The Heir (16 page)

"Would something happen if someone else
touched..." She motioned down at herself.

"Yeah something would happen." He told her in
a low voice. He jumped on her bed and a second later he was in
front of her, looking at her with a look that she could only
describe as feral.

Her eyes grew wide with apprehension and
stepped back until she bumped into the wall, "What?"

He followed her every step and when he was a
mere breadth away; he leaned down and whispered, "I'd kill
him."

It was the gleam in his eyes that told her he
meant every word. That same gleam told her she was out of her depth
and sinking fast. She needed some space, fresh air to think and
figure out a way out of all this.

"I think you should go," She told him and
pointed at the door in case he didn't catch her drift.

"I'm not going until we are done talking," He
leaned forward and placed a hand against the wall on either side of
her head.

Jessica ran a hand through her hair in
frustration; "Look, this is too much," The smile she bestowed on
him was filled with self-mockery. "Be careful what you ask for
right? Well, I learned my lesson and right now I need time to
think."

"You can think later, right now we have to
talk; there are things you need to know-"

She shook her head, "uh I think I'm done
talking to you, for the rest of my life actually. Ignorance is
looking more and more appealing by the second."

"As my mate there are certain things-"
Jessica refused to listen to him so she closed her eyes, covered
her ears and started making noises to drown out his voice.

He grabbed her hands, pulled them down to his
sides and spoke through gritted teeth. "Dammit you're the most
stubborn female-"

She tugged her hands back, stood on her tip
toes and poked his chest "and you! I don’t know what you are, but I
do know I don't want you"

She was such a spitfire, all heat now-and
infuriating, nothing like the wary female he'd seen when he'd
barged into her bathroom last night.

Truthfully, Nick didn't know which version of
her he preferred. The one that stood before him now, testing his
dominance like no one else could or the one of last night that
silently screamed for his gentle side and protection. Nick could
just imagine what Jessica would think of his thoughts because one
thing he'd learned about her was that she didn't scream for
anyone’s protection.

Not even last night. Last night she stood in
front of her sibling to protect them even though she had been just
as scared.

He'd been on his way home with Matt to catch
up on the everything that occurred during his absence when he got a
call from Axel. When he heard what Shane had been attempting to do,
he lost control. His wolf took over and there was no stopping him.
First he went after Shane a shifter that even now, Matt was trying
to find out how he'd manage to fool everyone for so long.

Once he quickly and mercilessly killed Shane,
he fought his way to her with the intent of claiming her. The rush
of victory was running through his veins, she was his prize and
nothing or no one was going to keep her from him.

But then he stepped into her bathroom. One
look at her valiant attempt and he was able to take back control of
himself. She alone was responsible for calming his wolf. It was a
feat that eight werewolves had failed to accomplish before her.

And now she stood in front of him trying to
deny the chemistry between them but it was no use.

"Liar," He murmured.

She shook her head in denial, her eyes as big
as a doe and tried to take a sideways step away from him. He moved
his leg to block her, bringing their bodies close. She tried to
push him away but it was like trying to push a boulder.

He captured her hands against his chest with
one of his and gave her a disarming smile that almost had her
bursting into flames. She had to force herself to look away; she
didn't want him to see the reaction he could have on her when he
was sweet and not sparring with her.

That had been her downfall last night. If he
would have stormed in demanding and controlling she would have
shown him the boot, but he hadn't and she'd been defenseless
against his requests to not fight. She'd given in and she didn't
want him to see how difficult it had become to hold her ground
now.

But it was too late.

He'd caught the look in her eyes and if she
would have been looking up at him she would have seen the look of
triumph in his eyes. Keeping her hands trapped against his chest,
he ran the back of his other hand across her cheek before capturing
her chin and tipping her head back to look at him.

"Liar," he murmured again before closing the
distance between their lips.

He'd meant for it to be just a small peck.
But he soon found out that it wasn't enough. When his lips touched
hers, it felt like he was being touched by lightning. Powerful,
intense, addicting and he wanted more.

She tried to struggle but he wouldn't allow
it. She could lie all she wanted but she couldn't deny this, a
passion so strong that a single kiss could incinerate his insides.
A passion he'd felt for no other and he refused to believe that he
was the only one affected.

Slowly she gave in to his fiery onslaught and
he released her hands to wrap both of his around her waist. She ran
hers over his chest before wrapping them around his neck. He
trailed his lips down to the base of her neck and a sigh escaped
her lips when he licked the mark he'd placed there earlier.

She squirmed unconsciously asking for more
and Nick was hard pressed to deny her. He picked her up and she’d
just wrapped her legs around his waist when suddenly there was a
couple of knocks on the door. The interruption left Nick wanting to
growl with frustration. Instead he placed Jessica back on her feet,
an arm’s length away from him and took a deep breath.

"I'm going to leave before we do something
you are not ready for." He turned and walked out the door without
waiting for a response or looking back. He knew that one look at
her kiss swollen lips and she would entice him back to finish what
he had begun.

He wanted to, so bad, he wanted to carry her
to bed and keep her there until every pore in her body held his
scent. Until no one could deny the fact that they belonged to each
other. But he'd done enough damage for today.

He'd lost control and now all of his plans
had gone astray, he couldn't afford to mess things up even more. He
would leave Axel and Christian with her, while he went home and
dealt with all the problems his long absence had caused. The
thought of being away from her almost tore him apart but he
consoled himself with the knowledge that soon they would be
together again.

Outside in the hallway, he was leaning
against the wall next to her door, Axel next to him, taking deep
breaths trying to calm his raging emotions-and body when he heard
her voice through the closed door.

