“He said he protects what’s his.”
A whimper came through the phone. “I think I just came.”
I laughed, rolled my eyes. “Ellen!”
“That’s so hot. You have to admit that’s really, really sexy. A guy to protect you? He’s like a hot alpha out of a romance book. Gimme!”
I pursed my lips. “Yeah, that is hot. I mean, if I’d had a guy like Bahre around in Chicago, Jeff Randall wouldn’t have gotten near me.”
“Bahre would have squashed him like a bug.”
That made me feel good, because I had a sense that’s exactly what Bahre would do. Based on the scars I’d seen on his face and disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt, he’d been in a lot of fights. And survived. Which meant he wasn’t just a warrior, he was strong. Tough. His scars made him look scary as hell, but I remembered the way his beast had looked up at me when he’d knelt before me on set.
The beast worshipped the ground I walked on. How I knew that, I wasn’t sure, but I did. And if that beast so much as thought I was in danger, I had no doubt he would kill to protect me. Bahre wasn’t human. He didn’t live by human rules. Knowing that made my entire body hum with excitement like I had a thousand bees under my skin. Jeff Randall was an asshole who got off on my fear. But now maybe I had a big, mean, deadly beast to protect me. Maybe, if Bahre worked out, I would never have to worry about carrying Mace while I walked to my car. Or buying specialty locking window guards, not to keep me in but to keep Jeff out. He hadn’t tried anything like that, but I was sure he knew I would take those precautions. That effort was what drove him.
“You still there?” Ellen asked.
“Yes. Bahre said he would make sure I got home safe,” I added. “But I didn’t see him.”
“You think he followed you?” she scoffed.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, if he followed you home, he wouldn’t leave. Would he?”
“I don’t know,” I said again. I hadn’t thought about that. I assumed he would promise to see me safely home, escort me to my door and then leave, like a normal human. But he wasn’t human.
She was quiet for a few seconds. “He wouldn’t leave you. Those Atlans are very protective. I bet he did follow you home. He’s probably outside right now.”
I sat upright, never imagining Bahre would be out there still. After I’d walked out of the makeup room, I’d tried to push him from my mind. When I’d gone to my car in the parking garage, I hadn’t seen him. Nor driving home or when I pulled into the garage. I doubted he had a car or even knew how to drive one. I wasn’t even sure if he’d fit in one.
I set my wineglass on the coffee table and padded to a front-facing window, pulled the blind to the side.
“Oh my God. He is.” He was standing on the sidewalk, staring at the house. At me. In the rain. All he needed was a trench coat and a boom box for it to be like an edgy teenager’s eighties movie.
“He is?” she squealed. “Don’t lose your shit. He’s not a stalker. He’s an alien. If he said he was making sure you got home safe, that’s what he did. Is doing. Don’t knee him in the balls or Taser him.”
As if I would do that to him. Well, come to think of it, I had resorted to those tactics in the past. When I had to. Instinct said I wouldn’t need to worry about my safety with Bahre.
“I gotta go,” I said. Before I hung up, I heard Ellen’s voice calling my name.
She could deal. I had an Atlan to figure out.
4
Bahre
Skin soaked as if I’d walked into a warm river, I stood at attention outside my mate’s home and wondered if I would see the stars this night, or if I were destined to stand beneath clouds and rain until morning. She was not yet ready to welcome me inside. With my size and scarred features, I did not doubt I would need to work twice as hard as any other Atlan male to win her heart and claim her body.
Quinn McCaffrey was hypnotically beautiful. The fact that such a perfect female would be unlucky enough to attract my beast was in irony only the gods themselves could ever comprehend. Tall, lithe, and stunning, she made my cock constantly hard. I was not familiar with what she did professionally, but it appeared she was well respected and shared her knowledge through the television with the entire community. Her intelligence was just as attractive as her fiery red hair.
Her perfection would only enhance my imperfections, and I had to hope she would not be repulsed. Yet no matter how mismatched our pairing, she was mine and I would not give her up. Yes, I was scarred. I was a warlord, an assassin, and a hunter. I had killed many, many enemies with Dr. Helion as my commander. I regretted none of those deaths. Evil needed to be destroyed. Who better than a beast to see it done?
Today was the first day my sensitive hearing and acute sense of smell had brought me pleasure. Content to listen to the muffled sound of my mate’s voice through the rain, my face split into a grin when I heard her laughter coming from inside the house. Not for the first time I was grateful to Dr. Helion for the secret integrations he’d given me to help me do my job. I knew he was a selfish leader. The enhancements I’d been given had been for his benefit and the advancement of the Coalition in the fight against the Hive. They were not a gift. He’d made me into
