Chapter 3

MARKUS

I couldn’t believe I was taking her home to sleep under our roof. It was like bringing meth into a halfway house. How were we going to survive?

“Your truck is... where?” she asked when we emerged from the dark alley.

“A few blocks over,” I said, nodding in the direction of the club. “Not far from your diner, actually. Maybe we should pop in tonight and demand your wages?”

She shook her head adamantly. “No. Please don’t.”

“Okay,” I agreed, but only because I wanted to come back at a non-peak time. Saturday night wasn’t exactly quiet.

On a Tuesday morning there would be no one around to see me throttle the guy for taking advantage of her.

“This way?” she asked, pointing down the street.

“Yep.”

We began walking and part of me desperately wanted to touch her, but the fear of what I’d feel if I did, stopped me.

She walked ahead while I stayed close behind her. She held tightly to her shoulder bag, flinching as people came anywhere near touching her. “Which street?”

“Thomas Road,” I said, and she hurried ahead, turning left into the correct street.

When I caught up with her, she was standing by my new black truck. “This one?” she asked, indicating the truck with her thumb.

I nodded, not even wanting to know how she’d guessed. There were several other trucks parked nearby.

“Yep,” I said, the door locks opening as I stepped close enough with the key in my pocket to engage the fob. “Hop in.”

She did, still clinging to her bag.

Once we put our seat belts on and I turned on the heater, she reached up and pulled the hair tie from the bun that had contained her hair.

I did not expect to see such glorious locks cascade down over her shoulders and halfway down her back. Dark rivers of softness with natural highlights that picked up every wave and curl.

I thanked everything that was holy that I hadn’t yet started the truck. I might have driven straight off the road into a building.

“You okay?” she asked, glancing sideways at me as if sensing my shock. I must have been staring.

Shit. Get it together, idiot.

“Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Let’s go.” I turned the ignition on, planted my foot on the gas, then drove home.

I didn’t speak most of the way. Instead, I spent most of the drive struggling to force my wolf back inside my tightly guarded control.

We pulled up outside the two-story house my brother and I had bought ten years ago. Ollie was standing on the front porch, reaching for the spare key above the door frame.

“Hey,” he called out. “Sorry about before. I was being a dick.”

I snorted. “Nothing new there.” I hauled myself out of the truck, looking forward to his reaction. I stared at Ollie’s face as his lips turned from a smirk into a gasp. His gaze focused on the woman behind me.

I tried to play it cool, though Ollie was not relaxed in the slightest. “Lexi, here, needs a place to stay for the night,” I said. “I offered her Kaity’s room.”

Ollie’s gaze bounced from me to Lexi, and back again. “You... What.... How?”

I shook my head. “We’ll catch you up inside. Let’s get out of the cold.”

I jogged up the steps, unlocked the front door and walked inside.

Inside was marginally warmer than outside, but not by much. Normally, that suited Ollie and me just fine. As wolf shifters, we ran hot. At least three degrees warmer than a human.

Lexie was going to freeze.

I went straight to the thermostat and cranked it up, taking off my jacket, which was mostly for show anyway. The best way to spot a wolf shifter in town was in the middle of winter, when we were all strolling around in t-shirts with not a care in the world about the icy weather around us.

The furnace fired into gear, groaning at the strain.

“Come in, come in,” I heard Ollie call jovially from the front door.

There was a note of excitement in his tone, and once again that hot shot of jealousy had my gut churning. I needed to calm down and get a grip on this situation.

I walked toward the kitchen and turned back to call out, “You want a hot drink? Or a beer?”

Lexie stepped into the lounge room, the sweet smell of her filling my senses and making my knees weak. I grabbed for the door frame with one hand and locked my knees so I didn’t stumble.

Get it together.

“A hot drink would be lovely,” she said, her eyes wide as she stared around the room then back to me. “Hot chocolate? Peppermint tea? Anything really, just no caffeine. I’m already wired from too much coffee today.”

She smiled and if I hadn’t known it already, that was a sure sign I was in trouble. The way her eyes lit up and her lips curved... I’d never seen anyone so beautiful. My heart stuttered, taking my breath for a moment.

“Be back soon,” I mumbled as I tore away from the door frame and forced myself into the kitchen.

I was an idiot. What on earth had possessed me to bring her back here? I shook my head as I walked over to the fridge for the milk, mumbling. “You dumb mother—”

“Hey, Markus, are you okay?”

Her voice was just so damn sweet. She had no right to sound that good.

“Yeah. No problem,” I said, not turning around to face her, but instead opening the fridge and perusing the contents with thoroughness—as if I didn’t know exactly what was inside.

“You seem on edge. If you want me to leave, I can.”

I pressed my knuckles to my forehead, not sure which way to turn. Anxiety ate at me like a disease, making me want to run, hide, and fight, all at once.

“I’ve just got a bit of a headache. Nothing some sleep won’t fix.”

She quietened, so I went about making her a hot chocolate, our sister’s favorite also, and opened a beer for myself.

Ollie came into the room and pulled out a beer for himself. “How did you find her, Mark?” he asked me quietly.

