Page 71 of Soaring in Flames (Reborn 2)
“Who the heck are you?” I mumbled, barely able to talk. No seriously. Who the heck did he think he was being so perfect?
“Marcellus.” His voice was rough as my skin prickled with the awareness of how close he was, my nipples tightening and my nails biting into my palms trying to fight the urge to mark his skin, or bite him. I wanted my mating bite on his skin, maybe right on his chest so everyone would know...
I heard Croy briefly mention that they were associates but honestly unless it was coming from Marcellus, I didn’t really care right now. His response, had me wanting to smile as a dark hint of humor flashed across his eyes and his lip tilted, “If two hundred years, is ‘a bit ago’.” Then he looked back at me, “Little love, what’s your name?”
“Jordan,” I answered immediately, almost as if compelled.
“Stunning name,” he noted softly as I felt myself lean towards him.
“No!” My dad’s loud voice echoed as he walked outside, “Absolutely fucking not.”
Now, normally my dad was a reasonable man. After losing my sister and mother? Well, he’d become...protective to say the least. I felt an annoyance flare in my chest because I had literally talked to him the other day about how we both needed to focus on being happy. He was a young guy and as much as I didn’t want a step-mom, I also didn’t want him being alone.
I turned on my heel as the slight haze popped, “Dad, stop it.”
“No.” My dad approached looking down at me. “We aren’t doing this. You just turned eighteen and I have no idea who this asshole is. He sure as hell isn’t a wolf from our pack. Plus, no offense, Marco, but anyone who hangs with your crowd doesn’t have a reputation of being fucking safe.”
Everything he said was true and none of it mattered. He could be a fucking assassin and I wouldn’t give a shit. You couldn’t deny a mate bond and I sure as hell didn’t want to.
“Sir,” Marcellus pulled me against his chest as I let out a small comforting sound, leaning into him, “I understand your concern—”
“No,” my father responded sharply.
Marcellus didn’t like his tone at all, I could tell. Any chance of him not being dominant flew out the window when I felt pure shifter energy fill the air. Holy crap. I could feel the alpha energy circulating through the space and I knew at once that he was not only more powerful than myself but more so than my father. I think the only person I knew stronger than him would be Marco and possibly Henry...but dragons were a different level of power. You just didn’t mess with that type of situation.
“I understand what you're saying, but we need to talk about this. Specifically Jordan and I need to talk, no doubt my brothers will be along shortly if they feel the bond and unless you want to wait...” Brothers? Did he just say brothers? Oh Christ. I could feel my wolf let out yips and dancing the fuck around.
Marcellus continued, “I don’t want to pull rank on your own fucking pack lands.” Why was that so sexy? I should feel annoyed with his dominance and instead I just found it ridiculously attractive. I felt my smile grow as my father turned and walked towards the house, following promptly because not only did I want this to go well but I needed to know more about my mate. I felt him following me and I resisted the urge to look back as my father ushered us into his massive office.
I immediately sat down on the edge of the desk, my father pacing the floor behind it. I was focused on Marcellus though, his dark eyes and small, private, wicked smile making my toes curl. I was absolutely caught in his energy and the way he filled the space, the room almost spinning as I gripped the desk harder. He approached and stood in front of me, smoothing a hand down my neck and pulse while watching my father with curiosity.
My father turned and growled, “She just turned 18, Marcellus.” Wrong. I was a year older than everyone in my grade because I had been held back after everything with my sister and mother...so I’d turned eighteen this past March. He continued anyway, “I know exactly how fucking old you are, you’re literally almost ten times her god damn age.”
That was sort of hot.
“Okay first of all,” I turned to look at my father, feeling Marcellus snag my hip slightly so I didn’t move away too far. “I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions, Dad. Second of all, you don’t have a lot of excuses to talk. Mom was literally half your age.”
I didn’t feel bad for bringing it up. My father and I were best friends at the heart of it all and we weren’t one of those families that didn’t talk about loss. Our pack had been supportive when they’d lost their luna and behind closed doors we still talked about the two of them, never wanting to lose their memory.
My father narrowed his eyes. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” I crossed my arms as Marcellus let out a low attractive rumble, his chin resting on top of my head as if it was the most natural thing in the world. As if we had been doing this forever. As if we had been together for years rather than minutes...
“He’s not a wolf,” my father bit out, “you are the future alpha of this pack, Jordan.”
I broke away from Marcellus, his throat letting loose a frustrated noise, as I walked towards my father. I could see the concern radiating from him as I placed a hand on his arm and spoke quietly. “Dad, it’s fine, really. Trust me on this.”
I knew I was asking a lot, but after a moment, my father pressed a kiss to my forehead and after a narrowed gaze at my mate, left the room looking annoyed. Well, that could have gone worse I suppose. But I also knew how much he wanted me to be happy, so I wasn’t all that surprised, I just hoped he took the same advice. The two of us had been lonely since my sister and mother left us. I had a feeling my father hadn’t gone far though but I appreciated the attempt.
“Shit,” I hissed in surprise as a hard body pressed up behind me, having lost visual on Marcellus for only moments. I shivered as his lips skimmed my neck gently, an arm locked around me. Christ, he was so ridiculously hard. I resisted the urge to arch backwards and squirm against him.
I’d dated a few humans and even a few shifters throughout highschool, the latter always more difficult because we knew we would eventually meet our mates. It was rare for shifters to not make those connections and when their mate passed away, in the case of my father, they rarely re-married. If they did it was usually other widowed mates. I was really thankful for never having a long term relationship because being around Marcellus now? There was no comparison. I blushed thinking about how much older he was than myself and no doubt how much experience he had...when I had none. Well, I had some but I’d never gone for the full home run. No one had held my attention enough for that.
Turning into him, I whimpered slightly as he stepped forward pressing me up against the dark bookshelves that covered the back wall behind the desk. His eyes melted into black pools of liquid heat as I hesitantly reached a hand up to his cut jaw. His eyes closing as he leaned into my palm, looking as though it caused him immense pleasure. I loved that.
His eyes flashed open as he gently placed a large hand around the back of my neck so I was looking up at him. “Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you, love?” His voice was a dark low purr, “Nearly two fucking centuries. Two centuries, Jordan.”
“Hate to tell you but I haven’t been alive that long, handsome,” I teased and let my hand fall to his chest, running up and down it gently.
