“Well, I mean, it doesn’t mean that, just because we had sex.”
Shane just grinned. Vivica was trying so hard to act like it wasn’t happening, making excuses, because she didn’t want to wrap her head around the truth. The truth was that they had done a lot more than just have sex. He had taken her body, made it his and started a new life within her. That was the truth and it made Shane smile every time he thought about it. The idea that Vivica was full of his cub was enough to make Shane not care about the rest.
“It does, Vivica. It’s a guarantee when the bear comes out. It’s pretty much a guarantee every time with humans. Your body has no defenses.”
Vivica sighed and closed her eyes. He was worried that she was having another bout of dizziness, but she then smiled and shrugged.
“Well, I don’t think I do have any defenses to you, that much I agree with.”
Shane grinned and told her that he liked the idea of that.
“Do you?”
He agreed.
“What about what your father said?”
Shane sighed and told her that he wished that she hadn’t heard any of that. “My father is just one of the old ones that listens to the old ways. No one listens to him anymore; he is kind of a joke. He was a powerful Alpha at one point, but then he just lost it all.”
Vivica just nodded, but he could see that she wasn’t satisfied with his answer. Shane didn’t want her to know the truth of his dad just yet. It wasn’t something that he was proud of. George was the sort of shifter that other shifters stayed away from. He was always causing trouble and chaos followed him wherever he went.
“How many other people in your clan believe the way that he does?”
Shane didn’t want to answer that, and he found a way out by bringing up the fact that they weren’t really his clan, hadn’t been in a long time.
“It doesn’t matter what they think, Vivica. It all comes down to the fact that I hadn’t been one of them in a long time, I mean, a long time. It was their decision to kick me and my father out of the clan. They stole my mother’s inheritance, which was quite a sum. It was all done a few days after my mother died. It was set up to fail and I don’t worry about what they would or wouldn’t think of me and you. I don’t want you to worry about it either. It is really beneath us, you know.”
Vivica smiled and then it was gone. She was unsure, and he was going to have to accept it. He didn’t have a choice. Considering how well everything was going, it was a miracle that she was still talking to him at all. Shane had to keep telling himself that and remind himself that she had been through so much. It was all he could do, make sure that she got everything that she needed to make it all okay. He couldn’t change the facts of the situation. Shane was hoping that it could be sugar-coated.
“Well look, Vivica, I need to go check on my cantankerous dad. Just stay here and I will be back soon, okay?”
Vivica agreed, and he was sure that she would do exactly what she said she was going to do. Shane had to yell at his father, but he did also need to check on him and make sure that he was okay. He had injuries that needed to be tended to, even after the witches had healed him several times over. His dad had tangoed with someone that he shouldn’t have, yet he wouldn’t tell Shane what really happened.
Shane left, thinking about all of the things that he wanted to do to Vivica when he got back. He wasn’t too worried about the conversation with his dad. He sounded desperate, but that had been his state of being for years, so Vivica wasn’t going to see it as anything different. Shane didn’t like the idea of that. He wanted something different.
Chapter 23
Vivica
When Shane came back to the bedroom a few hours later, he was upset and Vivica tried to find out what was going on, but Shane didn’t want to say. He was in a foul mood and all of the promises that were made when he first got there, were all gone. It was a shame really, because Vivica had psyched herself up for all kinds of good things to happen and none of them had. It was hard for her to really imagine what was going on with him. She hardly knew him really and everything she did know, felt like it couldn’t be real. It left her in a confusing fog and once Shane was in bed and sleeping, Vivica felt all of the pent-up energy that she had been saving for him. Since he hadn’t come home in the same mood that he had left in, Vivica was convinced that she needed to go out and get rid of some of it, or she was going to explode. It was that simple.
When she got into the hallway, Vivica heard someone in the kitchen, and she imagined that it was Maria. Maria didn’t seem to ever sleep, and Vivica was hoping that Maria could show her where the tea mix was that she liked so much. It was all she needed to help her get back to sleep. If that didn’t happen, Vivica was going to have to take a walk or something. There was no way that she was going to be able to go to sleep in her current frame of mind.
It wasn’t Maria though. Vivica got to the kitchen and saw Shane’s father standing there. George didn’t smile at her and Vivica didn’t smile back. She knew what the father thought of her, and Vivica was convinced that she was really going to have to get away now. Just being around him, knowing what he thought of her kind, put Vivica right back on edge, like when she had heard him rant about how bad it was that Shane was with her.
“It’s you.”
Vivica agreed and said that she thought he was someone else. “Who else would I be?!”
His words were short and bitter, practically being spit at her and Vivica had to press her lips together, to stop herself from losing her nerve. It was impossible not to say anything, especially when he was goading her on. That’s all it was, Vivica knew it and once George got a smile out of her, she knew he’d already won. She couldn’t stand him, and she couldn’t even stand to be around him. He liked that and Vivica forced herself to talk to him.
“I was hoping for Maria, she has a pleasant demeanor. Everyone in this household does.”
Vivica wished she hadn’t said that last part. She once again forced an animalistic response from one of the shifters, and Vivica was scared. Shane’s dad was huge and just as much a bear as his son. Vivica thought differently of Shane though. Shane wasn’t going to hurt her. She didn’t have to worry about that. All she had to worry about was losing control. George wasn’t like Shane at all. She most definitely did believe that he would do something to her if given the chance.
She kept backing up, but George kept moving forward. She could sense his anger, and he was about to attack, when he stopped and sniffed the air around her.
George pulled up abruptly and turned back into his human form.