I didn’t want to admit I followed her delicious scent, as if I couldn’t help myself. I took a sip of my beer and stirred the chocolate mixture into the heated milk. “She was hiding in an alleyway, with nowhere to go. I couldn’t leave her there.”

Silence filled the room and when I turned around, Lexie was sitting at the table next to Ollie.

I placed her hot chocolate down in front of her, careful not to touch her hand as she reached for the large mug.

“Thank you so much,” she said, wrapping her hands around the heated mug. “I can’t remember the last time someone made me a drink.”

I bit my tongue and leaned back against the kitchen counter, crossing my arms over my chest. Nope. I wasn’t commenting or asking any more questions.

“So what happened with that jerk at the diner?” Ollie asked. “He said you hit him or something.”

I dragged my gaze up in time to see a heated blush spread across Lexi’s face.

I bit the inside of my cheek and stared at the floor once more.

How was it possible that everything she did was so damn cute? Even her blush tightened my jeans as my cock swelled in its confines.

“Oh, yeah. Well, I didn’t mean to hit him, but he was harassing me and hit my ass, and I just... reacted.”

I snorted out a laugh. “Sounds like he deserved it.”

I looked at her briefly, unable to help myself. Her little smile made my stomach ache, so I attempted to ignore her again by looking down. The floor could do with a mop, I thought, trying to distract my brain—and my dick—from her delicious allure.

Ollie wasn’t ignoring her; he was babbling out questions I already knew the answer to. “And what happened to your apartment or house? Not that I mind you staying here, but if we can help you out, we will.”

“Oh, well...” Lexie launched into the story about her money and rent, and I grabbed my beer again, clinging to the ice-cold lifeline.

Maybe I could go back to the bar? Pick up that girl and bring her home. Surely, that would be enough to satisfy this hunger clawing at my gut. But the thought of doing anything with another woman while Lexie was under the same roof seemed... wrong. Maybe I could pick up the woman and go to hers? Or a hotel?

My stomach churned at the thought.

“Well, we’ll help sort that out for you tomorrow,” Ollie was saying. “Right, Mark?”

I nodded, then tipped back my head and skolled the rest of my drink. “Yep.” That diner owner was gonna get a fist to the jaw if he didn’t have a damn good reason for not paying Lexi.

She yawned suddenly, and Ollie hopped to his feet like a lapdog, eager to please. “Come this way, Lexi, I’ll show you to your room.”

She smiled at him as she got to her feet. “Thank you. That would be great. I can’t believe an hour ago I was trying to work out where I might be able to find a bed, and now I’m here.”

I couldn’t help but ask, “Where were you planning on sleeping if I hadn’t found you?”

She leveled me with the seriousness in her eyes. “Well, there’s a few twenty-four-hour diners in the city that let you stay through the night if you order a coffee or two. Then there’s the movie theater. The security guards rarely lock the back doors, so I’ve stayed a night or two in there. Or—”

“You what?” Ollie asked, horror filling his face.

I was just as shocked at her revelation, but tried to school my features so it didn’t show.

She reached down for her mug and took another sip of her hot chocolate. “It’s okay. There are a lot of places to safely sleep if you need to.”

It’s not okay, I thought. She shouldn’t have to scrounge the city to find a safe place to sleep.

“But—” Ollie began, but I pushed myself off the counter and cut him off.

“Weren’t you going to show her bedroom, Ollie? She’s obviously exhausted.”

Ollie stared at me for several seconds, his brow furrowed, then he seemed to understand that I meant for him to abandon his line of questioning.

“You’re right. This way.” He swept his arm out in a theatrical gesture toward the stairs.

I stayed where I was. I wasn’t going to risk going anywhere near her tonight. She was temptation on a popsicle stick.

Lexie put her hand on Ollie’s arm, and he shivered but didn’t fall the way he had before. “Hang on one second.”

She made her way over to me and my heart began to thump, worry and desire coursing through me in equal parts.

“What’s up?” I asked, realizing I was trapped. The kitchen counter and cabinets were at my back, and she was right in front of me.

“I just wanted to say thank you. You don’t know me at all, and you’re trusting me, here, in your home. So... yeah, thanks.”

I nodded, trying not to breathe at all. I didn’t want to smell her again. She was too delectable.

“Okay... Well... good night.” She stuck out her hand for me to shake.

Oh, God.

“It’s all good,” I said, not moving.

“Oh, okay,” she said, her face falling, showing her disappointment.

I’d offended her. Crap!

I stuck my arm out. What was the worst that could happen? I didn’t believe in the perfect pair Fated mate thing, so surely, I wouldn’t be affected the way Ollie had been? “Sorry. Good night, Lexi.”

She reached out and took my proffered hand, her beautiful eyes lighting up at my turnaround.

But her touch... Blow me down with a feather. From the moment her hand connected with mine, an electrical impulse shot through my system like I’d touched a wired-up fence.

I gasped and lost the battle of staying upright. The first thing I did was let go of her hand, but that didn’t stop the effect. I staggered sideways, stumbling for something to hold on to.

There was nothing to grab, so I bit the dust, hard, hearing Ollie’s cackle of a laugh mocking me from above.

Motherfucker...