I can't fucking mate Angelina. She's a sweet little human. The mating bite would probably kill her, and definitely scar her delicate neck. Ballerinas don't have hideous scars on their necks. Nor do they take beefy tattooed meatheads for mates-boyfriends-whatever.
Angelina has big aspirations and a bright future. There's no way I could take all that from her. It's not right.
But I also made her a promise. I said I wouldn't let them wipe her.
So where does that leave me?
"What are you fucking telling me, Jared?"
I go for total honesty, because Garrett would see through anything else. "Listen, I don't know. This girl means something to me. I wish it weren't the case, but it is."
Garrett goes silent again. When he speaks, his voice is tense. "I'm gonna give you two weeks. Figure it out. Either mark her and claim her as your own, or wipe her. In the meantime, you stick to her like glue. Make sure she doesn't talk. Understand?"
I shouldn't feel relieved. Two weeks isn't going to solve this fucking mountain of a problem, but I am. It's two weeks I get to spend with Angelina. Two weeks before… fuck.
"Loud and clear."
"Good. And don't think I'm not going to fuck you up when I see you next."
I smile, because, well-I love Garrett. And I don't care if he pounds me into the ground, because I deserve it. "Yeah, I know. Thanks. I still have Fox to deal with. He gave me twenty-four hours."
"She knows about him, too?"
My limbs go heavy. "Yeah."
"I'll talk to him-tell him we have it handled."
"Thanks, bud."
"Jared."
"Yeah?"
"Good luck, my friend."
I give a harsh bark of laughter. "Thanks. I'll need it."
"Yeah, you will."
I'm not even sure what he means, but I remember how crazy he went before he marked his human mate. Trey and I had to hold him back to keep him from attacking her during the full moon.
Does he think I want to mark Angelina?
I haven't had the urge, but then I haven't had sex with her yet. And the fates know she brings up all kinds of terrible desires in me.
Fuck.
My wolf probably does want to claim her. But it's not going to happen. Because
1. I'm a shifter.
2. I'm a fuck up.
3. She's way outta my league. Even if we could get past the mating mark thing, girls like her don't belong with guys like me.
I walk back inside and find Angelina walking out of the bathroom brushing her teeth.
It's such a normal act of domesticity, but it goes straight to my dick, like everything she does. The idea of seeing her like this, as if we're living together, rocks me.
"You want the good news, or the bad news?" I ask.
She bites the toothbrush to speak. "Good news."
I grin like an idiot because she looks so damn cute. "Good news is you've been given a stay of execution." I hold up my hand when her eyes go wide. "It's a figure of speech, that's all. I have time to figure this out."
"Whabs the bab news?" she asks, toothbrush still clenched between her teeth.
"You've got a new shadow. I have to stick with you for a little while. Just until we're sure you won't talk."
I expect her to tell me no fucking way. Maybe slap me again, which shouldn't turn me on so much, but it does. Instead, she blushes right up to the roots of her beautiful red hair. "S-stick with me how? Stay here?"
I nod. "Don't worry, I'll take the couch. I'm not here to force myself on you. Just to…" I stop. Just to what? Decide if she's my mate? Reconcile myself to wiping her? Find out how fucking hard it is to spend the night under the same roof as her without pounding between her legs for every minute of it?
She raises her eyebrows.
"-just to make sure. Like I said."
She backs up toward the bathroom, pinning me with a thoughtful look.
What's going on in that beautiful head of hers?
"Fine," she says before rounding the corner and spitting into the sink. I hear the water running, but I can't stop myself from following her.
I lean against the doorframe. "You know, every time you tell me fine with that pouty voice, I want to spank your cute little ass until you squeal?"
Her lips part and she stops drying her hands on the towel, as if I shocked her into stillness. I try to keep myself from looking, but the stiff points of her nipples poke through her thin t-shirt, and I smell the scent of her arousal.
I'd give anything to fuck her now.
It wouldn't be hard to win her over, either. She's already halfway there, just from my crude threat.
But I'm not going to do it.
Garrett didn't assign me to stay here to get in her shorts, no matter how much they fucking turn me on.
And she deserves better than me.
So much better.
"I'll let you off the hook this time," I drawl, giving her what I consider my most charming smirk. "But consider yourself warned." I saunter away, because if I stay a minute longer, she's going to find out first hand just how badly I want to get those shorts off her, but I hear her breathless reply as I walk down the hall.
"I will."
Angelina
I don't know how I managed to sleep at all. I dreamed all night about a beefy werewolf coming in my room and pinning me down. Forcing my legs wide and pleasuring me with his mouth and fingers until I scream myself hoarse.
Living with Jared in the house is going to be next to impossible. I hear him rummaging in the kitchen, so I pull a pair of shorts on under my sleep shirt and pad out to the kitchen. I find him looking through my cabinets, appearing disgruntled.
He's even bigger and more impressive in the morning.