She smiled at each of them and stepped away. “Give me an hour.”
One hour. It sounded like forever away. And also, too soon.
In one hour, all their lives would be very, very different.
Chapter 30
One hour later, Blade met Scotty at the back door, his stomach in knots, his palms sweating. He couldn’t remember being this nervous in his entire life. To be fair, though, the sexual suppressant left him strung out and shaky, which made his anxiety worse. He was at the very limits of the suppressant’s effectiveness, and if not for Scotty, he’d be forced to summon Masumi in the next couple of hours.
With any luck, after tonight, he’d never have to hunt for sex partners or summon Masumi again. He’d be bonded with Scotty and wouldn’t so much as think about another female for the rest of his life.
Scotty stepped inside, looking incredible in a black miniskirt, a green-and-black-striped tank top, and high-heeled boots that made her muscular calves into art. She usually wore her fiery mane in a ponytail, but now, her shiny waves flowed down around her shoulders as if begging for him to take them in his fist.
He’d dressed up too, just a little. Instead of tactical pants, jeans, or leather pants, he’d put on black slacks, the ones he’d worn to his mother’s birthday party a few months ago. He’d been able to remove the bloodstains from his beatdown with Stryke, at least. Not so with the shirt he’d worn. So, tonight, he’d thrown on a new one he’d purchased…burgundy, Scotty’s favorite color, but one she swore she couldn’t wear because her coloring was wrong.
Whatever that meant. She looked good in any color. And in nothing at all.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” She fidgeted as he closed the door, messing with her fingernails and playing with her hair. She was about as anxious as he’d ever seen her.Join the club. “Where’s Mace?”
“Come on.” Blade took her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze as he led her to the staircase. “Mace will join us in a few minutes.”
His heart pounded as they climbed the stairs, but at the mezzanine at the top, instead of taking a left toward his and Mace’s rooms, he took a right. Scotty gave him a confused glance, but it wasn’t until he opened the door to one of the spare suites that she finally asked a question.
“What’s going on?” She stepped inside the room, lit by candles for a soft glow. Soothing music played in the background, and on the table, a bottle of champagne chilled in a bucket of ice. Three glasses sat nearby.
Blade ignored her question as he popped the champagne cork and poured two glasses.
“Blade?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You didn’t murder Mace or chain him up or anything, right?”
Laughing, he handed her a glass. “He’s in his room, and no, he isn’t duct-taped to a chair. We agreed to do this in a neutral place, and he wanted us to have some time alone.”
“Really? Why?”
Blade had asked Mace the same thing when he’d brought it up. Mace’s answer had only reinforced Blade’s love and respect for the guy. Truly, if fate chose Mace, Blade wouldn’t question it. He’d be wrecked, for sure. But he would also know that Scotty was with a male she deserved.
“Because we didn’t get that in Alaska,” Blade replied. “I didn’t get the chance to date and seduce you the way you deserved.” He clinked his glass against hers. “So, this is me seducing you.”
Flares of pink spread across her cheeks, and her lashes fluttered, making soft shadows play under her eyes as she glanced, almost shyly, down at her glass. “You don’t have to do that, you know.”
Gods, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and protect her from everything. She might be brash, hardcore, and as tough as a lava beast’s scales in a fight, but she was utterly defenseless in matters of relationships.
“Yeah, I do.” There was a humiliating hitch in his voice, but he had more important things to worry about. “I might not ever be able to do it again.”
The reminder of how much was riding on this night threatened tobring him to his knees, but he put his meltdown on hold because nothing was going to ruin this. Nothing.
Her hand shook as she took a delicate sip of her bubbly, leaving a single drop on her bottom lip. Slowly, because she looked like she was ready to bolt, he reached out and caught the sparkly drop with his thumb. Her lids flicked up in surprise as he took her glass, set it and his down, and swept her into his arms. Her soft, feminine gasp hit him in the heart as he pulled her to the center of the room, which he and Mace had turned into a dance floor.
“What are we doing?” Scotty looked up at him with big, beautiful eyes that he could peer into for the rest of his life.
He moved against her, easing her into a slow sway to the rhythm of the music. “Did you know I like dancing?”
Those gorgeous eyes flared. “I know everything about you, and somehow, I didn’t know that.”
Her lips, still damp from the champagne, drew his gaze. He was parched, his body wrung out from days of injections, and he was tired of behaving. Of being a gentleman. But at the same time, Scotty was mortal now, and no matter how desperate he was to have her, he needed to stay in control.
It wouldn’t be easy. Something inside him wanted to fight for what it wanted. It recognized his mate, and it wanted her with a savage ferocity that borderline frightened him. Having grown up in the human realm, he’d muffled his baser self and rarely felt like the demon he was.
