His Virgin Mate(34)
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.” Her gaze darkened and she stepped back, the light directly above her shining down on her hair and shoulders like a golden halo. “Are you hurt? I had no idea. You could have been out there dying, and I had no idea.”
“Lexi—“
“No. You shut up right now. I’m mad at you.” Her hands shook as she ran them over my body as if inspecting me for injury.
“I am unharmed.”
“You better be.” Her hands fluttered over my chest and I took the opportunity to capture her wrists and pull her close, but she resisted, her arms straight and locked at the elbows.
“It was nothing.” I could not resist inspecting every inch of her skin and admired the long line of her arms, imagined them wrapped— “What is that?”
“What?”
Holding her wrists with one hand, I lifted my fingertips to a mark just above her elbow. A mark that looked like bruises, from a man’s hand. With gentle fingers, I traced the faint purple blemish on her flesh. “Lexi? Who did this to you?”
She yanked her hands free and spun away from me. “It’s nothing. Let’s get some punch or something.”
“Punch?” My protective instincts flared to nearly uncontrollable levels. Lexi was mine, and another had dared raise a hand to her.
“You know, something to drink.” Head down, she scurried away and I followed.
“Lexi.”
She found the beverages and ladled two cups to the brim before sipping at one and handing the other to me. “Let’s just enjoy the dance, shall we?”
Gulping down the drink, I emptied my glass and set it aside. Lexi was using hers to hide her face from me, so I gently removed the ornately sculpted glass from her hand and set it aside as well. Fingers beneath her chin, I lifted her face to mine. She was so beautiful, so fucking beautiful. “Lexi, tell me, or I will challenge every Hunter here until I discover the truth on my own.”
She rolled her eyes and lifted her hand to wrap her small fingers around my wrist. “It was nothing, Von. Just forget about it, okay?”
“No. You are mine. Mine to protect. Mine to love. Mine, Lexi.” I traced her bottom lip with my thumb and thought about what I would do to her later, stretching her virgin ass and filling her with my cock. “You’re mine, and later, I’m going to make sure you never forget that fact again.”
“God, you are such a caveman.”
“I am not from the caves, mate. I am a Hunter. I am not like your Earth males.” Lowering my nose to her flesh, I called upon my advanced Hunter senses and drew the essence of her, of the bruised flesh, into my body. The scent was faint, but there, and one I was all too familiar with. “Cosmo.”
Lexi’s gasp confirmed what my senses told me. I also knew my prey stood on the far end of the room, leaning his shoulder against one of the large pillars as he watched the ball in his sanctioned role as one of the Officiates, and a protector of the females in attendance. All the females, it would seem, except mine.
Turning, I strode toward him without pause as Lexi hurried along behind me.
“Von, wait!”
I ignored her. Cosmo saw me coming and straightened to his full height. He was large and strong, but I did not fear him. In fact, I felt the opposite. I could not wait to get my hands on his flesh. I would make him bleed. I would rip him to shreds and teach him his place. For years, I’d refused his challenges. He was no Hunter, and there was no honor in defeating a weaker opponent. But he’d injured my mate and forced my hand. I would not show him mercy, suspected he wanted none. “I accept your challenge, Cosmo.”
Cosmo’s smirk confirmed what I already knew, this wasn’t about Lexi, this was about the past. About him…and me.
“Tomorrow, Von. Midday.”
“Done.”
* * *
Lexi
Cosmo smirked at me as Von gently led me away, all too pleased with the outcome of events.
I should have listened to Dani and Katie. I should have scrubbed at the skin, or gone to their medical station and asked them to use one of those blue healing wands on my arm. But I’d been afraid word would get back to Von if I did.
Not that it mattered now. That jerk Cosmo got exactly what he wanted, my mate agreeing to fight him tomorrow.
“He’ll cheat or something, Von. Don’t fight him.”
Von led me down a long hallway, one I’d not seen before, but I followed willingly. I was worried, but there was nowhere in the universe I’d rather be than with my mate. Von finally stopped walking and lifted his hand to indicate the door before us. “This is my room, Lexi. I want to take you inside, strip you down and make you mine. But as I know you will not let this go, I will speak this once of Cosmo and never again. Do not fear him. He will not defeat me, and he will not cheat. Cosmo is many things, but he is not a cheat. Nor is he a liar. He has been trying to goad me into fighting him for a long time.”