"How long will it take you to figure out that you're made for me?"
She rolled her eyes. "I don't really believe in love at first sight. Maybe you should consider taking me on a date though."
He caught the touch of a smile playing on her lips.
His brow furrowed."What was coffee? How many dates does a human need to figure out who their mate it?"
She stopped what she was doing and looked over at him. "You do realize some humans go an entire lifetime without figuring it out, right?"
Disgruntled he let out a grunt. "I don't have forever. I am going to go insane long before-"
Raine's phone rang. She put the bowl and looked at the screen.
Kian could smell the change on Raine as a sour scent wafted to him - fear. He knew fear. Any predator knew the scent. Only why was she afraid?
"Well. Let me get this." Her shoulders slouched as she let out a breath.
He nodded. He already missed the weight of her legs on him as she pulled herself to a full sitting position.
"Hello?"
Kian's hand found her thigh as she moved to get up. Something was wrong and he didn't like it one bit. If she was afraid of whoever was calling she wasn't leaving his side.
"Stop calling me."
Kian had incredible hearing, but he had to strain to hear the voice on the other end of the line.
"You owe us. Bitch. We own you," is what Kian heard. His hackles raised.
"No. I don't. I don't owe you anything. Stop calling me."
Before Kian could listen for anything else, Raine hung up and practically threw her phone across the coffee table.
He pulled her into his lap. Jealousy pooled around his stomach. She was his. His cougar had awoken, sitting and waiting just under the surface ready to either fight or mark her. He wasn't going to let anyone take Raine from them.
"Raine? What was that?" he asked.
"It's. Uh. Well, remember how I said I really didn't want a shifter?"
He nodded, although internally he patted himself on the back for changing her mind.
"It's," she sighed. "It's because of my ex. There's a million things different from you and him, but needless to say he really screwed me up. Gran hated him, and I should have realized sooner she was right."
Kian held her tightly, his head resting in the crux her neck breathing in the sweet scent of her mixed with the fear he wanted to wipe away. Gently his kissed behind her ear. He didn't want to stop her from talking.
"He, well he overdosed. He was an addict, only I didn't really know that for the first few months. Gran had just died and I was really lonely. My parents haven't been in the picture for a really long time. Gran was everything to me." She shifted, relaxing into him. "He was really good at reading me. That's the scariest part. He treated me like I mattered. He knew I needed to feel wanted. Like I belonged. He knew what I needed and I played right into it."
Kian took a long breath. "Let me guess, a pack animal? Wolf?"
She gave a small nod. "Yeah. But why was that your guess?"
He made absent little circles around her lower back. "Feeling like you belong usually means a group. Don't get me wrong. There are some great packs out there, I'm just more of a loner. Groups give me the creeps."
Her body slowly molded into his embrace as she chuckled.
"Yeah. Well all shifters freaked me out until you. It still scares me that you are just making me feel what I need, and that maybe at some point ..."
Her voice died off.
"What Raine? Tell me what you think of me."
"I. I don't know. Just that. That you'll leave me or use me."
An arrow to the heart wouldn't have hurt any worse than her words.
"Raine? You don't truly believe that of me, do you?"
She shook her head. "No. Not really. I can feel it, I can feel you. I know you wouldn't."
Kian didn't like that she doubted him based on some other assholes mistakes. "I wouldn't. That’s for damn sure. So, what this prick, he overdosed? So was that him? What did he recover and expect you to wait for him? That was him tying to get you back?"
Wringing her hands he watched her jaw muscles clench and unclench. "No. He died."
Her body sat rigid. Raine might have been right next to him, but she might as well have been miles away. He pulled her closer, and she didn't fight him.
The predator in him rejoiced that the competition didn't exist. He wasn't ready to add murderer to his list of problems; not after he narrowly escaped that predicament with his dad. She wasn't done yet though.
"The phone calls. They are, well that was his pack. They uh, they split from a larger pack a few years ago and are trying to increase numbers. When you talk about a mate you seem to believe with your whole being I am the only one. With them, I'm not sure they believe that."
Sitting in silence for a moment Kian finally spoke.
"Raine, that’s not a pack. That’s a few rouges that happen to think the more of them that are around, the better. I don't know that much about wolf packs, but I know rouges. I fight enough of them."
She turned to look at him, and he didn't like the look one bit. The woman was thinking.
"Yeah. I'm not sure how I feel about you fighting anything. Let's revisit that in a minute," she said.
He squirmed under her scrutiny.
A moment longer and she went to studying an invisible spot on her pants. "About these guys and the fact their brother overdosed they blame me. I tried. I really tried to get him to stop. I begged him to stop. A part of me loved him, and he filled this hole in my life."
Both Kian and his cougar stirred at that. No one was allowed to fill any
