Probably wouldn’t be for a while.
“Ana, this is Blaze, our President, and his m—old lady, Glory. Guys, this is Ana. She’s going to stay with us for a bit.”
Ana swallowed hard as they stared at her, but she stuck her hand out as she greeted them, the barest of tremors in her voice. “Hi. I promise I won’t impose long. Hopefully I’ll be able to leave soon.”
Blaze studied her as he shook her hand, his eyes darting to him. Bolt shook his head at the questions he could see in his President’s gaze. No, she wouldn’t be leaving, and he’d tell him the story later.
Giving an almost indiscernible nod in understanding, Blaze gave Ana a smile meant to set her at ease. “No worries. You can stay as long as you need to.”
Glory murmured a greeting, but Bolt didn’t give them long to talk. He was anxious to get Ana to his room, away from the craziness and into the relative quiet, before she decided to, well… bolt.
Snorting to himself at his thought, he ignored the curiosity in her light blue eyes as he led her to his room. Breathing a sigh of relief once the door was closed and the noise was just a low hum, he watched as she took in his space.
As an officer, he had a larger room, but it wasn’t huge. His king size bed took up most of it, and he had a recliner in front of his wall mounted tv, along with a dresser. One door led to a closet and another to a cramped bathroom.
It wasn’t much but it was his. And now, it was hers. She only had to accept it—and him. If she could, if she stayed—when she stayed—then maybe he’d find them something bigger, just for the two of them.
Jesus. When he left for Nevada, he never imagined he’d come home and start making plans to find a place to live outside of the clubhouse. Yet here he was, doing just that—because of a woman he’d just met.
One who already held so much power over him. One who wasn’t even close to realizing it yet.
He’d heard what finding a mate could do to a man, but he hadn’t known it would be this instant, this intense, until now.
“Is… is this your room?” Ana asked quietly, the quiver in her voice more pronounced than it was when she’d found her bravery while talking to Blaze and Glory.
Moving away just a bit to give her a little more room, he nodded. “Yep. It’s not much, but it’s home.”
She studied it for a few moments before glancing at him. “Am I staying in it? With… with you?”
“We don’t have any others available at the moment,” he lied without remorse. No way was she staying somewhere without him. He loved his brothers, but he wasn’t trusting them with her—not until they were mated. Maybe not even then. He wasn’t sure he’d ever want to let her out of his sight now that he’d found her. “Don’t worry so much. I told you you’re safe here. Safe with me.”
Pursing her lips, she searched his eyes. “But am I safe from you?”
Not even a little bit. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, Ana. You have my word on that.”
She relaxed at his words and satisfaction filled him. Already she was coming to trust him. At least enough to take him at his word without questioning him.
And that knowledge made him feel like he was on top of the world—along with the fact that he knew soon, what she probably didn’t think she wanted would be the one thing she was begging him for.
You’re an arrogant son of a bitch, his leopard said with a laugh.
He smirked. Like you’re one to talk. We both know you’re worse than me.
“So… Blaze and Glory, huh?”
Lips curling at the amusement in her tone, he shrugged. “Guess they’re perfect for each other in every way, including their names,” he replied with mock disgust.
Their names had always amused and disgusted him in equal measure. But if he was being honest, he could admit now that the disgust had been forced—and it had been because he was a little jealous of everyone around him finding their mates.
He’d told himself he didn’t want one, and he’d actually believed that. But now that she was here, now that he knew she was Ana, he could admit that he’d been lying to himself the whole time.
“Bolt’s what, your club name?” she asked, a hint of shyness replacing the trepidation in her gaze. He nodded, cocking his head as he watched her. “What’s your real name?”
Smirking, he shook his head. “Nope. No one knows that except Blaze, and I intend to keep it that way.”
“Are you a wanted man?”
“No,” he snorted, keeping his initial thought to himself—that soon, he’d be a wanted man by her.
Maybe he really was a perverted pig, but he didn’t give a fuck. He owned it.
“Club secret? Like the illegal stuff is? If you told me, you’d have to kill me, kind of thing?”
For a moment, he thought she was being serious and was working herself back into being scared, but then he caught the amusement dancing in her eyes. “Something like that.”
Her full lips curled, making a shallow dimple in her left cheek pop. “That’s what I thought.”
Waving his hand to the bed since his recliner had clothes he’d folded but hadn’t put away yet piled onto it, he gestured her over. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
A hint of wariness entered her blue eyes again, but she nodded and walked over. Perching on the edge, she hugged her bag to her stomach as she watched him. Fuck. Even with that baggy uniform shirt hiding her body from him, she still looked fucking amazing on his bed.
Forcing himself to ignore the
