Page 42 of Guarding the Billionaire

“Stay back or I slit her throat,” he yelled.

I rolled my eyes. “Try it and I’ll rip out your entrails and feed them to my wolf.”

Jacob’s eyes widened as his gaze landed on my fangs. When I let my inner vampire out my lips turned blood red and my body seemed to grow and emanate power. This guy was confused by what was happening, but smart enough to be scared.

Lois growled loudly, going into a half shift. Most shifters didn’t have enough control over their animals to do that, but Lois had such ironclad control that even her wolf didn’t dare cross her. Her arms turned furry, claws extending from her fingertips, and her face elongated as her own fangs appeared. She snarled menacingly.

Jacob made a choking noise, staring at my boss.

“What’s wrong with you freaks?” he cried in a high voice.

While he was distracted, Flora threw herself to the side, landing on the floor with the chair between her and Jacob. I leapt forward, knocking him onto his back, and straddled his waist, punching him in the face repeatedly while he whined like a baby. He didn’t even try to fight back, much to my annoyance.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lois help Flora to her feet, moving behind her and using her claw to cut the duct tape from her wrists. The bruise on Flora’s cheek made me see red.

“Are you all right?” Lois asked while I continued to sit on Jacob, vibrating with barely suppressed violence.

When he tried to scratch me I gave him another hard punch that made blood come pouring out of his nose. My fangs ached with the desire to rip out his throat.

“Don’t kill him,” Lois reminded me.

She grabbed her phone, calling the rest of the team to join us before calling her contact at the police. Diaz and I rolled Jacob over to his belly, zip tying his hands behind him, then I went to my mate. Well, after giving him a sharp kick in the ribs that made him scream in pain.

Like it was my fault he had such fragile ribs.

“Quit whining you big baby,” I snarled. “Those broken ribs will heal while you’re in jail. You’re lucky I didn’t kill you for hurting my mate.”

I took Flora in my arms, giving her a hug. “Are you okay baby?”

She nodded. “Apparently Henry made me the beneficiary of his will,” she explained. “I had no idea.”

“Your boy Jacob has a gambling problem,” Angie told us. “He owes a lot of money to the wrong people.”

Jacob just groaned.

“Don’t worry Jacob,” Lois told him. “Those guys will find you in jail, then your ribs will be the least of your worries.”

Flora

It seemed to take hours for the cops to interview me and finally take Jake away. By the time we got back up to my office, I’d been gone so long that Amy was hysterical. I sent her home for the day, then canceled the rest of my meetings so I could leave too.

“Let’s go home,” Teresa said as I closed the laptop. “I’ll run you a nice bubble bath.”

I shook my head. “I need to go see Henry first. He should hear it from me.”

“I’ll go with you.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to protest, but then I realized that it would be nice to have someone with me. I could handle it myself, but with Teresa around, maybe I didn’t have to.

“I need to tell you something,” I said, leaning my hip against my desk and looking her in the eye. “I love you.”

Teresa’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? It’s not just the adrenaline talking?”

I shook my head. “I never believed in love at first sight before, but the fact is, I fell a little bit in love with you the day we met, and it’s just gotten stronger every day since then. I know it’s crazy, especially when we’ve known each other for such a short time, but you’re it for me, Teresa. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter what it takes.”

Teresa opened her mouth to speak, and I held up my hand to stop her. “Don’t feel like you have to say anything back. I know you’ve got the physiological connection to me because of the fated mate thing, but I hope someday you’ll have an emotional connection too.”

She stalked closer, her expression tender. “I already have an emotional connection, Flora. I love you too. It’s not just because of my vampire,” she placed her hand over her heart. “I feel it here too.”

---