“I want no other. You have no reason to be jealous,” I remind her, wanting her to know I'd never want another.
She gives me a hard look that makes me smile before I run back to the bedroom and pull on a pair of loose shorts. I make it back to the living room as Gwen goes to the door.
Running over, I step in front of her and grab the doorknob. I look at Gwen over my shoulder. “You stay right here. I’ll handle this.”
She rolls her eyes at me but doesn’t move. “You could have least put a shirt on, too.” She eyes my hairy chest and licks her lips.
I need to get this Winnie person out of here as fast as possible. I want to be alone with my mate. I jerk open the door and see a short dark-haired girl in baggy clothes looking down at the ground.
“What do you want?”
“Xavier!” Gwen’s voice is chastising as she pushes me out of the way and opens the door wider. “Come inside, Winne.”
I grab Gwen’s hand and pull her behind me. I want to be able to deal with any threat. She peeks around me as Winnie comes into the living room. She’s still staring at the ground and doesn’t look up at me.
“Winnie, what’s wrong? Why are you out here?”
The little shifter finally looks up and meets my eyes, only to look away again. “He’s coming.”
“Who?” I ask, looking at the front door.
“Stone,” Gwen says from behind me, her voice laced with anger.
“I overheard him talking to Dominic, and he’s on his way. I followed your scent and came to warn you.” Winnie looks up into Gwen’s eyes, and I see tenderness there. “You’re a good friend to me, and I think you deserve happiness with your mate. Not to be broken apart. I can’t believe he’s doing this to you.”
“Thank you. Anyone who is kind to my mate is welcome in our home,” I tell her.
Gwen runs back to the bedroom, leaving Winnie standing in the living room, and I follow behind her. She grabs a pair of my running shorts and slips them on, rolling the waist a dozen times to get them to stay up.
“What are you doing?” I watch her movements, wondering why she’s putting on clothes.
“I just want to be ready for whatever happens.”
I walk over and take her face in my hands and try to rub the worry lines away from her forehead. “Nothing is going to happen. You aren’t going anywhere. This is your home now, and you are my mate. Nothing and no one will change that.”
She reaches up and puts her hand over mine, and we press our foreheads together.
The sound of the front door opening has us both looking up. Grabbing Gwen’s hand, I move towards the living room.
“He’s here,” Winnie says, looking out the open doorway to the clearing in front of the house.
“Stay here,” I order, leaving Gwen inside with Winnie as I walk out onto the porch.
Stone walks from the tree line just as I reach the edge of the porch. He walks through the clearing and stands a few feet away as walk down the steps to meet him.
He’s looking at the house and the surrounding area with a questioning look in his eyes. He doesn’t ask anything, and I can sense he’s one pissed-off alpha.
“What do you want, Stone?” I don’t have time for games. He needs to say what he wants and leave. I have a mate to bond with.
“I needed to check on my sister. I saw you broke out of the cell. Where is she?” His anger is palpable, but I don’t care. He doesn’t intimidate me.
“She’s fine. You can go now.”
“I need to see her, Xavier. I know how you’ve been these past few years. I need to make sure she’s okay.” He spits the words at me as if my sorrow over the loss of my family was something I could control.
“Get off my property. If you don’t, we’ll fight. And I will win.” I clench my fists at my side. I’m not intimidated by his words.
“You’ll have to kill me.”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“Enough!” Gwen’s shout has me turning around. I see her standing on the porch with her hands on her hips. “I’m here, Stone. I’m fine. You can go home and leave my mate and me to our bonding.”
“Gwen, are you okay?”
“What is wrong with you, Stone? You’re acting crazy. Shifters don’t hurt their mates. You locked mine up and tried to keep him from me. You know what that would have done to him. What it would have done to me. Why are you acting this way? You’ve gone crazy!”
I see Winnie step onto the porch behind Gwen, and I feel a shift in Stone. Anyone else wouldn’t feel it, but because I found my mate before she was of age, I know what it is. There’s a longing in Stone, along with the need to hold back. He’s terrified because his heart wants her, but his wolf doesn’t know if she’s the one.