“Let’s get something straight.” He leaned forward, and even though there was plenty of space between them, Maverick felt her body heat come right at him. “You’re my mate, and I’ll protect you above all else. You not staying with your father when it is crystal clear you are nothing like him, was the smartest thing you could have done. Would it have gotten you killed? Yeah, because a young female on her own and trying to get away from the shifter mafia is impossible. But will it get you killed? No, because fate brought us together, and no way in fucking hell will I let anything happen to you.” He let his words sink in. “I’m not telling you this to freak you out, but you’re intelligent enough to know that no one just leaves Viktor’s organization unless it is in a body bag.”
“You left.” Her voice was soft.
“Yeah, but I had been running with that circle nearly my whole life. I know enough about this life to figure out how to disappear, Kettah. I know how to make it seem like I was the one burned in that car, and have dealt with these situations enough that I knew how to make it so that they wouldn’t have thought twice about what was really happening. You’re so young, though, so innocent, and there is no way you could ever have gotten far from your father’s clutches.” The subtle scent that shifted inside of her told him that she knew exactly what he was getting at. “You’ll stay with me, here, because that is the safest place for you. If you go off running by yourself there is no way in hell I can protect you, and me running off and chasing you will only make things worse.”
“I know all of this, knew it when I ran, but I would rather be dead than stay there, witnessing all the atrocities they do, or being married to a male that would only hurt me like he hurts others.” She angrily wiped away her tears, and it broke his fucking heart. To hear that someone would dare to touch her, to place some kind of claim on what was his made him absolutely fucking crazy with rage.
“You won’t die. That I can fucking guarantee.” He might die in the process of making that declaration solid, but he would do it with a damn grin on his face and take out every single one of those bastards in the process. “But there is something I have that Viktor doesn’t, and that is skills that make me pretty deadly to men like him.” He didn’t say it with a cocky attitude, but with assurance that she was safe. Maverick was good at what he did, really fucking good, and that was how he had been known as the most lethal male for anyone to come across.
****
Kettah stared out the wide glass window and watched as Maverick talked to a big polar bear shifter. She was in Maverick’s office, had been down here since eight this morning, and sat in the corner as he had gone over paperwork. It might have seemed boring just watching him work in-between flipping through a magazine that had to be three years old, but strangely enough Kettah found it relaxing. She felt safe with Maverick, even though logically maybe she shouldn’t. Yes, they were mates, but he was also not normal in any sense of the word. Even when he was working he was alert, dangerous, and any human or shifter would know to stay away. There was just this aura about him, a warning that his lion let off, and in the stillness of that office she had realized he was far more animal than human, immensely more feral than any shifter she had ever been around, and that was saying a lot given the males she had grown up around. It was exciting, exhilarating, and frightening, but not in a way that made her feel as though he might hurt her. She just hoped her instincts didn’t fail her this time.
Even now she was smiling, thinking of how her mate had made her breakfast. It was strange seeing someone as big as he was in the kitchen, cursing to himself as he cooked for her. It seemed odd to see him scramble eggs and make her toast. As mundane and simple as those two acts were, something inside of her warmed as she watched him. Even when he set the plate of blackened toast and burnt eggs in front of her, and even after he apologized under his breath because he was “shit at cooking”, she had smiled broadly at him and said thank you. Oh, the food tasted horrible, but it wasn’t about that. Only servants had ever cooked for her, and that was if her father wasn’t taking her out to eat to talk business with his associates. No one had ever prepared a meal for her because “he had heard her stomach growling”, but Maverick had. She had been in his presence less than twenty-four hours, but she saw a little glimpse of something humane inside of him.
Now here she stood, watching as the two males looked over an engine that hung on chains from the ceiling. The dark haired bear shifter glanced her way, and she didn’t miss the dark look that passed over Maverick’s face. His mouth moved, and the other male looked at Maverick with a furrowed brow, nodded sharply once, and didn’t look at her again. Maverick turned and stalked back to the office, and she moved away from the window and sat back in the chair in the corner.