Saving His Mate(5)

She flushed at his words, not bothering to deny what she felt. But it didn’t matter what her wolf wanted. She wrapped her arms around herself, then realized it pushed her breasts up more. Quickly she dropped them when his gaze strayed to her cleavage, his eyes softly glowing. “Yes, it’s because you’re a vampire and before you push me…”

She took a deep breath, getting ready to tell him something she almost never talked about. But with the way he was clearly ready to pursue her, she knew she needed to give him a solid reason to back off. Dominant males in the supernatural world were like that. “When I was a cub, about sixteen, I was ambushed by four vampires. The world was different then.” 1814 had been utter chaos, with British soldiers having just burned down the White House. “I think you’re older than me so I’m sure you remember. Long story short, I was packless at the time and unprotected. They would have gang-raped me if I hadn’t shifted to my wolf. Since they couldn’t carry out what they intended, they decided to nearly beat me to death instead. So, I don’t date vampires.”

He didn’t respond, just sucked in a sharp breath as she nudged him out of the way. With shaking hands she managed to rouse Sarah enough to help her out of the vehicle. Margery didn’t bother looking back at Rex as she walked Sarah up to the complex. She knew her words would have made everything clear to him and that he wouldn’t bother pursuing her.

Margery knew it was stupid to let something from her youth affect her so many years later, but some things were imprinted on your psyche, especially things that happened when you were young. It didn’t matter that her wolf wanted him, her human side felt too vulnerable around vampires and that was never going to change. She’d never really cared about that. Until now. Rex brought up the strangest sensation in her that her wolf didn’t want to deny. And if she was being honest, the most feminine part of her didn’t want to deny either.



Rex watched Margery walk away, using all his willpower to restrain himself from going after her. Her words had been like silver knives clawing over his bare skin. Trying to talk to her now wouldn’t do any good. What could he say? Don’t blame me for something four monsters did. No. He needed to show her that he was different.

The thought of her vulnerable, injured…fuck. It sliced him up, the need to destroy whoever had hurt her building up inside him with a surprising vengeance. This type of protectiveness was new, but he embraced it. Even if he didn’t quite understand it. Once she was safely within the confines of the complex, he turned and headed for the gate. He scented a couple shifters nearby but didn’t bother asking anyone to open the gate for him.

He jumped it, then glanced around. Whereas the casino was perpetually busy, there weren’t any humans out near the complex around this time of night. And he had just a few hours left before sunrise to find that rogue youth he’d been hunting. He already had a lead on the male and would have gone after him directly after speaking to Grant, but the need to be near Margery had been overwhelming.

And still was.

Using his gift of speed, he raced back to the casino where he’d left his SUV. Normally he preferred his bike, but when bounty hunting, he always took his SUV. The back section was soundproofed and he’d made it into a virtual prison for transporting vampires. If anyone opened the hatch they’d see a silver-lined, impenetrable box. The headrest was a cotton pillow. He might be bringing them back for sentencing but he wasn’t cruel. He had his prisoners dress in clothing that covered their entire bodies to protect them from the silver and the box was big enough that they had space to be semi-comfortable. But the silver interior guaranteed they wouldn’t be able to escape.

The drive to his destination near the main highway was quicker than he’d expected, but it was late and most people in Gulf Shores stayed near the beach. The place he was heading to was strictly a paranormal hangout. Just a bed and breakfast owned by a vampire—that Grant knew about since it was technically in his territory—that supernatural beings stayed at when they were passing through. It wasn’t as if they advertised, but the supernatural community talked and Rex had tailed more than one rogue vamp from this place. As he turned down a quiet, dusty makeshift-road lined with a cow pasture on one side and a pecan tree orchard on the other, he rolled down his window a fraction and listened intently.

Once he reached the end of the road, he pulled off onto a grassy patch near the fence on the cow pasture side and slipped out. He’d disabled his dome light, but he was still preternaturally quiet.