Training Their Mate(48)

“I’m going to wait for Chelsea downstairs.”

Dante moved toward her. “I’ll walk you out.” He glanced over his shoulder as if his brother would challenge his action.

Dante pressed his thumb on the sensor and the lock unclicked. He pulled the door open, and as she grabbed the handrail to go downstairs, he slipped her suitcase from her hands. She refused to think about his chivalrous action.

Outside, the air was fresh, and she was happy to be in the open again.

He set down her suitcase. “I’m sorry you had to find out like that.”

She saw no reason to continue this discussion. “It’s okay.”

“You do realize your mom’s son was a werewolf?”

She spun around. “You don’t know that.”

“He would have been if Couch was the father.”

She shivered at the thought. Maybe it was better that an umbilical cord had wrapped around his neck at birth. No. She didn’t really mean that. She would have loved her brother no matter who or what he was.

“You still have the gun, sugar?”

“Yes.” She hoped he wouldn’t ask for it back.

“We need you to be very careful. Couch might blame you for his troubles.”

As if her stomach wasn’t already in a state of upset, his comment made it worse. “I’ll be on the lookout.”

“The problem is that it might not be Couch.”

She spun around. “Why are you doing this to me? I’m scared shitless as it is. Now I have to look over my shoulders for the rest of my life. Maybe I should just move to another state.”

Only she didn’t want to move.

Before he answered, squealing tires turned a corner and charged toward her. She had to smile at Chelsea’s grand entrance.

As soon as her friend stopped, Liz picked up her suitcase. Before she took even one step, Dante pulled her to his chest and kissed her.

“Sugar, I will never stop wanting you or needing you. Please come back.”

She dipped her head. If she looked deeper into his shimmering hazel eyes, she’d be lost. Only now could she see the flecks of amber swimming in his iris. “Good-bye.”

Tears stung her eyes as she opened the back door to Chelsea’s car, tossed in her suitcase, and slid in the front seat. She kept her gaze averted as Chelsea took off.





Chapter Sixteen

Dante kicked a stone across the road. He couldn’t believe the woman he was falling in love with just walked out of his life because his brother shifted in front of her. Dante would have told her, but in his own way.

He raced back to the building and entered. He took the steps two at a time and barged into the living room. Trax was pacing the kitchen.

Attacking Trax might not have been smart, but Dante couldn’t take his brother’s surliness one more minute.

“You fucked up the best thing in our lives, you know that?”

Trax ran a hand over his short-cropped hair. “What was I supposed to do? I failed to find Couch.” He shook his head. “It’s better this way.”

“Better? Are you shitting me? Liz is the one for us.”

“For you maybe. She won’t want me if I’m a failure.”

“You’re not a failure. You ran into a little bad luck.”

Trax placed his empty beer bottle on the counter and got another one out of the fridge. He walked into the living room. Now Dante was worried. Trax never left an empty bottle on the counter.

Trax waved his beer. “We’ve got to make sure Couch doesn’t come after Liz.”

He agreed and was glad his brother didn’t want to abandon her. “How do you propose doing that?”

“We watch her twenty-four seven.”

That didn’t seem practical. “I repeat. How do you plan to do that? Follow her all day?”

“If need be.”

Now Trax wasn’t making any sense. “Just admit it. Liz is gone and we’ll never have a mate.”

Trax kicked the leg of the coffee table, sending a ceramic bowl skittering off the glass top and crashing to the floor. “Fuck me.”

Dante wanted to do more than that. “You suck.” He shoved his thumbs in his pockets. “So what’s your plan to get her back?” His brother better want her back or he would charge.

“We can’t go after her until Couch is caught and in prison for the rest of his miserable life.”

“That could take years.” They’d been after the guy for over six months already.

“What choice do we have?”

His brother was losing it. “Maybe I should move in with her.”

“You can’t be with her twenty-four seven. Listen, Liz needs time to figure things out. Charging in there will only make it worse.”