Page 22 of Bodyguard Wolf's Fated Mate
I barely listened with only the first few words striking a chord with me.
"Sex is beautiful and natural. I'm not exactly innocent in all of this. It does take two to tango. You mentioned earlier about locking the door, but you made it quite clear this house has an open-door policy. It didn't matter how much I told you I wanted my privacy."
"You can't possibly make this my fault. Luke tried the same thing, and it didn't work for him. Why in hell would you think it was going to work for you? I don't want to hear any more excuses. I'm going out for a while to get some air. Don't even think about sneaking out." He grabbed the keys to the Lincoln with more than the average horsepower under the hood.
He didn't have to tell me when I already knew his habit of occupying his time consisted of driving at dangerous speeds. My father liked nothing better than the adrenaline rush of having his life flash before his eyes.
"You can't just walk out like this. There's still a lot more to say."
"As far as I'm concerned we have said more than enough. Don't wait up for me. I have no idea when I will be back, but I think it will be past your bedtime. Rest assured, your safety is still important to me, but I will personally take over your protection detail. There won't be any place you can go where I won't be your shadow. I want you to chew on that while I'm gone. I have no idea what goes through your head." He swung the keys on the end of his finger with them jiggling.
"I'm a werewolf," I blurted out without even meaning to.
He stopped with his hand on the front door handle. "You have always been obsessed about werewolves. You have books dedicated to the topic of its mythology. Is that what Luke told you? How gullible can you be? Don't answer. It was a rhetorical question."
"I know it's hard to believe but it's true. I think I've known on some level, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. Waking up under the bed isn't normal. Having blood and tissue under my nails after a full moon isn't normal. A craving for blood isn't normal. He is exactly like me which is the reason why we couldn't keep our hands off of one another."
My father placed his hands over his ears and began humming loudly. "I'm not listening to this. You can't make me. Why are you saying these things? He's a predator. Nothing more than a man willing to say anything and do anything to get into your pants. That might sound crass, but the truth often hurts the ones you love. He got what he wanted when you gave the milk away for free. Don't you have any sort of dignity for yourself or me?"
"That's nice. That's very nice. That's how little you think of me. I shouldn't be surprised when the only thing you care about is money and power. That I should fit into some sort of box, but I am beyond explaining myself. Stay in denial. That's where you are safe from those things that go bump in the night. I'm one of them." I admitted to being different with something strange and beautiful clawing at my subconscious to get out.
Slamming the door was his way of getting the final word. He was never going to accept my fabled excuse of being a werewolf. It wasn't something you hear every day.
"He doesn't understand you but I do. You need the freedom to be what you are meant to be. This is your chance to shake off the shackles of normal society. There's power inside of you that I covet. Give it to me and I won't have to take it over your cold dead body. The only thing you need to do is give me permission and I will do the rest. You don't want the headache that comes with the power."
"Stay out of my head," I screamed with both hands pressed against my temples.
"You have so much to learn to prepare yourself for the day of your unveiling. You can choose to live with it. The power that is about to be unleashed has the potential of changing the way people look at things. Why burden yourself with that responsibility? You have enough to worry about. You'll understand soon enough what I mean but I hope by then it's not too late to turn back the clock. Let me give you a small taste."
"I don't want anything from you. Haven't you done enough already? Luke doesn't know what to make of you, but I think you are power-hungry." I backed away half expecting the door to fly off the hinges in his attempt to get at me.
Shadows stretched across the wall with some ungodly thing stalking me. It moved in the darkness, but I sensed it only wanted to open my eyes. It wasn't consciously attacking me when it was still concealed within the darkness it resided in.
Being afraid wasn't even something to be considered. The wolf offered me its strength and conviction. She was my biggest advocate if I didn't include Luke in the same breath. This wolf was for all intents and purposes a female protecting the host. It reminded me of my adopted mother.
She was the one to introduce me to the folklore of werewolves and other supernatural beings. Did she know something? Could it have been a coincidence or was she trying to prepare me for the day when I was finally going to emerge from my cocoon as more than a butterfly stretching its wings?
The flames leaped from the fireplace. It set the couch ablaze.
Something emerged from the corner of the room. It wasn't tangible. It wasn't the wolf to warn me of impending danger. It was something more primal with its origins draped in the mystery of the past.
This swirling mass hit me so hard that I crashed through the double doors leading to his study. The flames followed me over the couch and in a straight line until I was looking into the flickering life of something alive.
It didn't hold any sort of pattern and didn't follow the primary rules when it concerned a fire out of control.
It moved with a gesture of my hand, and I could control the essence of the flames with my thoughts.
"Miss Stratus…"
I put my hands in the flames and moved them about while they licked at the hem of my skirt and attempted to burn me alive from the inside out. It didn't hurt, but I could see where the skin cracked and peeled before blistering on the inside of my thighs and on the back of my hands.
I extended the palms to send the flames back to where they came from inside the fireplace. They refused to obey almost as if they wanted to become part of me. My whole body shuddered at the implication.
"Stand back, Miss Stratus." A guard with the name of Tony stenciled on his blue shirt directed the spray of the fire extinguisher he had gotten from the kitchen.
He busily made short work of the trail of fire leading to the study. He was joined by another in the same shirt but definitely a lot bigger than his predecessor. They battled together to snuff out the burning embers before they could spread to other parts of the house.
"I called for an ambulance. It should be here shortly. You must be in shock. The best thing you can do is sit down and wait patiently for the paramedics to arrive. Let me address the burns. I used to be a medic in the Army." Tony had a first-aid kit, but he couldn't seem to look me in the eyes.
