That was when his mate lurched forward.
Finley sucked in a breath, her mouth falling open, her face creasing in pain as the bush dog clamped her jaws around the woman’s ankle. “Ow, fuck, get her off, get her off!”
Try to come between a bush dog and their prey? Not likely. And he felt no need to intervene on Finley’s behalf anyway. His mate needed to make her point.
Cursing like crazy, Finley shook her foot, trying to dislodge the little female. Yeah, it wouldn’t be that easy. But the enforcer kept trying, still swearing like a sailor.
Her eyes welled up, but she’d get no judgment from him. It was never a case of a “mere ankle bite” when it came to Blair’s kind. They went for the most sensitive spot, they dug their teeth deep, and they didn’t simply bite down. Nope. They chomped and chewed, making it feel like you were being attacked by a living, breathing meat grinder. And it hurt. Like. Hell.
Now babbling curses in a whiny voice, Finley reached down as if to whack his mate.
“I wouldn’t do that,” warned Luke. “For one thing, you’d then have to deal with me—which you really don’t want. For another, she’ll just transfer her teeth to your hand and mangle the fuck out of it.”
“She’s mauling my ankle!”
“So she is. And you know why. What you don’t seem to know is that bush dog shifters have lockjaw. Like a pit bull. If she doesn’t want to let you go, she isn’t going to let you go. Shaking your foot won’t dislodge her.”
Finley clenched her fists. “Then order her to let me go!”
“I don’t think anyone could make Blair or her female do anything. In any case, I’d never bark orders at her—she’s my mate, my equal. But you’re well aware of that, just as you’re well aware of what you have to do if you want her to release your ankle. So do it. Or don’t. Your choice.”
Annoyance flared in Finley’s gaze.
The bush dog started chomping on her foot with renewed vigor.
Finley’s eyes bugged, and a high-pitched cry burst out of her. “Ow, ow, ow! Shit, okay, okay!” She took a deep breath, relaxed her shoulders, and bowed her head in begrudging submission.
The bush dog released her with a low growl. Then, after an alarmingly quick shift, Blair was up in the enforcer’s face, her expression hard and cold. “You’re lucky my female is in a good mood, or she wouldn’t have stopped at just mauling your foot. And I can promise you right now that if you dismiss me or her ever again, we’ll both fuck you up in the worst way. And we’ll enjoy it. So take that on board, Finley. This will be your only warning.”
Blair hadn’t yelled, she’d pitched her voice low. But it rang with so much rancor and dominance that it made even Luke’s blood run cold.
It also made his dick thicken.
Finley backed away, her eyes on the ground. She then turned and hobbled into the building with as much dignity as she could muster.
Luke drank up his mate’s personal space. There were many things he wanted to say to her, including that he was proud of her for not losing her cool, but what came out was … “I am going to fuck the holy hell out of you when we get upstairs.”
Blair’s eyes blazed, and one corner of her mouth kicked up. “I look forward to it.”
Once they were both fully dressed, they returned to the building, sexual tension turning the air between them static. It was as they waited for the elevator that her cell rang.
Still feeling a little worked up after her mini confrontation with Finley, Blair none too gently fished her phone out of her pocket. Kiesha. She swiped her thumb over the screen and answered, “Hello?”
“You weren’t supposed to leave.”
Blair went utterly still as that deep, rough, almost mechanical voice slithered down her spine.
“You’re not supposed to be with him.”
The fuck? She stared up at Luke, who was glaring at the phone so could presumably hear the words.
“This isn’t acceptable, Blair,” the deep voice went on. “I know you won’t sleep with him, but it isn’t the point. You’re not where you belong.”
She broke out in goosebumps. There was something so goddamn creepy about not only how intimately he spoke to her but how confident he was that Luke was no threat to his hold on her.
“I know you only wanted to piss off your mother, but … just come home, okay? You’re only leading the cat on by staying. He might have convinced himself that you’re his mate, but you and me … we know the truth. We know that you’re mine. We—”
She hung up fast, sensing how close Luke was to snatching the cell from her hand and roaring at her caller.