10
Calliope
Even though I was on an adrenaline high unlike any I’d ever felt before, I didn’t move until Tane came back. Considering odds were darn close to one hundred percent that he’d just killed someone to keep me safe—and made sure I couldn’t see anything before, during, or after—I figured it was the least I could do. He wasn’t gone long, maybe fifteen minutes, but he headed straight for the bathroom to wash his face and hands—probably because cleaning up dead bodies was messy—before joining me on the bed. “I’m glad that’s over with.”
“There’s still one last thing to take care of,” Tane corrected, handing me his cell phone with a number I didn’t recognize pulled up. “When we called Link to let him know things were handled, he let me know that your parents want to talk to you. I was right about their phones, but Link was going to give them a burner so you could call.”
“Okay.” I climbed on his lap, wrapping his arms around me because I wanted him close for this, and hit the button to place the call.
It rang twice before my dad answered, “Calliope? Hold on a second so I can put this on speaker. Your mom wants to talk to you, too.”
There was a brief pause, and then my mom asked, “Are you okay?”
My eyes filled with tears at hearing their voices. I had to clear my throat before I could answer. “Yes, there was a little bit of an issue tonight, but Tane kept me safe.”
“And he’s the young man Larissa’s father told us about? The one you’re dating?” my mom asked.
I pressed my lips together to stifle my snort at her description of my mate. “Yes, Mom. I tried calling to tell you guys about Tane, but you didn’t answer any of my calls.”
“Yes, well, all things considered, we thought it was best not to draw any unnecessary attention to you since we thought you’d be safe at college,” my dad explained.
Since I’d put them on speaker right away, Tane was the one who replied, “Hello, Mr. Taft. This is Tane. Going forward, if anything comes up that might impact Calliope, I’m going to need you to call me. Link will make sure you have my number and email when you get your phones back.”
“Look, Tane. We appreciate what you’ve done for our daughter, but your relationship is new and—”
Tane cut my dad off. “This isn’t up for debate. She’s my responsibility now, and I can’t keep her safe—emotionally and physically—unless I know what’s going on.”
“I get that things have been intense this week, and you were a huge help in resolving our issue, but that doesn’t mean you get to take over our daughter’s life,” my mom argued.
“Very soon, your daughter is going to be my wife”—my eyes widened since he hadn’t proposed, although we were fated mates so it shouldn’t be a surprise—“so you need to get used to me being around because I’m not going anywhere.”
“Not without a prenup,” my dad muttered.
“And that’s the end of this call. I love you guys, but Tane is right. He’s going to be my husband, and nothing you say is going to change that. After everything that just happened, you should be thanking him instead of giving him a hard time. So after you’ve gotten your phones back from Link and you’re ready to do that, give me a call.” I stabbed my finger against the screen and tossed the phone to the side.
Tane brushed his lips over mine. “I’m sorry that didn’t go how you hoped.”
At some point, we’d explain shifters and fated mates to my parents, and they’d understand why things moved so quickly for Tane and me. Until then, they’d just have to deal. “Meh, today could’ve gone a whole lot worse, so I’m not going to complain too much. They’ll pull their heads out of their butts and get over it eventually. And if not, it’s not as though they’ve ever been super involved in my life anyway.”
“I hate seeing you sad. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” he asked as his hand stroked up my belly to cup my breast, leaving me with a really good guess at what he was suggesting. But I had an idea of my own.
“There’s something you should know about the mates of tigers,” I teased as I tugged his shirt over his head and kissed my way down his chest.
“What’s that, baby?” he asked, returning the favor with my sweatshirt.
I slid my hand inside his shorts and wrapped my hand around his hard length. After blowing on the tip, I murmured, “We tend to pick up on the whole oral fixation thing.”
“Fuck, yeah.” He shoved his shorts all the way down and pulled off my bra, pants, and panties before wrapping my hair around his fist. “I’m dying to know how it feels to have those pretty lips of yours wrapped around my dick.”
I wanted to have him in my mouth. To make him lose control. Leaning forward, I darted my tongue out to lick away the drop of pre-come beaded on the tip. Savoring his taste, I moaned, “Mmm.”
“Keep it up, baby. There’ll be a hell of a lot more where that came from,” he urged.
I opened my mouth wide, and he slowly sank inside, giving me time to adjust as he went deeper. I sucked him back as far as I could manage and then licked the ridges of his hard length as I pulled back. As my mouth glided down again, he let out a low moan of pleasure. My gaze jerked up to his face, and if I’d had panties on, they would’ve combusted at the look of satisfaction on his face. His eyes were riveted on his cock with my lips stretched around it, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “Fuck,
