When her mate suddenly flipped off the rope and walked over to Sascha, she wondered what he was up to until Sascha pointed in her direction. With the binoculars still at her eyes, she raised her hand and waved. With a face like a thundercloud, he stalked over. When she could no longer look through the binoculars to see him, she lowered them to find he was standing right in front of her.
Grabbing her chest, she took deep breaths. How fast had he been walking? "You scared the crap outta me!"
He frowned down at her. "You are an odd little half human."
"My brother says I'm a 'limited edition', thank you very much."
"What are you doing?"
"Stalking you."
His mouth dropped. "Out in the open?"
She shrugged. "Why hide?"
He stared at her, clearly at a loss for words.
"Miss me this morning?" she asked brightly.
"No, in fact I was wondering when you were leaving."
"I'm not."
"I can make you go," he threatened.
Growling, Amelia stood up on the crate in front of him. "Here are your choices, princess." She poked him in the chest. "One: You mate with me, and we live happily ever after." She poked him again. "Two: You kill me. Which one will it be?" She folded her arms across her chest.
"Those choices are unacceptable."
"Too bad."
"If you won't leave, I will." When he turned to walk away, she felt a moment of panic. He was right; he could leave the city, and she would never see him again. He could lose his soul and become feral, or he could simply wait for her to die. Since she wasn't a full-blooded witch, she only had another forty to sixty years to live, tops. To him, that would be the blink of an eye. Desperate to stop him, she reached out to grab him. Unfortunately, she had not accounted for the loose slate in the crate she was standing on. She twisted her ankle and started to fall; she braced for the impact that never came.
*****
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her reaching for him. On instinct, he turned toward her. When she lost her footing, his body moved without conscious thought. He lifted his arms and caught her easily, bringing her to rest snugly against his chest. Everything in him was screaming that this is where she belonged.
Taking a deep ragged breath, he placed her on her feet. "Are you okay?"
"I think my leg is broken," she said, pointing to her right leg.
Panic took over. "What!" he bellowed. "We need to get you to the clinic!" The men began to gather around to help.
"Just kidding." She stood and did an abbreviated tap dance before lifting an imaginary top hat in his direction. "I'm fine."
Darian dropped his head back and began to mentally count to ten.
One, two, three...
"Four, five, six..." Amelia continued.
Shocked, he opened his eyes. "Can you read minds?"
She shook her head. "No, but I was raised by three brothers; I know that look well."
"This can't be baby Amelia that Caiden is always talking about, can it?" Quinn asked.
"That would be me, and you are...?"
"Quinn Foxglove, and this monster is Graham Armstrong," he said, pointing to the extremely large warrior beside him. Graham smiled at his mate. Darian mentally corrected himself; she was not his mate. She was a random strange woman.
Amelia squealed and launched herself into Graham's arms. Graham laughed until he looked in his direction. Grinding his teeth, Darian forced himself to breathe slowly. Graham gently extricated himself from Amelia's enthusiastic hug.
Darian fought back waves of jealously. Why should he care what this random woman did? Wait, wasn't Graham holding her just a bit too long?
"Not that I don't appreciate the hug, but what was that for?" Graham asked.
"Your mother taught me growing up. I heard about you all the time." She bounced up and down while holding his hand.
Graham's mouth dropped open before he broke out in a huge grin. He laughed out loud and swept her up in another bear hug. "You're Amy!" Still grinning like an idiot, he put her down. "There wasn't a single time that my mother called when she didn't tell me about your latest exploits. My brother, Hunter, serves under Caiden in the Nu Unit. Is it true you hold the speed record for the Storm Keep obstacle course?"
Amelia nodded and let go of his hand to blow on her fingers before rubbing them on her chest. "No one has broken it yet."
"Are you two quite finished?" Darian asked coldly. At least she had stopped touching him.
Graham stepped back. "Now that we know she's okay, we'll get back to drills. Nice meeting you, Amy."
Amelia shook her head. "The only person on this planet who can call me Amy is your mother, and we both know you don't tell her no."