Avet, Danica - Ain't No Bull [The Veil 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (29 page)

Saga’s sharp gaze, which never missed a thing, flicked from Izzy’s face to her hand. Looking down, she saw that she’d slipped the ring onto her middle finger and curled her hand inward to keep it in place. Shit. Why had she done that?

“You mated him.” Saga didn’t ask the question, she stated it in a clear, emotionless voice that made Izzy cringe.

“She sure as shit did!” Rosetta responded when Izzy just stood there like a statue. “You shoulda seen the bed!”

* * * *

A large hand landed over Grant’s mouth, prompting him to attack. It wasn’t until he was halfway to the secret door in his bedroom that he recognized Ricky’s scent.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he growled at his cousin while fighting him off.

Ricky made a disgusted sound as he grabbed a pair of sweats from the dresser on the way out of the room. With one arm still on Grant’s arm, he pulled him through the secret door into the small alcove that led outside.

“I’m saving your life, you ungrateful bastard. You’re about to—”

An enraged scream shattered the quiet of the alcove and sent a trickle of unease through Grant. At Ricky’s silent urging, he dressed in the sweats. Sweat slipped down his spine. That scream…it had been a sound beyond pissed off. It had been a sound unlike any he’d ever heard before. It held anger, yes, but it also held betrayal, embarrassment, and a thirst for blood.

“Told you I was saving your life,” Ricky muttered as he hauled Grant out of the alcove to his waiting squad car.

Shoved into the passenger seat of the car, Grant looked back at the house his mate was tearing apart at that very moment. “She’s mad.”

“Mad? That girl is ready to do what her friend threatened to do—skin you alive.” Muttering something about bullheaded minotaurs and Amazons, Ricky peeled away from the house. “We’ll go to my place until things cool down some.” He laughed shortly. “You know, Grant, there was a time when I was the one who used to get you in trouble. Now I see you manage well all on your own.”

Grant said nothing. Isola was beyond furious about their mating. Gods, the look in her eyes when she realized what she held in her hand. He wasn’t sure he’d ever forget it, or recover from it. Her brown eyes had filled with disbelief, terror, and the beginnings of betrayal. She thought he’d planned it.

How could he explain to her that he was just as stunned as she was? Yes, he’d known instinctively that she was his mate and that their making love would result in a bond, but he hadn’t expected the absolute satisfaction he felt. And that was why he felt like a sneaky shit, because he’d wanted her so badly he’d forgotten her fears. And now she thought he had tricked her into bonding with him.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head on the seat. Fuck. He was so fucked.

* * * *

They heard the scream of rage, had even cringed at the sound. Hells, he’d jumped like someone had stabbed him in the ass. There was something in that scream that promised bloody retribution to some poor bastard. Probably the same poor bastard who was driving away as though a gaggle of screaming Japanese schoolgirls was on his heels.

“Do we go in?”

He sighed and leaned his head against the tree in front of him. How did he end up with such stupid clan members? It wasn’t—

One of the women came tearing out of the house. Her scent rode on an errant breeze, bringing back memories he thought he’d long buried. Dark brown eyes narrowed on the figure staring in the direction the car had left. Her brown hair was a lot longer than it had been when he last saw her. She’d filled out a good bit since then, too.

He watched as her small hands balled into fists she waved at the sky with vicious curses. A cold, cruel smile curled his lips. His clan members edged away, the stink of their fear mingling with Isola Malone’s rosy, freshly mated scent. He’d found her. After all this time. His family’s murders would be avenged. And Dov Silverman knew just how to do it.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“It isn’t that bad,
ma fouine
. Just think, if you have children and they misbehave you can always threaten to make a belt out of them.”

Rosetta laughed so hard tears poured down her face, ruining her precious mascara. “Or a pair of shoes!” she howled.

Izzy banged her head on the table she was hunched over. She was mated to the minotaur. No, it was impossible. She didn’t have his ring’s twin. Right? Except…

She’d been the one to take Grant. The Amazon mating instinct had taken over. She was his for the rest of her life whether she liked it or not and she hadn’t even realized it at the time. And he’d mated her right back. How? How was it even fucking possible?

She slammed her fist on the table next to her head. It wouldn’t have been so bad if her closest, most loving friends hadn’t been there. She didn’t mind the teasing, really she didn’t. But it would’ve been easier with Grant at her side, even if she wasn’t sure how she felt about him. But he’d taken off, left her with confusion and fear roiling through her which proved he wasn’t happy about this mating either.

Saga came strolling in with a bang of the door.

“Did you see the bear or bull?” Izzy asked without lifting her head. She’d stood outside for what felt like hours staring at the car driving away until Fallon made her come back inside.

Saga shook her head, her brown hair swinging from its high perch atop the back of her head. “Nah, that bull is long gone.” She sat at the table. “The bear, too. Thank gods.”

Fallon was a little quicker on the uptake. “A bear and bull?” He sounded intrigued, and Izzy could imagine his look between her and Saga. “What did I miss while I was entertaining my adoring fans?”

Blushing hard, Izzy pushed to her feet. She didn’t want to discuss anything, but these were her friends. The only people who, until the recent addition of Grant to that group, she trusted at her back. “I’m not going over this again.”

