Dark Instincts (The Phoenix Pack 4)

For one thing, she had more flaws and baggage than even she knew how to deal with. For another, Marcus was incredibly loyal. Surely for him, taking what they had any further would feel like he was betraying his true mate. She wanted to ask how far he was willing to allow things to go, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. It would hurt to hear that she was basically just a way to pass the time until his mate came along. In fact, it would place him in serious danger with her naturally jealous wolf if that were the case.

“You’re thinking very hard about something.”

Pulled from her thoughts, Roni double-blinked at Marcus, who then picked up her hand and began massaging her palm. Like him, she kept her voice quiet to keep the conversation private. “Just wondering what we’ll do if we find nothing in Seattle.”

“You do know you can go to hell for that, right?” Marcus nipped the heel of her hand punishingly and then licked over it to soothe the sting. “If you don’t want to tell me what’s got you so tense, fine. But don’t lie to me.”

“It’s fine if I don’t want to tell you?” Doubtful. He was a nosy, pushy bastard.

“Okay, it’s not ‘fine,’” he admitted with a smile. “I don’t like the idea that something’s bothering you. I want to fix it.”

“I’m not much for sharing stuff.”

“I know. But I’d like it if you’d talk to me when something is eating at you.”

At that moment, a human female appeared, lathered in makeup and practically marinated in perfume. “Hi, I’m Hazel. I’m your flight attendant for today. Can I get you anything?” Her eyes were solely on Marcus as she gestured to the selection of foods on the menu she handed him. Her eyes were also shining with lust and, therefore, at serious risk of being gouged out by Roni.

“I’m good for now, thanks,” he replied with a polite smile. He’d stuffed his face only moments before boarding. “Want anything, sweetheart?” Roni simply shook her head, so he handed the menu back to the attendant. “We’re both good.”

Hazel blushed at his attention, but Roni couldn’t be annoyed with Marcus for that—he wasn’t being in the least bit flirtatious. Still smiling, the human continued. “If you change your mind, just press the call button, and I’ll be right with you.” Again, her words were only for him. “Before I leave, I just have to ask, have we met before? You seem so familiar.”

Roni rolled her eyes. Hazel clearly didn’t want to walk away from Marcus just yet and was coming up with a bullshit excuse to hang around.

Marcus shook his head. “You must have me confused with someone else.”

“Are you sure? Because I never forget a face. Are you a model or something?”

“Oh my God.”

Barely refraining from laughing at her outburst, Marcus turned to Roni. “You called?” Her scowl made his chuckle break free. He kissed the scowl away, and by the time he pulled back, the human had gone. “Still mad at me?”

She blinked. “Why would I be mad at you? You didn’t do anything wrong. She was the one flirting.”

That surprised him. In the past, women had snapped at him if another female flirted with him, which had always irritated Marcus. Hey, he was the first to admit that he liked flirting, but he didn’t do it when he was involved with someone. Flirting when you were in a relationship was plain disrespectful to your partner. As such, he hadn’t thought it was fair that his partners took it out on him if another female tried to flirt with him, even though he could understand why they didn’t like it. The fact that Roni hadn’t done that pleased him.

“Of course, if you had flirted back, I would have smashed your face into the marble table.”

That made him smile. “So vicious. And I wouldn’t blame you. Nor do I blame you for being annoyed with the human. I feel the same way about Zander.”

Confused, she frowned. “Zander?”

Massaging her hand again, he said, “He has a thing for you.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Oh, yes he does, pretty baby. But I’ve made it clear that you’re mine.”

“You confronted him?”

“No. I broke his nose.” At her gape, he shrugged. “I told you I’d be possessive with you. Learn to like it, sweetheart, because it’s not going to stop. And neither is my attempt to get you to talk to me about what’s bothering you.”

“Nothing’s bothering me. I was just thinking.”

“About . . . ?”

Tingles shot up her arm as he pressed a kiss to her inner wrist. “Lots of things.”

“Like . . . ?”

Persistent motherfucker. Fine, she’d let him have it. “Like . . . just how far can things get between us before we’re betraying our mates? Would I even recognize my mate for who he was? Is there any way to stop my wolf from ripping your throat out when you leave me for your mate?” He said nothing. She arched a brow tauntingly. “Sorry you asked?”

Leaning closer, Marcus cupped her chin. “Let me make one thing very clear,” he rumbled. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re mine. I marked you and I staked a claim on you, and I wouldn’t do either of those things lightly. If you do come across your mate and recognize him, you’d better hope to God for his sake that he’s stronger than me, sweetheart, or he’s dead. I’ll kill him before I let him take you.” She gaped again. “Sorry you asked?”

Roni swallowed hard, totally stunned by the vehemence in his tone. “I should have known better.”

He grazed his teeth down her palm to nip the heel of her hand once again. “Better than what?”

“Better than to get involved with one of the ‘quiet ones.’ Irrational, every one of you.”

“You think it’s irrational that I’d kill to keep you? Now you’re just being judgmental.”

She snorted. “And if I said I’d kill your mate if she came along to claim you . . . ?”

“I’d ask you to at least make it quick. As I saw from your fight with Eliza, you like to toy with your prey, and I’d be an unfeeling bastard if I didn’t prefer for my mate to have a swift execution.”

She didn’t believe one word of that matter-of-factly delivered statement, but still . . . “You’re insane.”