AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sweetheart, I’m warning you. If you don’t sit that perfect little butt of yours down, there will be consequences.”
“Consequences?” I blinked, trying to figure out what he meant.
But Donovan didn’t reply. He just stared at the road ahead, his jaw clenching.
Had he meant he would spank me or something? And wait… he was calling me sweetheart now?
Something had changed. I thought back to the moment when I’d reached out and touched his hand. Our first touch. It had felt… significant. Like electricity.
My older sister Lindyann had met her true mate, and I’d read plenty of omega romances about finding “the one.” They all said you’d know if you met your perfect match. But the scent was the only sure way to tell.
I couldn’t be sure, without scenting him.
It was possible, though. What if this Viking, this enormous, terrifying-looking man was my true mate? The other half of my soul.
The thought made something inside me click, like a final puzzle piece being moved into place. I didn’t have to wonder. Didn’t have to smell him. He was mine. He had to be.
Wow. Somewhere, the universe was laughing, or drunk. There had never been a pairing as unlikely. I was scared of everything. And everyone with any sense was scared of him.
I threw the blanket off, feeling suddenly hot. But when the blanket hit the floor, something twisted inside. I struggled out of my coat and pulled the blanket back over me. “I need a damned cheeseburger.” And I probably need to take another suppressant, I didn’t say aloud.
“I’ll get you anything you need,” Donovan muttered, turning at the next intersection.
We rode in silence down the main drag. The clubs were still hopping, and I saw a car being towed away, the front of it crumpled.
“That’s why I was late getting back to you. That drunk idiot plowed into the Hummer.”
“Were you hurt?” I leaned forward, the seatbelt catching me. He growled, but I didn’t lean back. “Oh my gosh, I smell blood! Are you injured?” In a flash, I’d unbuckled my seatbelt and was climbing over the back of his seat to check on him.
“Damnit, Valentine!” He had the Hummer pulled over to the curb before I could find where he was cut. “I told you to stay buckled. Get back in your seat!” he half-barked at me.
It wasn’t a command, not one I would have to obey. But it had sounded so angry, had reminded me of… I froze, my heart racing so fast, I thought I might pass out.
“D-d-don’t–do not d-do…” I was hyperventilating, but I could tell from Donovan’s soft cursing that he regretted using that hint of his alpha bark. “You–you’re n-n-not allowed,” I stammered. I knew Nicky had written that into the contract of every alpha who worked for our family and might come into contact with me. None of them could use their alpha bark in my presence, and if they did, it would be seen as an attack.
“Ah, sweet girl. I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean it. I shouldn’t have done that. I won’t ever do it again; never again, I promise,” he soothed, pulling me carefully over the seat and cradling me, half on his lap, his hands on my flushed cheeks. “I promise,” he repeated, his face only inches above mine. “In and out, sweetheart. Breathe with me.”
I kept trying to find the words to explain why I’d freaked out. “B-b-blood?—”
“It’s not my blood, sweetheart,” he explained once I’d managed to get my breathing under control. Well, if under control meant sort of quietly freaking out. “It was the guy who hit the car; he cut his head. He’s fine, though they sent him to the hospital. It got on me, and I had to wash off and change my clothes.” I breathed for another long minute, until he asked, “Better?”
“Much,” I said, truthfully. I buried my face in his shirt, trying to scent him, but only picking up a slight trace of cedar underneath the laundry detergent and the scent-blocking spray. I felt his breath in my hair, then a feather-light pressure as he rested his face on my head. One of his hands started smoothing my hair behind my ear, and goosebumps rose up on my arms. “I wish I c-could smell you.”
“You know I signed a contract. I’m not allowed near you without blockers.”
“But what if,” I whispered, hoping my courage didn’t fail me. “What if I liked your scent…” I wanted to tell him what I suspected. But my own scent was filling the vehicle. If we were true mates, wouldn’t he have said something?
Wouldn’t it be impossible for him not to touch me, kiss me, make me his?
“Shush, sweetheart.” He lifted me up like I weighed nothing, settling me into the passenger seat—which suddenly seemed ridiculously far away—then buckled me in and put the car into gear.
“Where are we going?”
“To get a cheeseburger, and then to take you home.”
“Not hungry?” Donovan asked a half hour later. We’d found an open fast-food restaurant, and he’d bought me the food I’d requested, not even allowing me to pay for it, even though I had my purse now. I’d felt flushed, so I’d taken half of another suppressant. I figured it was fine since I’d thrown up earlier, and I was supposed to take it with food, but the smell of the burger was turning my stomach.
Or that could have been the silence in the Hummer. It was just him, and me, and the fact that he wouldn’t talk to me. As if he hadn’t felt what I had.
