottle in his hand. He can be a nasty drunk.
“Rose, shirt, now,” I tell her when I see his eyes move to her chest. She only has a towel wrapped around her, which has slipped down, revealing her bikini and chest.
Rose looks at me oddly, yet gets to her feet and wanders over to me. “If I go home, mom will make me go to the Luna meeting thing,” she says, pulling a face. I sigh.
“Then grab one of mine, but put a shirt on,” I tell her. She goes to move past me when I grab her arm.
“I read your messages to Tilly,” I say, a warning in my tone.
“Try it, and I will tell your mother you have a boyfriend,” I threaten. She says nothing, but glares at me. Andrei knows she has a boyfriend, and so do I, since I am the one who gets stuck babysitting them. Sage, however, would freak out. It took her years to be comfortable with me being around Rose, given I am her mate. I had my own babysitter when she learned I was her mate. It took me ages to convince her it wasn't like that.
Yes, I feel the mate bond, but it changes as she does. It wasn't like a typical mate bond, just an urge to protect her when she was little. Brotherly.
It remained that way until she hit puberty. Now I can feel it more, but still not in a revolting way. More like I need to covet her away, yet the older she gets, the harder it is to control my temper near her. My possessiveness of her was out of this world. Nothing sexual, it's not like that, but the bond recognizes her now as ours. Rose nods, knowing I will snitch on her. She stomps off, and I turn my attention to Vince to see him looking at her as she wanders off.
“You know I don't like you drinking around her,” I tell him, drawing his attention back to me.
“You must admit, she’s got a nice rack…” Vince says.
“Don’t be revolting.” I scoff.
“Says the man who follows her around like a lost puppy.”
“Watch it, Vince,” I warn him. He’s treading dangerously right now, and Zyan wants blood.
“Whatever, get off my fucking back. We weren't doing anything wrong,” he growls.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I ask him.
“I'm just saying she isn't just yours, Casen.”
“You rejected her!” I tell him. I made him a few months back while she was asleep. I had asked Kat if it would work. She wasn't sure, but was able to manipulate her wolf to come forward briefly from the Moon Goddess realm. It exhausted her to do it. Ezra found her passed out in the Moon Goddess realm. She had to force her wolf forward while not forcing the shift. Although we can't say for sure until her wolf comes forward, I've noticed Rose constantly seeks him out without realizing it since that night. Kat agreed only because she saw it, but didn't elaborate.
“Did I?” Vince laughs. I move before I process what I've done; I grab him, slamming him to the ground.
“Don't fuck with me, Vince. We had a deal; you're no good for her,” I snarl at him.
“And you are?” he growls back.
“Is everything OK?” Rose asks while Vince glares at me.
“Everything is fine,” I tell her, letting him go. I fall onto the couch, and Rose nervously steps into the room. Vince hands her a controller, and she falls on the couch beside me. I watch them play games for what feels like hours until I drift off at some point. I wake up, groggy, only to find them both gone.
* * *
Shaking the memory off, Malik is watching me. “I'm shocked Andrei jumped in,” I tell him.
“Things have changed over the years,” Malik says cryptically.
