His Virgin Mate(43)

“He’s an idiot. Seriously. Like a five-year-old holding a grudge.” She shook her head and reached for my hand, squeezed. “And I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“If that is your concern, I am not the one you should worry about,” I said, my voice low. Cosmo was going down. While I wouldn’t kill him, I could certainly put him in a position never to challenge me again. He hadn’t hurt Lexi, just used her to get what he wanted…his chance to strike at me, to salvage his own wounded pride.

“Why didn’t he just leave me alone?”

“There is one thing you are forgetting…your beauty. You are desirable to more males than just me. Perhaps he hopes if he can dishonor me tomorrow, you will turn from me, reject me, just as the woman he loved rejected him.” The last I grumbled and my arm tightened about her, making her look up at me.

Her flushed cheeks and her bright eyes were almost my undoing. There was an emotion that I’d not seen before, soft and warm and something I didn’t dare name. Not yet. Not until she spoke the words. “That’s so not going to happen. I want you, Von. I just don’t want you to fight this stupid challenge.”

“Perhaps he would concede the challenge if you were already claimed.”

“Meaning you take all my virginities,” she clarified.

“Yes.”

“Then do it.”

I leaned down so I was eye level with her. “What are you saying?”

She licked her lips, looked away, then back. “I don’t want Cosmo to win me.”

My eyes narrowed at the idea. “He will not win. You do not need to worry about this. He’s just an inconvenience. Even if he did win—” Those words were like acid in my mouth. “You make the ultimate choice in your mate. While I have claimed two of your virginities, you can walk away now if you desire. Only when I have taken you completely will we be legally mated. Only then you will be truly mine. Forever.”

“Then do it now. I want it. I want you.”

My cock pressed against my pants, agreeing with her. My mind, though, was still in charge.

“I will not claim you because you do not wish me to fight. I don’t want you to be mine out of fear. You will be mine because we were destined, fated, to be together, because you want me and accept my protection.” I kissed her hard and fast on the mouth. “I will claim you when you beg me to fill you, when you are as obsessed with me as I am with you, when you surrender to the bond between us and fall in love with me.”

Her eyes were round with surprise at my ranting, but I couldn’t seem to stop.

“I want everything, Lexi. I won’t settle for less.”

“All right.” Her words left a tight ache in my chest but I brushed it aside. She was young and innocent, naïve and beautiful. She would need time to process my words, time for love to grow. And I was a Hunter. I could be patient, give her the time she needed to settle things in her own mind.

“You never answered my earlier question. Tomorrow, Lexi? Are you ready to be mine?” I was patient, but I wasn’t a fool. I could take a lifetime earning her love, but I wanted her firmly under my protection, my bonded mate so I could take her home and get her settled into a new life on the mountain, a life with me. No more empty bed. No more dark, sleepless nights spent staring at the ceiling alone. She was mine and I was hers, and I wanted to take her home as quickly as possible.

She tilted her head up and I saw the smile, the eagerness. “Yes. I… I want to be yours. And I want to come tomorrow. I want to be there when you defeat Cosmo.”

I stood to full height. “Absolutely not.”

She frowned, a little V forming in her brow. “Why not? It’s my fault. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be fighting him at all. I should be there. I want to be there, for you.”

“Your fault?” What the hell was she talking about? “It’s not your fault. Cosmo is just being an ass and making my life hell. Our animosity goes back years, way before you even were old enough to be matched through the brides program. This isn’t about you, it’s about him trying to fuck with me and it’s high time I ended it.”

“Still,” she replied. “I need to know you are safe. I want to be there.”

“I assure you no harm will come to me. I am a trained fighter and Cosmo is no competition. You do not need to leave your suite to know this fact.”

She crossed her arms over her lovely chest. “My suite?”

“Yes, where you will be for the challenge so I will know you are safe.”

“I can be safe from the sidelines.”

It was my turn to frown. “I do not know what sidelines are, but you are my mate and you must be where I know no harm will come to you. It is for your protection. I will not have any male touching you, Lexi.”