Page 83 of Hawke

He smiled, patting his box. He changed his emotions so quickly; it was giving me a whiplash. My own emotions were a mess, and now with my mate sleeping upstairs. And I still had lingering thoughts if I should claim her.

If this warlock knew I was fighting with that fateful decision, I’m sure he would cast a spell to bring on my rut. Then all my thinking would go out the window and be turned over to my wolf.

“What about this Shane guy?” I asked, breaking the silence. “What do we need to do about him?”

Bram crossed his arms, leaning on the bar. “Don’t know, seems to strike fear into the human. Has Delilah told you about him? I’m assuming he is part of her past?”

I groaned, running my hands through my hair. “She hasn‘t told me anything about her past. No one knows except what’s in her background. High school dropout, no jobs–”

“And your hacker Switch didn’t find that strange?”

“How do you– Never mind.” I waved my hand. Warlocks had their ways of finding information. It was the old way, not with human technology, but it was still just as effective.

“She was honest about everything else. That she wanted to hide from someone bad. Locke can still sense truth by reading her heart beat better than the rest of us. He’s the strongest, well, second strongest, if you count Grim since his mating.”

“And now you,” Bram added. “You will become stronger than Locke with your skills in tracking, and your wolf’s ability to detect ill intent.”

“He didn’t see betrayal with Ruby.”

My wolf snarled at me.

“As the humans say, love is blind,” Bram chuckled, pulling down a glass of whisky.

He raised it to me as if to ask if I wanted some, and I shook my head. No more drinking, not for me.

“It‘s best you find out what your mate is hiding, then. I’ll see if I can hop on one of these dang-fangled-doohickeys and check out his name.” Bram threw back the drink and smacked his lips.

“Now please, tell me more about this Grim and his mate? I need their story.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Delilah

“Mate,”athroatcleared.“Dede, can you wake up for me?”

I groaned, the sound muffled by the blankets as I rolled over, feeling the downy fabric beneath me. I took a deep breath in. That wonderful, peppermint and beautiful forest smell rested in my lungs, and I sank into the bed even more.

Wait,nest.That’s what he called it.

“Come on, Sunshine, up you get.”

I did not feel like sunshine, and I did not want to get up.

“But I don’t want to go to school,” I moaned. “I just wanna sleeeeep.”

Hawke chuckled, that deep-throated laugh was becoming more frequent as the minutes went by. He sounded happy and looked livelier. Maybe his decision to let me into his life was settling him, and I was extremely happy about that.

“Why don’t you come in with me?” I opened up the blankets for him to cuddle closer.

Hawke laid the tray of food on the dresser. It was complete with two sandwiches, a bowl of soup, and some of the nasty tea. I could smell the spiciness from here.

I kept the blankets open, ready for him to climb in, but his eyes darkened, his large hand landing on my thigh and that was when I realized I was as naked as a jaybird.

“Ope!” I wrapped my body back in the blankets, but his hand was already firmly planted, digging his fingertips into the skin.

He ripped the blankets off my body, his mouth tasting my neck, then my chest and finally down to my breasts. “If I get this view every time I wake you up, you better believe I will wake you up more often.”

Hawke’s hands ran up my body, his nose trailing down to my navel, then he paused. “But the reason I’m here to wake you up isn’t because I need to be buried deep in your cunt.”

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