The Mate Mistake(The Woolven Secret 3)(8)

“The car. Pull it over,” he instructed again.

“We’re miles from the airport.”

“Yes, yes we are. I want some time with my new wife. Pull over. And get out.”

“I… can’t do that.”

“I believe you can. I believe it’s in your best interest. So do you.” Parker considered putting his fist through the plexi glass that separated them, but he didn’t want to frighten Belle. At least, not before he could tell her the truth.

“They’re going to kill me.”

“Parker?” Belle asked, worry creasing her face.

“No one is going to kill you.” His beast grew hungry. It longed to speak, to tell this puny sack of meat that if those who’d employed him didn’t kill him that Parker would. He’d tear him limb from limb—

Enough! Be silent. He’s already afraid. He stinks of it.

He should be, the beast answered him.

“Unless you don’t pull the car over,” he kept his tone conversational. “I think you understand what you’re dealing with. It’s why you’re afraid. Did you know predators can smell fear? It helps them to find their prey.”

The man began muttering prayers under his breath as he pulled the car over. “They want you, Belle. No amount of money in the world is going to protect you.”

Parker was offended. “I’m more than money, little man.”

“They move in the dark,” he said. “They’re unkillable…”

“Everything that lives can die,” Parker said. “Now, get out. There’s an attaché in the trunk with a couple grand I won at the tables. Take it.”

The man twisted himself in the seat so that he faced them. He was holding a gun in his shaking hands.

Belle tensed, but remained silent.

Parker cocked his head to the side, trying to decide how best to handle him. He was already afraid, so showing him there were more things in the dark than vampires might be the last shove off the cliff of his sanity.

However, he wasn’t ready to explain to Belle why, if this man actually shot him, it wasn’t a big deal.

The bullets weren’t silver.

At least, they didn’t smell silver.

He’d been wrong before.

“Everything can die? Even you?” His hands quivered.

“Even me. Even her.” He cocked his head to the side, the bestial part of him gaining dominance. “Even you.”

“Your eyes—” he gasped.

“Yes, all the better to see you with.” Parker leaned forward. “And see you, I do.”

The stench of urine filled the car and he fumbled with the door and ran. He didn’t take the attaché, he didn’t look back. All he did was run.

“Poor bastard,” Parker muttered as he got out of the car. “I hope he didn’t piss on the seat.”

Belle laughed. “That would be unfortunate.”

“At least he left the keys. Let’s go.”

“How can you be sure we won’t run in to anyone else at the airport?” Belle asked, getting into the front seat of the car with him.

“I can’t, but I know our jet is secure. I travel with a full staff. Pilot and maintenance are all under Woolven employ and our benefits, well, you can’t beat them.”

“That man was terrified of you.”

“Yes, he was.” He kept waiting for her to ask about his eyes. Why the man had been terrified of his eyes, but she didn’t. She stared straight ahead.

He wondered what she was, what she’d done that vampires would be after her. That she knew what they were?

He had to tell her.

Parker wanted her to get used to the idea of being married to him first, before he told her that he was a werewolf. She was under enough stress as it was.

He also knew this had been an attempt on her life. The vampires that were after her were powerful if they’d already gotten an assassin in play. The only way to keep her truly safe was to mark her.

That would keep his pack, his family safe, too.

He spared her a glance as he drove. She was serene and still, her hands folded in her lap. Parker had the strangest urge to ask her what she was thinking about, but that was a stupid question. If she was smart, and he was sure she was, she’d be thinking about survival.

He wanted to peel away those layers and see inside her head. He wanted to see the cogs and wheels turn.

“Is there really all that money in the trunk?” she asked.

“Yeah. You want it?”

“What? You can’t just…” she waved her fingers.

“Just give you money? Why not? It’s just paper. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Wow, must be nice.”

Parker took the exit for McCarran International Airport and followed the signs that would take him to the tarmac for the private travelers. “I guess it is nice. There are few things that money can’t fix, and money makes those bearable. I told you I’m aware of my privilege.”