Page 14 of Marked By The Filthy-Mouthed Grizzly
I sit down on a box of computer paper, feeling like the room is spinning. “How can this be happening, Victoria? She’s finally here and…fuck.”
She crouches beside me and rubs my back. “It might not be so bad,” she says, trying to put a positive spin on the worst thing to ever happen to me. “Maybe she’ll understand.”
“Understand?” I say, staring at her in shock. “I can’t tell her!”
“Youhaveto tell her,” she says. “She’s your mate.”
“She won’t be for long if I tell her!”
“Yes, she will be,” she says in a calm, soothing tone. “She’ll always be your mate, Magnus. And you can’t have secrets between mates.”
I think about it a few different ways, but every scenario ends with her slapping me, rushing to her car, and driving out of my life.
“Fuck,” I whisper, shaking my head. “I’m so fucked.”
Victoria bites her bottom lip as she looks at me. “What are you going to do?”
“I can’t keep a secret from my mate,” I finally tell her. “It will eat me alive.”
She takes a deep breath as she thinks about it.
“Well,” she says, looking a bit unsure now. “Maybe take her out to dinner first?”
“All done,” I say as I clean my mate’s skin, washing the stencil ink off with a cloth. The wolves are howling at the moon like they know my secret and are trying to warn their sister about me.
I have to look away. I clean my station as she stands up and walks to the mirror. She takes a deep breath and turns to look at the new piece of art on her body.
I can’t help but look at her. My eyes are magnets to this woman.
She’s silent for a long moment as she takes it in.
I’ve left a mark on her, but it’s not the mark that my bear and I had in mind.
We have the shop to ourselves right now. Victoria and Adrian left to get coffee in town and to give us some privacy.
I know how this would have gone done if I had never met Mace and Knox. I would have gone over there, taken her in my arms, and kissed her soft succulent mouth, carefree in the knowledge that there’s no dark secret between us.
But… Would she even be here if we hadn’t killed her brothers? Would we ever have crossed paths?
My mind is racing with every scenario as she turns to me with watery eyes. She’s even more beautiful when she’s emotional. This woman keeps getting better and better.
“I love it,” she says, clasping her hands together. The movement pushes her breasts together and I have to fight my eyes from gawking at the stunning sight. “Thank you so much.”
“I’m glad you like it,” I say as I peel my latex gloves off.
She turns and looks at it again in the mirror, admiring it from all angles.
“How can I possibly thank you properly?” she asks.
I answer without thinking. “Let me take you out to dinner.”
She turns and smiles at me, her shining eyes curling up as her wide smile reaches them. “Okay,” she says with her adorable cheeks blushing. “I’d like that.”
“Are you free tonight?”
She nods, her smile still glowing.
A part of me wants to go over there and kiss her right now, but another part warns me that I’m in dangerous territory. I have to play this right. I have to go slow.
