That was not my name, but I would not correct Stefani’s friend.
My mate attempted to close the door. I slammed an open palm into the plastic casing.
“What now?” Stefani looked over her shoulder as if afraid. The sound of the human police sirens grew louder.
“Not without you.”
“I’ll get in back.”
“No.”
“Shit.” She looked over the top of the vehicle at the two guards who watched. They lived because they had not approached my female. “We were never here. You hear me? He ran off when you called the cops, and you have no idea where he was going. He ran that way.” Stefani pointed in the opposite direction of her home. “Understand?”
When they were silent, she cursed again. “If the cops show up at my house, I’m going to turn him loose on you. You’ll be dead in a day. Understand me? Never. Here.”
The guard who shot me in the back nodded. “Just get him out of here.”
“Open the gate,” Stefani ordered.
Both guards walked inside their small structure. The black gate rolled away from the center on small wheels I had not noticed earlier.
Stefani stood next to my door and inspected the situation inside the vehicle. There was nowhere for her to be but in my arms.
My beast approved. Our mate was protecting us. Fighting for us. And soon she would be ours, safe and protected. An excellent beginning.
Stefani climbed into the vehicle and settled her bottom on my thighs. Her back pressed to my chest. I wrapped my arms around her as gently as I could manage with my beast roaring inside me. It was a good thing she was very small. I barely fit inside the vehicle, and she had to bend her head toward my neck to avoid bumping her head on the ceiling. My beast purred, the despair I’d felt for so long lifting as her soft body pressed into mine. She sat there, in my lap, where she belonged. Where she would always belong.
“Hurry up. Close the door.” Carmen, the young female who had been with Stefani the day I found her, issued the order. I obeyed, and the SUV shot past the gate toward my mate’s home at a speed the humans would consider illegal.
I approved.
In my arms, Stefani’s soft curves stiffened as if she were trying to separate us again. Pull away.
“What are you doing here, Velik?”
“I am here to claim you, Stefani. You are my mate.”
“Right. I’ve heard that line before.” The disdain in her voice set off warning bells in my mind. Those warning bells became full alarm at her next words. “You shouldn’t have come.”
11
Velik
* * *
We did not speak again until the vehicle was securely inside a parking garage. The moment the vehicle stopped, Stefani opened the door and bolted from my lap.
I tried to tell my beast not to be hurt at her rejection, but he had fought so long, so hard. Despair rose within me once more. I told the beast to knock it off. We simply needed to woo her. Pleasure her. She was ours.
I exited the vehicle and closed the door gently, not wishing to agitate my female any more than she already appeared to be.
A large rectangular object moved from where it hung inside the parking garage, suspended and parallel with the ceiling, to stand upright, creating an enclosed space. I had seen these before but never been inside one. Restricted to the processing center grounds, my experience with such things was limited. Not completely secure, it would have to do for now. Stefani was walking away from me. Carmen slipped from the driver’s side and watched Stefani, a question I did not understand on her face.
Stefani looked from me to Carmen to the vehicle, then back to Carmen. “Don’t forget to text Henry. I’ll take Velik upstairs so we can talk, if you’ll take care of unloading the…car?”
“Of course.” Carmen looked over her shoulder, as if inspecting the contents of the vehicle, a look of concern on her face.
“I offer my assistance.” No female needed to lift or unload anything in my presence. Ever. Especially if the physical labor caused concern.
