Chapter 72: Inseparable

Daphne

I knew he was going to say no, but I had to ask anyway. He might know about shifters, but I’d bet my bottom dollar he didn’t know about the King’s Assassins, or how incredibly dangerous Cody was.

Nate wasn’t a run-and-hide kind of guy. And I also knew he wasn’t the kind of guy who was going to shirk on his commitments.

I felt tears starting to burn the back of my eyes and stood again, limping over to my desk to pack up my laptop and the few things that I would need to bring home with me. I still had plenty of clothes and all my personal items at home, so I didn’t need to bring anything. My brothers were hovering over me, and Nate was still standing there awkwardly. That room had never felt so small and clausterphobic before.

I wiped my nose with the back of my hand just to make sure it wasn’t drippy, and then turned to face my brothers. “Can you give me a minute, please?”

They shifted, and looked at eachother, doing that silent twin-communication thing, which at the moment I found incredibly irritating. “Wait for me in the car,” I ordered impatiently. “I’ll be down in five minutes. I promise.”

When they still didn’t budge, I gave Byron a good hard shove. “Give me some god-damned breathing room, or so help me, I’ll tell Bella!”

That was all the threat they needed. Wyatt nodded to Byron, and the two of them gave Nate the stink eye one more time before they headed out the door. Even though they were too big, they managed to move almost silent across the creaking floors. Out in the hall I heard some grumbling from my housemates, and then the downstairs door shut quietly.

“Nate–” I turned back around with a sigh, and was surprised when he was right there. He moved almost as silently as my brothers. His arms slid around me, being careful not to touch the scratches on my torso, and he pulled me into him with suprising gentleness. He kept one hand splayed across my back while the other brushed my hair off my forehead.

“You need to go with your brothers,” he said, his voice quiet, almost a whisper. “I’ll feel better knowing you are somewhere safe.”

“And what about your safety, Nate? This bear shifter isn’t just your run-of-the-mill crazy bear. We kind of have a history with her. I can’t—” I let my arms slide around his muscled shoulders and clung to him like I was about to fall. I couldn’t tell him everything he needed to know, not in a few minutes, and not without taking into careful consideration the safety and security of my pack and my family. “She’s a trained killer, Nate. An assassin. With a thing for knives. I don’t know what’s happened to her, she seems to have cracked. Now that she’s made you, you aren’t safe here. Even if you stay out of the woods.”

He leaned close, brushing his nose against mine. “Don’t worry about me Daphne. I can take care of myself, even if I’m not a supernatural creature like you.”

His breath caressed my lips, and his hand cupped my cheek.

“I know,” I said. And I did. He might be human, but there was nothing weak or fragile about Nathan. Almost without thinking, my fingers found the scar on his back, the round, slightly indented spot where a bullet had penetrated his muscles.

There was still so much I didn’t know about the man. I didn’t know for sure that he’d been in the military, or which branch he’d served in. There hadn’t been much time for talking when we’d been together, we’d been too busy with…other things.

“We are going to figure this out,” I said, resolutely. My brothers would take care of Cody, one way or the other. I knew they felt a particular responsibility now, since they had let her go free after she tried to kill their mate. And Nate and I would figure out the thing between us. We had to. He might think he didn’t want an attachement, but he couldn’t deny the chemistry between us was more than just…well, chemistry.

We had something special, something… magical. It sounded too corny to say it out loud, but I was beginning to think it might be a mate bond. It just felt… different from what I expected. But maybe it was because he was human.

Nate knew about werewolves, but did he know about mates?

Goddess there was so much we needed to talk about. But there was no time for talking. His lips met mine, and I felt the warm sensations spreading through, canceling out all my rational thoughts. It was just a kiss, a slow, sensual meeting of our lips, but I still felt like we were connecting on a soul-deep level. Like I knew him without knowing about him. And like he knew me too.

How could I seperate my self from that? When he finally pulled away, it was physically painful, like he was tearing a piece of my flesh. He rested his forehead against mine while he caught his breath. “You better go,” he whispered. “Before your brothers get impatient.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, but I didn’t step out of his arms.

Something felt wrong. Something was making my chest tighten with anxiety, and it didn’t have anything to do with Cody.

Nate kissed the top of my head, and then put his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me away. “Come on, I’ll walk you down.”

He put his hnad on the small of my back and guided me out the door, and down the stairs. He stopped on the front steps, and nodded to my brothers, who were standing beside a black SUV that was parked out on the street right behind my car, with the engine already running, and the headlights on, illuminating my car.

“What the hell is going on,” one of our housemates yelled from the depths of the house, “We are trying to sleep.”

“Sorry!” I called back, “I have a, um, family emergency.”

Nate squeezed my shoulder. “Be safe, Daphne.”

“You, too.” I wanted to kiss him again. Hell, I wanted to go back inside the house, and crawl back on his too-small bed and just keep holding him. He wasn’t even going to give me that option.

He gave me a little push. “Go.”

I took two steps, and paused, looking back at him, at his strong features being harshly illuminated by the security lights on the front steps. “I’m coming back.”

“I know.”

He didn’t smile. He didn’t say goodbye. So neither did I. I shouldered my purse and marched forward. I didn’t turn around again until I reached the door of my car. When I lifted my head to look back, he was already gone. The floodlights illuminated the empty steps in front of the front door of the Bleakley house.

Bleak, that’s how I felt as I slid behind the wheel, and pulled out onto the dark and quiet street. My brothers pulled out behind me, and I started the long, familiar drive back to our pack lands. Everything had happened so suddenly, it didn’t seem quite real. The septic mishap in the main dorm, moving to Bleakley house, meeting my sexy-as-f.uck roommate, falling into bed with him, and, who was I kidding?

Falling in love with him.

I know that it didn’t make any sense, practically speaking. A woman doens’t fall in love in a week. With a man she barely knows.

But I did, and it was stupid to try and deny it, or reason it through. Maybe he was my mate, maybe he wasn’t. It didn’t even matter. I already knew he was the one I wanted. But how would I convince him to give us a chance?

An hour and a half later we pulled up in front of the big, sprawling stone pack house, built by my great-grands from native stone, and added onto by the following generations. It was the wee-hours of the morning, but the door still opened in welcome, and my beautiful sister-in-law was there to greet me in a pair of silky green pajamas, with her wild black and red hair piled on top of her head like a crazy bird-nest.

She held out her arms, and I fell into them, feeling the comfort and love of my friend, my sister-in-law and my luna wash over me, soothing my raw nerves. She was so dainty, it was almost like holding a child, but her arms were strong and sure. She squeezed me hard, and I fought not to wince as she rubbed the scratches on my stomach and ribs.

“Thank Goddess you are home,” she breathed when she finally released me. “I’ve missed you so much. Are you hungry?”

It was two-thirty in the morning.

Of course, I was hungry.