“Do you know why?” she asks and I practically purr in appreciation.
She feels it; she knows. There’s no reason to ask why I’d protect someone that I don’t even know, a lack of the doubt these two idiots here have instilled in her. She doesn’t need to question my devotion when she can feel it in her soul, know that we were made for each other despite being unaware before today.
“I have my assumptions based on who put out the call. We’ve been watching that company for a while now, but never could get a man inside to get any hard evidence. All we knew for sure is that they wanted you dead, so we needed to make sure you lived.”
I don’t need to wait for any prompting to continue, well aware of the sort of questions all of them will have from that declaration. “About a dozen of us scattered to try and find you, and since I already have family in this area, it seemed the obvious place to start my search without raising any suspicion. Lucky me, not only did I succeed, but I discover you’re my mate, so double win. I planned to take you back to headquarters with me to keep you safe, to explain everything, but once I realized you already had mates here, it threw a wrench in things.”
Rheyas hasn’t released me yet, not that I blame him. Still, I glare at him, not for the lack of trust in a stranger, but for being an absolute idiot. “Because these two jackasses don’t know how to recognize something amazing, even when it hits them in the face. They’re too caught up in their own issues, fighting between each other, and unable to properly appreciate their mate. A broken pack, when they’re sitting right next to the glue, but too stubborn to fix anything.”
I turn my anger onto Ian next. “My mate, I could bring back without issue; she’s the only smart one here. But if I took her, you two would follow, and I can’t trust men that don’t respect their own fated mate with the scents and names of those already putting themselves at risk to change things. You’re liabilities, and I’m not willing to gamble everything that we’ve spent years working towards on two men that don’t know how to function in their own pack, let alone a massive team effort.”
Silence ticks by for several minutes as they absorb my words. And all the while, I don’t put up a fight or jerk my arm free of Rheyas. I’m not here to exacerbate the discord that taints the air; it’s literally the thing I’m trying to eliminate in this world.
Esmerelda licks her lips and I follow the action hungrily. “Team effort to do what?”
“To knock the humans off of their high horses. Remind them that they aren’t better than us, have no right to control us.” She seems to slump a bit at my words, and that’s when I have enough, wrenching my arm free and crossing the room before either men can blink.
Crouching in front of her, I cock my head to get between her and her stare off with the floorboards. “That no one is better than someone else just because of what they’re born as. Not humans or shifters, not mages, and that even the vampires deserve the same respect, though that’s admittedly been a tough sell. Still, they were human once upon a time; we all were before the change.”
“You want to create a world where everybody is equal?” she asks dubiously. “It’ll never happen.”
Reaching up, I tap my finger on her nose as I stand. “Not with that attitude it won’t. No one is expecting miracles here, and obviously there will always be those that try to rise in power. The ideal goal is to be able to live intermingled one day, even if that’s decades in the future and only our grandchildren live to see it. Right now we’d happily settle for divided territories that govern their own people and trade with one another, treaties in place to maintain that peace.”
I sigh wistfully. “To see a world where at least someone like me could venture to the city without the risk of being gunned down simply for existing, where it isn’t illegal for us to defend ourselves.” I meet her eye, needing to make sure she understands. “If you were in the city right now and a human tried to rape you, say you used your abilities to defend yourself. What would happen?”
She pales a bit, but to her credit, doesn’t mince her words. “I’d be arrested, because they don’t actually see me as a person, just a tool.”
I nod. “And if I kicked his ass for daring to lay a hand on my mate, even if I left him alive?”
A heavy sigh as she answers, “You’d be put down.”
Bending down, I palm the base of her neck and kiss the crown of her head, ignoring the way Ian grinds his teeth as I do so. “It may be a fool’s dream to think we can all coexist peacefully, but I’m happy to be that fool and at least try to create a world where our daughters aren’t told that they aren’t allowed to defend themselves.”
“Why should we allow you to stay?” Rheyas demands. “To simply trust you at your word?”
I point a finger in his direction like he's made the best point in the entire world. “That. Because you think you get toallowanything. Rel is my mate whether you like it or not. And you'd stand in the way of that because you don't like me, when your first thought should have been whatshewants. It's not your job to decide what's best for her.”
Ian gets defensive, and I’ll take it as a win right now. If I need to be the common enemy that inspires them to join forces, so be it. They can bond over their hatred of me if that’s what they need to get their heads out of their asses and realize they’re on the same side.
“And what if she doesn't want you to be her mate? Would you be willing to walk away without a fight if that’s what she wants?” he demands and I simply tilt my head, face scrunched up in confusion.
I knew they were clueless idiots, but I didn't realize how utterly stupid they were.
"In what possible universe wouldn't she want me? I'm amazing. That aside, you don't just walk away from your fated; ever. For any reason. Whether she wants my tongue down her throat or to punch me in the face, that woman became my reason for living the second she came into my life. Now I just have that much more incentive not to die as I try and make the world safer for her to be in it.”
Turning away from him, I face Esmerelda, who has been notably quiet during all of this, like she’s afraid to speak. It infuriates me to no end that these men think they have a right to call her their mate when they’ve instilled that hesitance in her, like she needs to be afraid to accept what should be as natural as breathing because she’s worried someone won’t want her.
“You can kick me out of the house if you want, but I’m not going anywhere. I'll protect you from a distance until you come to your senses and realize whatever happened to cause you to do so was just a lovers’ quarrel. A minor speed bump on our path, if you will.” With a wink, I add, “And you can’t have all of the fun of making up without a fight here or there.”
My mate releases a heavy breath before getting to her feet, striding right up to me. “What if I don’t want to change the world? Want to just live a quiet life here?”
Tilting my head to the side, I listen the way her heart rate increases, the way her breath hitches in her chest. Cupping her jaw, I run my thumb over her cheek, confident in my answer.
“Then I’d rearrange my responsibilities to the cause so I could protect you here while still helping where I could. But you don’t. You want the world to change, you’re just scared of what sacrifices it would take to pull it off and think it’s too massive of an undertaking that you’ve quit before you’ve even begun. You don’t have to do a single thing you don’t want to, beautiful. I’ll keep fighting so that you don’t have to.”
Her breathing and heart rate changes, her anger turning into an audible force that has me grinning before she even voices it. Pulling from my touch, she looks between Ian and Rheyas. “See? This is the mushy stuff I was expecting; take notes.”
Laughing, I head towards the front door, sidestepping the bear that thinks I’m running off despite my speech, and I blink up at him innocently. “Please don’t eat me, Rheyas. I’ll be back shortly, I just need to grab a bag. Unless of course you’d prefer that I’m naked when I crawl into Rel’s bed, later.”
