Rejection (The Mate Games 2)

“It’s a shifter thing. I can’t help it.” He smirked. “Besides, you’re always sniffing me.”

“I am not.”

“Yeah, babe, that’s a lie. You did it just a minute ago even though you seem to want to rip my balls off right now.” Reaching down, he toyed with the drawstring dangling from the hood of the sweatshirt I wore. “And you stole my hoodie this morning at breakfast and still haven't given it back.”

Embarrassment crept into my cheeks. “If you wanted your stupid jacket back—”

He stopped my hands as I went to pull it off. “Keep it. It looks better on you, and I like knowing you’re wrapped up in my scent.”

I huffed. He was making it impossible for me to justify my grumpiness with him. Stupid handsome wolf.

“Good. Then I’m keeping it.”

One more kiss to my forehead, and he left as Alek walked past. The two men exchanged a look, and I expected my Viking to join me, but he held up his magic mirror and gestured upstairs as he continued on his way. That made me smile. Today must be the day for his weekly chat with his mom. I loved that about him.

After a few minutes of staring at the cover of the closed book without seeing anything, I decided to give up the ghost and follow Alek upstairs. Not to eavesdrop or anything, just to say hi. He was the first person in the last couple of days that didn’t seem to set off my ‘get away from me’ meter.

I leaned against a bookcase, peeking around just to get a look at him as he sat in the oversized chair in his favorite reading nook.

“I see you, Sunny.” The amusement in his tone had my body reacting. No trace of irritation. No tension. Just... safety and comfort.

“But I was being so stealthy.”

He quirked a brow as he looked up, his eyes finding me immediately. “If that’s your idea of stealthy, we need to up your training sessions. You’re as loud as a wyvern pup learning to fly.”

“That’s loud?”

“Have you seen a wyvern attempt to fly? They crash into everything.”

“Um, I’ve never seen a wyvern, so...”

His lips twisted into a grin. “I’ll show you one someday.”

The promise of him taking me to his homeland settled something that had become unmoored in me. He made me feel secure—wanted—in a way my own family never had. I inched closer, needing more of his unique brand of Novasgardian medicine.

“I’m not interrupting, am I?”

He shook his head, holding up the compact. “I’m early. I wanted to make sure I could claim my spot. We have time.”

One large hand slid around my waist, tugging me close to his body, and everything in me screamed this was what I needed. Until another scream filled the air, this one not from any part of me and decidedly more bloodcurdling.

Alek was on his feet, pushing my body behind his much larger one, immediately on high alert. “Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?”

Even as I asked it, the scent of brimstone and ash filled my nose.

Demon.

I opened my mouth to warn him, but Alek had already put it together.

“Fucking demon,” he snarled, his posture changing as his muscles seemed to ripple and swell. I blinked. That couldn’t be right...

Several more cries rang out from the study section on the ground floor, along with a terrifying, inhuman roar. The shelves and floor shook with what felt like explosions, but they came in such rhythmic waves it didn’t take long for me to understand... footsteps. The demon was so huge it made the walls tremble and dust fall from the ceiling with every move it made.

Oh, fuck.

“Stay here,” Alek ordered, spotting an old suit of armor nearby and relieving the statue of its perfectly preserved broadsword.