“Shh,” he said. “Put it out of your mind.”
But she could see the hurt in his eyes. The rejection. And she hated that she was going to have to lie to him again. She sighed then got to her feet. “It was sweet of you to offer. I just need time.”
Max scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I just hate the idea of you living with a man like that. You already told me your father is a criminal. The things I’ve learned about him tells me he’s no small fry and you’ve already been targeted once by a group of cartel members. They could have killed you. What if they succeed next time? I just found you. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t,” she assured him. “I’ll be more careful in future. I won’t go anywhere alone like that again, okay? Please trust that I can take care of myself and that from now on, I’ll mark smarter choices, okay?”
Max nodded. “When am I going to see you again?”
“Give me your cellphone number, and I’ll call you. Soon.”
When Max nodded his acquiescence, Mia leaned down and kissed him tenderly on the lips before padding into the living room to get dressed.
Chapter Nine
Max
When Max strolled into the office the following morning, he had barely sat down before his desk was surrounded by huge male bodies. Six of them. His fellow officers Logan, Arlo, Sebastian, Toby, Carter, and Ezra all stared down at him with inquisitive eyes. He looked at each of them in turn then frowned.
“Umm, hey. What’s up?”
Arlo shot him a toothy grin that gave Max an involuntary shiver. “Did ya grovel?” he asked.
“Did you apologize?” Carter added.
The questions came thick and fast after that.
“Did she forgive you?”
“Is she staying at your place?”
“What did she say about the shifters?”
“Did she tell you why they were stalking her?”
Max sighed. “Okay, okay, enough with the questions. Give me a chance to answer them all.”
Max hesitated for a moment while he attempted to get his thoughts in order then gave his colleagues a run-down of what happened after he left the bar, omitting the explicit details of what happened in the bedroom for obvious reasons.
“Wait, she went home?” Seb asked, his eyebrows scrunched together.
“Even after telling you she doesn’t like her father and that he’s a cold, dangerous man?”
Carter narrowed his eyes. “Max, did you offer for her to stay with you?”
Max nodded. “Yeah, I offered. I don’t know, it was weird. I got the impression that there was something she was keeping from me still.”
“Do you think she’s got a boyfriend?” Ezra asked.
Logan nodded. “Maybe she’s married.”
“She wouldn’t be married,” Max said, more to convince himself than anyone else. “She’s a shifter. Shifters wait until they’ve met their mate.”
“Perhaps her father forced her into it,” Toby suggested.
“Do you want me to find out?” Carter asked.
Max sighed. “No, and I don’t think that’s it. I got the impression she didn’t get out much. I think it’s something else, I’m just not sure what.”
