Page 92 of Havik: Warlord Brides
“Did you throw a bucket of blood at them?”
She nodded. “When they grabbed me on the ship, and it was a glass of juice.” More laughter, incredibly sweet laughter. “She vampired me,” she repeated in a gruff voice, then dissolved into more laughter.
When her laughter subsided, she smoothed a hand over his chest. It came to rest directly over his heart, mirroring the tattoo beneath his shirt. “How is the new clan? Is it what you wanted?”
He brushed a thumb over the smooth skin at the curve of the neck. For the longest time, all he wanted was a mate and a family—a chance to be the father that Kaos never was to him. Perhaps he got his wish too young. When his mate arrived, he treated her poorly, concerned more about status and the opinion of others. He had been too much like Kaos, he now knew.
He still wanted all those things, but only with Thalia. Their son would be trouble. He already anticipated much mischief and much laughter.
“Danger B? You all right?” she asked.
“Forgive me. I was wondering how I am such a lucky male.” He traced where scarring from his bite once marked her skin.
“Luck has nothing to do with it. It’s been hard work andpew-pew-pewfrom the get-go.” She made finger guns to illustrate her point, then looked closer at her index finger. “I fell off a bike when I was ten and sliced my finger on a chain-link fence. The scar is gone. I guess that’s what the doctor meant when he said some differences.”
Her eyes went wide. “The mate mark!” She slapped a hand over the location in question, then tugged down her shirt. “Fuck. Bite me again.”
He lowered his head, kissing the spot. “In time,” he murmured.
“But you need it, so people know I belong to you.”
“Is that how you think our dynamic works?” His clever mate, usually so perceptive and witty, and yet so wrong. He returned her hand to his heart. She opened the shirt, pushing the fabric away to reveal her handprint inked into his skin.
She returned her hand to his chest, covering the mate mark she left on him.
“You claimed me,” he said. “From the very beginning, when I thought I trailed a common thief, you led me on a chase.”
“It was pretty fun.” A smile tugged at her lips. “You picked me. Over your father. Your family. No one’s ever picked me.”
“I belong to you. I always have and I am a fortunate male that you informed me of this fundamental fact.”
“How about we agree that we belong with each other?”
“Agreed.” His lips claimed hers.
Chapter 25
Thalia
Three Months Later
“Iscake meant to look like that?” Havik tilted his head at the uneven lump on the plate.
“It stuck to the pan. Guess I forgot to grease it. I can cover up the uneven parts with frosting,” Thalia said. She refrained from saying the last time she baked a cake had been on her tenth birthday. Amazingly, her mom gave her the cash for a cake mix and supplies. An excited Thalia made a lumpy chocolate cake and it was the greatest thing ever.
This abomination, however…
She scooped up a thick glob of icing on a butter knife and eyed the pothole-sized craters. “Probably won’t help,” she concluded.
“I will retrieve an item from the cafeteria that contains enough sugar and fat to satisfy your sweet tooth,” he said.
“Store-bought?” She gave a theatrical gasp, like a deeply insulted happy homemaker.
Despite playing the situation as a joke, it worried her. When Havik informed her that he accepted an invitation to dinner with his ex, she felt less than thrilled. What if the mysterious Vanessa was hung up on Havik and tried to win him back? What if she was smarter and funnier than her? What if they hated each other on sight? And where did Vanessa get off on inviting her ex-husband over for dinner. Who does that?
Thalia’s mind whirled, always circling the same questions and imagining a hundred ways everything could go wrong. It was bad enough to discover that the ex-wife remarried and was in the same clan that Havik worked so hard to join. Did he know this before? Who knew? Thalia only found out because Ren could not keep gossip to himself.
Yeah, they’d be coming back to that.
