Before Daybreak (Love Bitten)

Her eyes fluttered, and she smiled at me, making my heart pound like it always did whenever I was reminded that she belonged to me. Our hearts didn’t beat often, except when it came to our fated mates. My heart beat only for her now.

“Go where?” she asked sleepily as she stretched like a cat, causing the sheet covering her body to slip below her delicious breasts.

She was tempting. So very tempting. But if I was going to let my woman run around, putting herself in constant danger, without losing my shit, I was going to make damn sure she could protect herself.

“Training.”

Callie’s soft smile flattened, and she glanced at the bedside clock. “It’s seven o’clock at night!” she grumbled. “I don’t have to be up for another two hours.” She pulled the covers over her head and turned away, only to yelp in protest when I yanked them off her completely.

“Ren might have been able to meet later in the day, but I have shit to do. I’m meeting with the council at ten, Liam asked me to help him with a new whiskey recipe, and—”

“Okay, okay,” she interrupted me with a frown. “I get it. I’m getting up now.”

I moved backward and laughed when she practically slithered out of bed. She turned to grab her phone from the nightstand, and that was when she spotted the fancy coffee she loved so much. Snatching the cup, she held it to her nose and inhaled deeply before letting out a satisfied sigh. “Oh my gosh, I love—”

She broke off, and her eyes went wide while I narrowed mine. I’d decided to let the love incident slide for a little while, not wanting to overwhelm her with too much too soon. Considering the plans she’d made for her future and how they’d been blown to hell by meeting me, I didn’t want my love for her to be seen as a manipulation to make her stay with me.

But hearing her almost say the words had me rethinking my strategy. She was staring at me like a deer in headlights, unsure what to do next. Option one was to toss her back onto our bed and devour her pussy until she admitted the truth about what she felt for me. Option two was to have our training session and give her just a little more time to adjust to the idea before we talked about our feelings for each other. But we would be talking about it before we went to bed in the morning.

Since I had other things to do today—that involved her though she didn’t know yet—I decided to give her one more small reprieve.

“Move your sexy little ass, baby. I’ll be in the gym.” I teleported to my basement before I could change my mind. After I bought the house a couple of decades ago, I’d renovated the whole basement and turned the level into a gym and martial arts studio.

Callie popped in just a few minutes behind me, and I groaned as I glared at her outfit. Or what there was of it to call an outfit. She had on a black sports bra and spandex shorts that stopped only a couple of inches below her pussy.

“If you think you’re going to distract me with all that”—I gestured up and down her gorgeous body—“I’m not going to fall for it.”

“Is that a challenge, Mr. Bancroft?” Her tone was sassy, and I suppressed a smile, loving her attitude despite the torture she was inflicting on my dick. She walked across the studio, adding a little extra sway in her hips, and I curled my hands into fists to keep from lunging at her.

“Not a challenge,” I rasped when she bent over to pick up a jump rope, putting her firm, round ass on display.

I blinked a few times and forced myself to look away, gulping large amounts of oxygen as I tried to clear my mind. Finally, when I felt I was at least a bit more in control, I looked at her again. “If you want to prove to me that you’re ready to go on missions, then you shouldn’t be distracting me with your feminine wiles.”

Callie giggled at my terminology, but I kept talking. “If you plan to take nightwalkers down using that method, think again. Or you’ll find yourself chained to our bed with magic you can’t break.”

She pursed her lips as she contemplated, then nodded. With a flick of her hand, she was in a tank top and pants made of the same material as the shorts but extended to her ankle. “I suppose you’re right. I don’t want there to be any doubt about my skills when I kick your ass.”

I grinned and stepped onto a mat in the center of the room, then made a “come at me” motion with my fingers. “Bring it, baby.”