"Why?" He heard her ask herself, "Do I always
end up like a simpering idiot when he kisses me?"

Unable to let such a good opportunity pass,
Nick opened the door and snuck his head back in. "Because I'm your
mate." He told her with that smile of his that she seemed to hate
and blew her a kiss before ducking his head back out and shutting
the door.

Chapter 11

Jessica shrieked, threw a knife at the door
and flopped down on her bed. Wishing she could say that it had all
been a dream, a crazy dream. She sighed and ran her fingers across
her still sensitive lips.

He sure kissed like a dream.

The sound of a car door opening and closing
intruded into her thoughts and she rushed to her window in time to
watch Nick drive away. She leaned her forehead against the glass,
closed her eyes and sighed. She'd eat maggots before she admitted
it to another living soul, but she missed him already.

She banged her head against the glass and
cursed. He was turning her into one of them-a demented old circus
monkey. He'd been back into her life for less than twenty-four
hours and he'd already managed to flip her world upside down.

Mates.

They'd gone from being acquaintances one
minute and mates the next. They’d skipped the whole part where they
decided if they wanted the forever or not. Dating, she thought
ruefully, the word is called dating. They'd met, skipped the dating
and just got tied to each other for life.

He’d tied them to each other for life.

And now he expected her to move in with him.
Just like that. She shook her head, made a sound of frustration and
cursed him under her breath. She told herself she wouldn't go but
he was like a force of nature that she knew she had no chance of
withstanding.

Oh she could fight him, and she would, but
she couldn't fight for long when she was also battling herself.
Part of her was screaming to run after him already. Unfortunately
for her, that was her more sensible side.

How could she deny him and deny herself?

Jessica sighed in defeat because she knew
that it was just a matter of time until she moved in with him. She
banged her head against the glass once again. What was she going to
tell her parents? She'd promised to stay with-

Her parents!

Her eyes grew wide, remembering that they
were supposed to be home this morning- any time now. She flew to
the door and froze mid step when she opened it and saw Axel leaning
against the wall.

"What are you still doing here?"

Instead of answering her, he surprised her by
going down on one knee and tilting his head to the side, baring his
neck to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked him and tried
to pull him up by the hand but he wouldn't budge.

"My life is yours."

"I don't want it!" She told him, huffing from
the effort of trying to get him to stand up. It was a bit
disconcerting to be around people stronger than her when living all
her life feeling like super woman. "I just want you to get up!"

"He won’t get up until you accept his oath of
fealty." Christian told her from the stairs, he'd crept up behind
them silently and when she turned to face him she didn't miss the
laughter in his eyes.

"Fealty, what is this the middle ages?" She
shook her head and dismissed her own question with a wave of her
hand before he could answer, "Never mind, how do I accept his
fealty? What do I say or what?"

"To accept his fealty, clamp your teeth
around his throat-"

"Are you serious?" Her disbelief was apparent
in the look she sent him but he only nodded and after a second she
gave in. "Fine." She grumbled.

She bent down and did as he told her, when he
spoke again. "If you don't want to accept his fealty, you can just
rip his throat open." He added offhandedly.

She was up and away from Axel faster than a
cat out of water. As he got up, Axel growled at Christian who just
threw his head back, pointed and laughed. "You guys should have
seen your faces!"

Jessica and Axel shared a look of both
hilarity and exasperation regarding Christian’s antics and at that
moment, her belief that they would get along great was confirmed.
Unfortunately she didn't get a chance to tell him so because out of
the corner of her eye she watched as Christian also went down on
his knee.

"Not you too!”

He lips quirked at the corners before
speaking. "My life is yours."

It was the first time Jessica heard him speak
so seriously, not a trace of humor in his words. She looked into
his eyes and felt a bit reassured when she found the twinkle of
laughter lurking behind that stoic look.

"Do I have to accept?" She asked with mock
displeasure.

"You could always rip his throat open." Axel
joked.

Jessica looked over her shoulder at him; a
smile on her lips. "And get blood over my parent’s carpet? I don’t
think so." She scoffed before clamping her teeth over Christian’s
neck. A second later she was up, wiping her teeth and mouth with
the back of her hand. "Now you can explain why that was
necessary."

"We are your bodyguards and that was our
pledge to you, our female Alpha."

"It is an oath, to always place your safety
before ours." Christian added.

Jessica took a deep calming breath and rubbed
her eyes with her finger tips. "Why?" she asked "and why didn't you
do this earlier?"

"It wasn't done earlier because we want you
to understand one thing.Nick didn't order us to do this. This was
our choice."

"Nick is our Alpha and we will gladly give
our lives for his," Christian interjected, "But as your bodyguards
we want you to know that we are loyal to you."

Her eyebrows shot up, "Does Nick, know
this?"

"Yes. He knew this would happen when he
appointed us as your permanent bodyguards." Axel informed her.

"Permanent!" She tried to push past them,
thinking of going after Nick and putting a stop to all of this.
She'd had it with bodyguards and she told them so.

Axel placed himself in front of her. "You are
an Alpha's mate now." He told her succinctly and cursed under his
breath when her face turned the color of ash.

Everywhere she turned, she found a reminder
of Nick’s folly.

Axel grabbed her by the arm and was trying to
lead her back to her room when a noise down stairs stopped them in
their tracks. A car was pulling into the drive. Jessica twisted out
of his hold and ran down the stairs with Axel and Christian close
behind.

"My parents are home!"

The sight in the entrance hall stopped her
mid step causing both Axel and Christian to bump into her. Her
parents were making their way inside, around the pieces of wood and
glass that used to be the front door. Displeasure written clearly
across their faces and with every step they took.