Jabir reaches for Nell's hand and stares at her stomach, blooming with new life. "When I was introduced to Elynor Sweeney, I was a deeply broken man. But I’ll never forget when she fell to her knees and looked at me like I was whole. When she took my aching hands and said, ‘Welcome home,’ I knew that, with her, I always would be."
His heartrending admission leaves me longing to know what drove him to cross the ocean and start anew in foreign lands. Rarely do lycans stray far from their place of birth, unless it is to follow a mate or abandon the pack altogether.
With heavy footsteps, Axe ducks in, a bottle of wine in hand. Nell winks at him as she and Jabir glide out of the entryway. When I return with our hot plates, he makes quick work of opening the bottle, popping the cork with his claw. Much to his irritation, it gets stuck.
A giggle climbs up my throat. “Allow me.” I reach over and tug it off, the sharp point instantly retracting.
For a few minutes, it's small talk while the entree cools. It appears that Dominik and Jabir found nothing useful over the last two days spent interviewing security and combing through surveillance footage at Sonic Jungle.
The Alpha scratches at his stubble, which has been coming in steadily since our return to Tukkon. "I hope you’ll excuse me. I’m pretty rusty at this.”
Something about the disheveled look gives me the courage to take the lead. "Do you consider yourself a patient man?"
“Why do you ask?" He watches me carefully as I choose my next question.
Clearing my throat, I go for it. "You still haven’t bitten me.”
He takes a hearty drink of wine. “I’m still wondering why that vampire didn’t. Why else would she go to such lengths to set a trap?”
I swallow hard on my juicy first bite of chicken, heart skipping two beats. Force myself to breathe. Stabilize my heartrate."How would you feel if I still required more time after our agreement is up? Isn't that when I should submit to you, if I choose to stay?"
Axe drops his fork. "Let me stop you right there. I would never expect my mate to submit to me. The Luna Superior submits to no one."
At that remark, my dress suddenly feels tighter.
"Secondly, I wouldn't dare put my mark on you until I know it's what you want. All I asked for was six weeks of your time. There is no expectation for you to bind yourself to me at that deadline. The choice to concede to the Beckoning is entirely yours.”
His expression softens, though his shoulders remain tense. "I’m not saying I haven’t thought about it . . . what it would be like. To claim you. But I certainly don't expect you to believe in the strange ways the goddess pairs people together.”
I nod, even though there’s no denying that Nell and Jabir make perfect sense. It clicks then, why he finds the two of them so off-putting. His parents. Surely, they had a love that was just the same.
Having that settled, I take another bite of food, nudging the conversation in a new direction. “If my behavior embarrassed you last night, I apologize.”
A corner of his mouth lifts. “You're a little show-off when you’re drunk.”
Oh, no.
"You weren’t pissed when you smelled another guy on me?"
His stoic front doesn’t waver. The ease with which he suppresses his reaction makes me wonder just how hard he’s squeezing his fist under the table. I may not have lycan senses, but as an actor, I know a fellow liar when I see one.
“You’re my guest here, in case you’ve forgotten. You don’t answer to me unless you wear the crest of Bleeding Sun.”
“C’mon, that’s not a real answer.”
He rises from his chair and crosses over to the side table to refill his wine glass. In the mirror that hangs above it, I notice his tight jaw and eyes deep in thought.
When Axe turns, every muscle in his upper body is poised to strike. "You can dance with whoever you want. The prick who drugged you did so because he knew from the second he saw you that he wanted something more from you. What I’mpissedabout is that my brother failed to throw his ass out for smuggling in the Ludone. I’mpissedthat I wasn’t there. Because I wouldn’t have simply left it at that. I have every intention of taking his throat for what he did to you."
Words tumble out of my mouth before I can consider their implication. "It would've been far more enjoyable had you been the one dancing with me.”
Damn the wine.
Axe raises his glass to his lips. "Is that right?"
Gods, how can a voice sound so lethal, yet so enticing?
Axe watches me swallow the last bite of my food. Washing it down with wine only causes my esophagus to burn.
