When He's Sinful (The Olympus Pride 3)

“Camden—”

“Neither us nor our animals like this situation, so why the fuck are we in it?”

A knock sounded on the front door.

Aspen glanced at the wall clock. “Bailey’s early.”

Well that was a first. The black mamba shifter always left everything until the last minute, so she was never ready for work until the exact moment she needed to head out.

Camden leaned against the doorjamb and watched Aspen stride toward the front door. Well, he watched her ass and admired the sensual little sway of her hips.

Reaching the door, she grabbed the handle and peeked through the peephole. Her body tensed. Her hand slipped away from the handle and she took a step backwards.

Camden straightened, and his tiger’s ears pricked up. “What’s wrong?”

Whirling to face him, she blinked, her eyes wide. “Nothing.”

Another knock sounded at the door. Louder this time. But she made no move to open it. In fact, she took another step away.

“Who is it?” he asked.

She scratched at her cheek. “No one.”

“Babe, who is it? Because I know that door’s not knocking on itself.”

“Well, it’s … It’s just someone I don’t want to talk to.”

“Yeah, I sensed that much. But who exactly is it?”

Her shoulders lowered. “Grant.”

Camden felt his jaw harden. Grant was the enforcer who’d been pursuing her hard lately. “He’s still bugging you to go on a date with him?”

She bit her lip. “Not exactly. It’s fine, he’ll scamper when he realizes I’m not going to—No, Camden, just leave it.”

Leave it? Hell no. Not if the guy wasn’t getting the message that she wasn’t interested. It wouldn’t be the first time Camden had chased off a persistent suitor. Probably wouldn’t be the last. He yanked open the front door.

His fist poised to knock, Grant blinked. “Oh. You’re here.”

“Yeah, I am. You shouldn’t be.”

“I could say the same to you.” Grant dropped his hand. “Look, I need to—”

“She’s not interested. She told you that. More than once.”

Grant tried peering over Camden’s shoulder. “Aspen, we need to talk. I can understand if I freaked you out. I didn’t want that, I just … Please, can we talk?”

“We already did that last night,” she said, her voice soft. “There’s really nothing else that either of us needs to say.”

Camden felt a frown tug at his brow. It wasn’t like Aspen to hide behind him or anyone else, but she’d stepped even further away from the door. “What the fuck did you do?” he asked Grant.

The male’s eyes widened. “Nothing. I just … I didn’t handle our last conversation well. I know you think I’m wrong, Aspen, but I’m not,” he called out.

“About what?” asked Camden, his gut beginning to churn.

Ignoring him, Grant went on, “You can at least admit it’s a possibility, Aspen.”

“It doesn’t feel possible to me,” she said. “It truly doesn’t. I’m sorry.”

Grant’s mouth tightened. “It’s not always something you feel. At least not straight away. Especially not if there are several things blocking the bond.”

Every muscle in Camden’s body locked tight. “Bond?” he echoed, his voice dead. He looked over his shoulder at Aspen, who was chewing on her thumb. “He believes you’re his mate?”

Grant sighed. “Can I come inside so we can talk about this?”

Camden closed the door in the asshole’s face and turned to Aspen. “He believes you’re his mate?”

She puffed out a breath. “Yes.”

And Camden saw red. A haze just fell over his vision. His heart pounded. His chest ached. His gut twisted. And his cat roared so loud Camden wouldn’t have been surprised if she heard it.

She was talking. Saying how Grant had turned up here last night and blindsided her with his declaration. Camden couldn’t properly take in her words. There was a thrashing in his ears, and the ever-present balloon in his chest inflated.

“You’re not his,” he blurted out, his voice like gravel.

“Damn right I’m not. I told him that.”

At her vehement response, the thrashing in his ears began to die off, the red haze started to dissipate from his vision, and the balloon inside him began to steadily deflate.

“I know two people don’t always sense that they’re mates at first, but I’m pretty sure my bearcat wouldn’t jerk back in horror at his claim if there was any truth in it.”

Camden drew in a deep breath. It hurt. Like his ribcage was too tight. “Why would he think you’re mates?”

“Mostly because his cat likes me. Apparently, the animal doesn’t like anyone. Not a soul. Something to do with some sort of trauma, by the sounds of it. But allegedly his cat feels at ease around me, and Grant is convinced that means something.”

“My cat feels at ease around you.” Usually. At that moment, the tiger was pacing up and down, a growl trickling out of his mouth. He wanted to charge outside and savagely claw the pallas cat to warn him away. The only reason the tiger hadn’t lost his shit was that she’d made it clear the other male was not her mate; wasn’t someone who’d take her from him.