Page 31 of Death Warden
CURO
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I mean, I genuinely need to know.
Spectre paces his room like a caged beast, hands on hips, muscles so wound and tight I’m afraid he’ll combust.
“Dammit, Spec, talk to me.”
“Fuck, Curo.” He stops pacing and stands in front of me, chin tucked in, shoulders rising and falling on each breath. “I think…No, I’m sure she’s my mate.”
Well, roll me in sugar and call me a donut. “Damn.”
“This can’t be happening,” he groans.
Wait a second. Why is he so upset? “Finding your mate is a good thing, right? No more fucking random groupies. You get your perfect match.”
He grits his teeth, eyes flashing. “Except my perfect match happens to be the MC president’s daughter. Daughter of our hellhound alpha, and I’m…I’m a nobody. An orphan pup with dirty blood who Dax took in. He raised me, gave me everything, and now I try to claim his daughter, a daughter he’s just found.” He shakes his head. “I can’t do that to Dax, or to her. She doesn’t belong here. She has a life.”
“She’s your fucking mate, Spec. You can’t run away from that. Besides, she’ll be staying here for weeks, months even. How are you going to resist her scent?”
He breathes heavily and fixes his burning gaze on me. “You’re going to help me.”
“Me? How the fuck can I help you?”
“Put your scent on her.”
Whoa. I hold up my hands. “You want me to fuck your mate?”
His eyes flare, lip curling, and the next moment I’m up against the wall with his hand at my throat. My instinct is to knock him back. He may be bigger than me, but I have my own brand of power.
But this isn’t Spec. This is the mate bond making him crazy. I hold my temper and level my gaze with his.
He pants and slowly unfurls his fingers, dropping his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted.”
“Just stay close, spend time with her so your scent is on her. Please.”
“It’s lucky you don’t find my scent attractive, then, isn’t it.”
That earns me a gruff bark of laughter, but he sobers quickly. “Does that mean you’ll do it?”
Aw, damn. “She’s not exactly fond of me, Spec.”
“If she was, then I’d question her judgment.” He flashes me a short grin. “Just do this for me. Please. I trust you.”
“It won’t change what nature intended. You’re not being fair to her. She deserves to know the truth.” I reel out the lines that need to be said.
“She’ll be fine. She’s only part hound. The bond won’t affect her like it does me.”
Damn him and his self-sacrificial bullshit. There was no honor in this. “So you’re just going to give up your mate?”
“I have to. I can’t taint the Storm bloodline with my filthy blood.”
I want to tell him that he’s being a dick. That if Dax thought that way, he’d never have adopted him and put him in a position to be prez. But right now, Spectre isn’t thinking straight. He needs time to process, and when he does, he’ll realize that you can’t walk away from destiny, because when you try, bad shit happens.
I should know.
Spectre’s head whips up, canting to one side. “Something’s wrong with Adi.” He rushes to the door, then forces himself to a halt. “Go. Check on her.”
