Page 35 of Act of Brotherhood
Garth stiffened. Was Nicolette more than she appeared to be? Could it be that she was like Brooke? That she simply didn’t radiate the signs and signals that other supernaturals tended to? Could it be that she was Garth’s true mate? His special someone?
Had Auberi’s spoken curse come to fruition? Had Garth walked right into his mate without realizing who she was to him?
No.
His luck didn’t run that way, and Auberi was no fucking oracle. He was just a pain in the ass.
The notion of Nicolette being Garth’s mate, while romantic, wasn’t realistic. He’d have sensed if she was, right? It had to be super obvious. Like blinking-sign kind of obvious. If Nicolette really was a supernatural, Garth would have known. There was simply no way he could be fooled to the level Malik had been, messed-up serums and all.
“You coming?” Nicolette asked as she turned to face him.
No. But he would be very soon.
He reached down and adjusted his cock when her attention was elsewhere. He could smell her scent everywhere—strawberries and powdered sugar. It was divine, and only served to arouse him more, if that was even possible. He picked up on others scents, too, faintly over the damn overpowering smell of cloves, cinnamon, and vanilla that made it difficult for his acute senses to smell much beyond. But Nicolette’s sweet scent was one he locked on to with ease. As it stood, if she refused him, he’d end up jacking off to the point he’d more than likely have no skin left on his dick and blisters on his hand. He was that turned on.
Would James have a cream for chafing? If so, Garth would need it by the bucketful.
“You okay?” she asked, her voice light.
“I’m great,” he supplied. And he was. If you didn’t count his wolf lingering just below the surface and the fact he was pretty sure his arch nemesis slipped him something funky in a shot.
Other than that, he was having the best night he’d had in ages.
As he inhaled, he caught her scent again, over the sugary smell of smashed cupcakes. His nostrils flared in excitement, and he did his best to keep the wolf from gaining freedom.
That would be bad.
Very, very bad.
Putting his shoulders back and lifting his head high, Garth committed to entering the home fully. His wolf did its version of a contented purr. That was new. If he suddenly got the urge to chase a ball of yarn, he was going to have a seriously long talk with James about his meds. There was a lot Garth was willing to deal with as far as side effects. Acting like a cat-shifter wasn’t one of them.
Garth slipped off his boots and set them near the door, next to Nicolette’s shoes. His socks didn’t have cute sayings on them. Nothing he owned did. Some of the men at work wore specialty shirts they had made to mock one another, but that wasn’t Garth’s thing. He did pitch in when the shifters had bought a truckload of sunscreen and had it sent to the Fang Gang. And he’d once spent a weekend fashioning wooden stakes with four other shifters, so they could fill the front lobby of the Fang Gang’s headquarters with them. That had been a sight to see. When Daniel Townsend had opened the door, hundreds upon hundreds of stakes fell out and onto him, knocking the man backwards.
Too bad it hadn’t been Auberi.
That would have been nice. Especially if the jerk would have tripped and impaled himself on one.
The Asshole of the Week wall of awards had a framed photo of Auberi running from a mortuary wearing nothing more than a silver tray held in front of his groin, compliments of Garth. The picture was the result of Auberi’s teammates waiting until he was asleep before moving him to a funeral home. Many vampires appeared dead when they slept. Auberi was apparently one of those kinds. The vampire woke later, naked on an exam table, with a mortician preparing to embalm him.
Garth regretted missing the event in person. Thankfully, the rest of Auberi’s teammates had been sure to take a lot of photos and video of the incident. Garth had made sure every single PSI Division in the world was sent them all. He’d also set the video footage to music, and would have posted it to social media to go viral if there weren’t strict rules about that sort of thing within PSI.
He bit his lower lip, reconsidering the rules. After all, he enjoyed bending them.
Like now.
He wanted to give in to his beast and permit it to do as it pleased. To let it free to mark the woman. He didn’t let it loose, but a deep, dark part of him wanted to do just that.
Nicolette neared Garth, her arm touching his, making fire shoot straight to his groin. A portion of her long hair was stuck to the smashed cupcakes on her chest. Reaching out, Garth eased the strands free. He pushed her hair over her shoulder and found himself crowding her personal space in a big way. Cupping her face, he inhaled again, her scent making his dick hard. He couldn’t wait to taste her.
A frustrated growl trickled up from him and he closed his eyes tight, feeling them change. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Nicolette. Having his eyes change colors would do just that and more.
It took a second for him to be able to ease his lust enough to gain a measure of control. When he knew his eyes would be green once more, he opened them and feathered his lips over hers.
She dragged her lips over his in a teasing manner and bunched his cake-smeared shirt. She put her forehead to his lips and sighed, her body tensing.
“If you changed your mind, I’ll go,” he said, knowing it would take every ounce of his willpower to walk out the door, but her safety and security meant everything to him. If she was nervous having him in her home now, or no longer wanted to be with him sexually, he’d honor that. Didn’t matter that he’d rub his dick raw later trying to get the release he needed from being around her.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said, her voice husky and low.