Saga snorted.

“Well, it’s like this,” Rosetta began, her voice eager and thrilled.

Izzy sat back down, thumping her head on the tabletop. There was no way out of it now. Rosetta would share all the juicy details with Saga and Fallon, leaving Izzy without a shred of pride.

“I came out here before Saga and ended up helping Izzy and her bull-man with a little imp battle. Then Saga showed up when that sexy bear came to get the bull-man.” She paused. “Has anyone else noticed how hot the men are around here? The bear’s deputy was, oh my gawd, hot!”

Izzy couldn’t help but smile into the tabletop. Trust Rosetta to boil everything down to sexiness.

“We kicked a little ass, Izzy got hurt, the bull-man—who is seriously hung by the way—was all worn out and we put them in bed together to recover.” She laughed. “Except I don’t think Izzy got that memo.”

“Shut up.”

“When I went in to check on them, Izzy here was plastered all over him like he was a pair of Jimmy Choos on clearance. Did I mention that Mr. Bull looked like he’d just been tied up and ridden within an inch of his life?”

Heat seared Izzy’s face where it was pressed against the table. Saga and Fallon’s shocked silence was enough to make her want to sink into the floor.

“Wait, wait a minute,” Saga gasped out. “You’re telling me
Izzy
mated the
bull
? I thought he mated you!”

“That’s what it looked like to me.”

Saga groaned. “Oh, Izzy, you idiot! What if he doesn’t bond to you? You’ll be bound to a male with a harem for the rest of your life!”

“Harem?” Rosetta’s voice did not sound happy. “If he’s Izzy’s mate, he doesn’t get a harem.”

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that,
cher
,” Fallon said, sounding less than happy himself. “The bull is a shifter, yes? This means his animal half has to bond with his mate. If he does not bond with Izzy, she will not have a mate, will not be recognized by his people.” His big hand came to rest on the back of Izzy’s head. “
Ma fouine
, is he your mate?”

Izzy banged her head on the table again and unclenched her fist. The gold ring from Grant’s septum piercing made a tinkling sound as it hit the wood of the table.

Part of her—a very secret, hidden part of her—was thrilled that she was Grant’s mate. The rest of her, though, wasn’t so sure it was a good thing. In fact, she wanted to die. She’d promised herself never to get involved with a shifter again and what had she done? She’d mated one. A full-on, Amazon, take-no-prisoners mating and he’d answered her back. Fuck.

“Izzy…” Saga’s voice was tired. “How could you do something so idiotic?”

“I didn’t mean to.” Her voice was soft, embarrassed, and she prayed they couldn’t hear what she’d said.

Of course, her prayers always went unanswered.

“You didn’t…didn’t
mean
to? What the hell does that mean?”

Really pissed off now, Izzy sat up straight to stare her mentor in the eye. “It means I didn’t mean to mate him. It means that the fucking Amazon instinct took over when I was weak and next thing I knew, I was mated to a fucking minotaur! Is that clear?”

Her friends stared at her, eyes round with surprise and horror. Yeah, that was pretty much her reaction too. Amazons
chose
to mate, they weren’t compelled to. Normally. Izzy sighed. She so wasn’t normal. She shouldn’t have been surprised that her mating ceremony wouldn’t fit with the rest of her tribe.

“What are you going to do?” Rosetta asked in a hesitant voice.

“Hell if I know.”

* * * *

“So your Amazon mated you,” Ricky remarked as they drove around Eustis.

Grant didn’t bother answering because, yeah, it was a stupid question. He hadn’t looked in a mirror, but he was almost positive Isola’s possession of him had left a mark somewhere on his body. By the sound of fury she’d made, she obviously didn’t feel the same way.

He glared out the windshield of the squad car. He wasn’t giving up on her. There was no way she was getting away from him. She’d marked him as hers and he felt like strutting. He needed her in his life. Now that he’d had a taste of her, he wasn’t sure he could live without her in his arms every day of the rest of his life.

He rubbed the center of his chest. Fuck. He
needed
Isola. He needed her so much…Hells, he was pretty sure he might…love her.

“Damn.”

“What?” Ricky peered at him from across the car.

He shook his head, too stunned to put his thoughts and feelings into words. Not yet. Besides, Ricky would think he’d lost his mind. And maybe he had. Maybe Isola had fucked the sense right out of his brain. He didn’t care. He needed that Amazon. He knew he’d have to fight to get her to realize they were meant to be.

He knew it.

“I want to go back to my house,” he told his cousin when they reached the edge of town.

“Um. Are you sure? ’Cause she did not sound happy when we were there.”

“She’s my mate. I need to be with her.”

He could feel Ricky staring at him, but fortunately, the bear didn’t say a word. No, he turned the car around and started back the way they’d come.

Grant felt a tingle of anticipation. It wouldn’t be easy making the stubborn woman realize they were meant for each other, but he’d manage it. Somehow. He wasn’t sure how she’d managed to break the spell on his piercing and it wasn’t important right now, but he’d find out. Somehow.

* * * *

“As much as I’d love to hang around and watch Izzy’s life implode, we have work to do,” Saga said as she paced around the kitchen.