Chapter 502 Chapter 502
Tripp yanked his jeans on outside the door as the water dripped from his hair down the front of him. He turned and looked at the door, then shook his head, he wasn’t going back in for a towel. Walking across the room, he glanced to make sure the man was unconscious, he was, which was a good thing, he couldn’t deal with that right now.
Lifting both hands, he rested them on top of his head and stared at the wall in front of him. She wasn’t going to be so forgiving when that bite didn’t go away with her next shift. He’d fucking marked her. Worse, he’d done it without her consent. Without his own knowledge as well, a second’s notice didn’t count and that was all the warning he had, from when her scent registered in his brain to his cat biting her.
Closing his eyes, he reached for his animal. As soon as they weren’t within earshot of anyone else, they would be having a talk. Like why the hell hadn’t he let him know she was their mate? Tripp couldn’t smell shit, but the gas smell, but his cat’s weird behavior made sense now. Opening his eyes, he turned his head, with his hands still on top of his head, and looked at the bathroom door. He couldn’t blame his cat, hell, he’d been drawn to her too, which should have set off all the alarms for him. He was never this distracted on a mission, never, not even with some of the crazy shit he’d seen had his attention ever strayed from the object he was tasked with.
Blowing out a breath, he dropped his hands and put them on his hips. Now what? Did he tell her? He frowned, was her taser still in his pack? He needed to make sure it was. Shaking his head, he looked at her boots outside the bathroom door, of course confiscating the three knives that he knew she had on her might be a good idea too. He had to tell her. Didn’t he?
Shit. He’d marked a female without consent. The next thought popped into his head and his legs gave out, he dropped to a squat and rested his back against the dresser behind him. He’d marked Vesper Hughes’s daughter. Lifting his hands, he rubbed them over his face and then held them over his mouth. His mate was an Alpha’s daughter. How had fate fucked up this bad?
Dropping his hands, he looked at the bathroom door again. The water stopped. It was nothing against her, she was pretty spectacular, even in her slightly scary, out-of-control moments—but Vesper Hughes was going to have his balls for this. He stood up. Would he kick his mother and sister out of that clan? Shit.
Tripp reached for his phone, and it wasn’t in his pocket. He glanced around the room and almost sighed in relief to see it sitting on the table. He needed to—what? He couldn’t call Kenzo freaking out about this. He definitely couldn’t call his mother and tell her he’d marked a female without consent, she’d have his balls for that alone. Fuck. When he told Amari that he’d marked her, she’d probably cut off his balls. He scowled at the door, he wasn’t even sure she liked males, never mind having a mate. His body responded to the thought of her, and he looked down at the bulge in the front of his jeans, then rolled his eyes, okay, she liked them for that.
Blowing out a breath, he walked over to his phone and then turned around and paced away from it again. The only thing he knew right now was no matter what he was probably going to be ball-less at the outcome of this.
The door opened and she came out wearing only the other man’s t-shirt. She looked soft and appealing dressed like that—except it was another man’s shirt, his cat didn’t like that at all. He cleared his throat when a growl started to roll from it. The worst part was he knew exactly what the loose-fitting material was hiding underneath and he had to jam his hands in his pockets to stop himself from going over to her.
Amari stopped and smiled at him, “you could have grabbed a towel.” She turned around and went back in, then came out carrying one in her hand.
Tripp felt like he’d forgotten how to move or speak as she came right up to him and reached and started to dry off his hair. She smelled amazing now that the smell of fuel was gone. The floral-smelling soap and shampoo, mixed with her—their scents smelled fantastic. Oh yeah, he was so screwed now, he probably wasn’t going to survive this. Reaching up, he put his hand over the towel and took over. “Thanks.”
Dropping her hands, she turned and looked at the big man on the bed. The bed. There was only one bed. His body and cat went to the same place at the same moment, and he had to turn away from her and look like he had a purpose for doing so. Going over to his boots, he jammed his bare feet into the cold wet leather. Grabbing the jacket and then his phone, he motioned to the door, “I’m going to go scope out the area and see how many others are here.”
“See if there’s a diner or something close by,” she motioned to the takeout garbage on the table, “I’m hungry.” She gave him an adorable, cheeky grin and his insides felt like they were suddenly on fire.
“Uh, sure, burger?” He held onto the doorknob like it was going to jump out of his hand.
“Yes. Milk, a few cartons of milk too.” She nodded her head and then turned and looked at the man again, “a quick bite and then we get him up and off the bed.”
She stretched her arms over her head in a leisurely stretch and his eyes flicked to the hem of the shirt to see it rose high enough that he could see a small fraction of her bare ass underneath. Gritting his teeth together, he yanked open the door and stepped outside. The cool air on his wet body was like a slap in the face and he relished the feeling. Zipping the jacket up, he tucked his hands in the pockets and then looked around the parking lot to see if there was anything close by. It was the back of the building, so nothing there. There was only one other car in the lot, and he was sure the snow and cold weather were to thank for that. It made his task easier too. The fewer people around, the better.