Obsidian(80)
He glanced down. “Release my leg and go to your room where you will be safe. No one will take you from me.”
She frantically shook her head, refusing. “You can’t fight Justice North, damn it. He’s the leader of the NSO. That will earn you a one-way trip to the Wild Zone and I won’t be able to visit you there. No humans are allowed except one who is a mate. That’s where they keep the more irrational Species who aren’t social.”
“You’re my mate.” His head lifted and he snarled at the males again but focused on the one with the strange eyes. “I don’t care who you lead. Not me. She’s mine!”
“Obsidian?” Justice remained eerily unruffled. “She’s your mate?”
“Yes.” He snarled, tried to intimate them by drawing closer, but only dragged Alli along the floor. He stopped since she wouldn’t let go and he didn’t want to cause her harm.
“We won’t take her from you.”
They were trying to confuse or deceive him. He glowered at the male in charge of the Species. “You want my guard down to steal her from me.”
“No.” The male shook his head. “We’d never separate a male from his mate. We have our own and know how much they mean to us. We just thought you two were sharing sex. She’s considered one of us, as your mate. We won’t allow her to be a doctor here but no one would ask her to leave our lands.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Fury verified. “Your mate stays at Homeland with you.”
“Leave!”
The males backed slowly to the door. Justice smiled but it was tense. “I’ll have someone bring the paperwork. We fill out forms—Allison can help you with them—to make her officially your mate. It’s that simple.”
“Moon will bring them,” Fury offered. “You trust him and he will explain our laws regarding mates. You don’t know us well or trust us yet but you will learn to.”
“Good idea,” Justice muttered. “Let’s go.”
“After you.” Fury opened the door and both of them fled, closing it after them.
It was difficult to release the anger that raged inside him over someone daring to take Alli from him. He looked down at her and noticed how pale her features had grown. She just gaped at him but her hug on his thigh had vastly loosened.
“I can’t believe you did that. They think I’m your mate.” Her voice rose. “They are bringing papers, Obsidian! You don’t know what that means but it’s binding.” She released him and fell back on her ass to sit on the carpet, still watching him as though he’d done something so shocking she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. “Legal. Forever.”
Alli wouldn’t lie to him. The papers must be real and so where the words the males had spoken. They wouldn’t take her away from him to be a doctor for the prison. He wouldn’t have to worry anymore.
“Good.” He inched away from her to stare in the direction of the kitchen. “I am hungry for food. You said you’d teach me how to cook.” He stared down at her and offered a hand to help her up. “Now is a good time.”
She didn’t take his help, unmoving except for blinking. Her little nose flared a few times as she breathed hard.
“Alli? I am ready to learn.”
“Do you understand what you just did? They are drawing up mate papers.”
“It means they can’t take you from me.”
“Mating is forever here, Obsidian.” She spoke low, her words slow. “As in ‘until we die’.”
“Good. Teach me to cook.” He faced her and offered his hand again.
She ignored it. “You will be stuck with me. You won’t be able to be with other women—females of your kind.”
“Good. I only want you.”
“For now. What about next month? Next year?”
“I won’t want another. Take my help to stand.” He bent and grabbed her hand, pulling but she refused to straighten her legs, instead just sliding a few inches along the floor. “I am hungry.”
“Obsidian!” She altered from shaken to irritated in an unsettling short span of time. “You have to tell them you changed your mind or just said that in the heat of the moment. I can’t be your mate. You don’t know what you want. You haven’t been free long enough to even leave Medical except to come to my house. That’s insane.”
“You’re mine.” He fought down his irritation. “I say this often. Do you understand?”
He didn’t wait for a response but bent, released her hand, and hooked her in his arms. She gasped when he lifted her against his chest and stalked into the kitchen. He half expected her to punch him but she just watched him warily. He paused by the long island in the center of the kitchen and deposited her there.