Page 44 of Married into the Mob
I was, but I wasn’t telling him that. “Nah, I was miles away, thinking of this.” I waved a hand between him and me. In order to break up the awkward moment, I got up and put another note and more string on the wall.
“If this is close to what happened, the resentment and hate for me and our family festered in Draven for years. He had to have been planning revenge for a good chunk of his life.”
“More than possible. What a waste.” Odell shuffled his notes, and when he looked up, his eyes were filled with pain. “So Uncle didn’t offer me as a husband so much as he was given no choice?”
He could have refused, but a frail human couldn’t say no to a vengeful shifter.
“Yeah.” After hesitating a moment, I sat beside him, wanting to console him. His scent surrounded and filled me, but I expected him to shuffle sideways. He did move, but toward me, and our thighs touched, though his was under the quilt. It was a simple gesture, but maybe he needed me, just for now, as I needed him.
“Draven may have threatened to kill you or your aunt if your uncle didn’t agree.”The guy had patience. I had to give him that. Not sure I could have waited years until I could get retribution.But if Odell was hurt, I’d wait a lifetime to get back at someone.
“The seer must have picked up on your scent on your uncle’s clothes and informed Draven you were my mate.”
I got up and inspected the wall, crisscrossed with text and string. But instead of returning to the couch, I was overcome with shyness, an emotion I’d rarely experienced. The uncertainty of how he regarded me made me self-conscious, an emotion that was new to me, and I plonked myself on the floor again.
“What if you hadn’t entered the registry office?” Odell spun the pen around his fingers.
“Did you leave anything outside? I picked up a scent but didn’t know it was you.”
“I had a tissue in my hand, one Aunt Louisa had used to wipe away my tears. Draven tossed it in the garbage.”
That might prove that his aim was to have me meet Odell, and then he’d do away with my mate so I would never enjoy the life fate had dangled before me. I contemplated the black hole that would have been my existence, having been so close to true happiness and having it snatched away. Cruelty was the purpose.
“It’s obvious having put all this together that I was the target in the alley.” His monotone worried me, the lack of emotion.
I heaved myself halfway up, wanting to comfort him, but he stuck out a foot from under the quilt. Not sure what I was supposed to do until he wriggled it and nudged my own, I sank back to the floor, took hold of it, and massaged the sole.
“What are you doing?”
“What I thought you wanted. Do you have a cramp?”
“No!” He pulled the quilt over his mouth, but his eyes danced in the dim lamplight. “I needed contact with you. Sole to sole.”
Not soul to soul, but he wanted to brush his foot on mine. Could be worse. He might have wanted to chop it off.
I released him, but he told me I could keep going. I longed to have him in my arms, but maybe this was enough for him at the moment, just having me holding a part of him.
We both sat with our thoughts until Odell dragged himself and the quilt onto the floor.
“The floor’s hard. You’d be more comfortable on the couch.” My head was demanding I cuddle him, but I allowed him to set the pace.
“You’re here.” He tilted his head to the side. “Aren’t you cold? You’re not wearing a shirt.”
I gave him a short lesson on how shifters ran hotter than humans, but he shuffled closer and offered me part of the quilt. We sat in a little circle of two, the quilt trapping the heat from our bodies, his scent almost overpowering me. It took all my strength to not lunge at him and capture his mouth with mine.
“Those guys shooting at us… how did they find us?”
“It had to have been Stefan.” As a human, his only use to Draven was his job. But me being the fool I was, had brought him into our midst and treated him kindly.I had to learn to think first and act later.
“Unless it was Uncle.” Odell tossed a screwed-up ball of paper into the trash basket.
Wow! He had great aim, almost as good as a shifter. His reflexes might never match ours, but combined with his superior evasive skills, I'd consider hiring Odell if he wasn’t my mate.
“Your uncle? No way.” He’d been in one of the bedrooms with no phone, and unless he’d been putting on an act, he was a shell of a person.
Odell took a swig of soda and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. In that moment, just for a split second, he was almost carefree, just a guy hanging with a buddy—not that I wanted to be only a friend.
Placing a hand beside him, I waited, hoping he might put his on mine, that he needed more physical contact. He picked it up and examined the mating mark. My skin sizzled, but I stayed motionless, not wanting to scare him away. But I had to say what was in my heart.
