Page 28 of Out of the Darkness

He chuckled softly. “I’d expect nothing less.”

“And you need to stop stalking me too,” she added as the thought crossed her mind. “If you want this to work, you need to start acting like a normal person. Take me out on dates and stuff.”

A panty-dropping smirk splayed across his lips as he yanked on her hand, pulling her toward him. “Do you want to start tonight? Do you want to take me inside and introduce me to your friends then?”

Madelyn laughed and shook her head. “Uh, no. Not tonight. I need to figure out how to tell Melanie about all this first.”

“So, you are just going to go back in there after disappearing for a half hour, all by yourself, and with a fresh shifter mark on your neck and a pussy full of baby batter?”

His words made her wince and her nose crinkled in disgust. She had heard it called many things, but that was by far the worst of them all. “Ew, don’t ever call it that. That’s just gross.”

His chest rumbled with his laughter as Xavier pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Alright, sorry.”

“Wait,” she said after a moment, “What do you mean ‘shifter’s mark’?”

His smile grew as he reached up and brushed his fingers along the bite mark on her neck. “This is a shifter’s mark. Because each bite mark is unique to the shifter that gave it, shifters bite their mates as a way to claim them as their own.”

“So, you marked me.”

“Yes.”

Pressing her lips together, her eyes narrowed at him. “I oughta slap you.”

“You tried that once already. Remember how it turned out?” he teased playfully.

Chapter Thirteen

Xavier

Afew minutes later, Xavier was pulling out of the parking lot of the bar and heading back toward his place. He had wanted to stay to spend more time with Madelyn, but she told him that she wasn’t ready to introduce him to her friends yet. So, he decided against forcing the issue. There was plenty of time for that now that she had finally agreed to be his and due to the fact that she now bore his mark.

A smile crossed his face as he drove down the highway, turning his thoughts to all the questions she had thrown at him instead of how horrible it felt to be away from her. He hadn’t minded them that all because he knew that was her way of trying to get to know him better and coming to grips with the fact that she had agreed to be his. It was a promising sign and gave him hope that she wanted to make this work as much as he did. Not that she had much of a choice anymore. A shifter’s mark was irreversible.

Normally, a shifter would get permission from their mate before he marked her, but he didn’t regret it in the slightest. The bond between them was solid now, meaning that she was his—mind, body, and soul—and it was that knowledge that kept a smile firmly planted on his face as he drove the rest of the way home.

The house he owned was about two miles outside of Cedarwood. He liked his privacy and still wanted to keep some distance between himself and the townsfolk, just in case. It was a little further away from Madelyn than he would have liked, but he had bought it before he met her.

It wasn’t much, just three bedrooms and two bathrooms, but it was what he had needed at the time. He had one of the spare rooms set up as a small home gym, and the other was an office of sorts. The house sat on a couple of acres and was surrounded by forests, so he had plenty of space to run and let his wolf free, which was exactly what he planned on doing when he got home to blow off some steam and keep himself occupied until he could see his mate again.

His cell phone rang in the center console, and he reached for it, wondering if his stubborn and beautiful mate was missing him already. However, the number on the caller ID was listed as unavailable, and his smile fell as he answered the call.

“Yeah.”

“Xavier,” the familiar gruff voice stated on the other end of the line. “It’s Rodrigo.”

Even without the introduction, Xavier knew who it was. He grew up hearing that voice every single day, and even though he was out now, it still seemed to have the same effect on him. His entire body went rigid, the muscles in his back stiffening, his spine straightening, and the knuckles on his left hand tightening on the steering wheel.

“Yes, sir.”

“Come now, Xavier. You are no longer under my command. There’s no need to be so formal.”

Xavier’s jaw ticked at Rodrigo’s playful tone. It felt like a trap, as did the phone call. Rodrigo always commanded respect, even from him and Isabelle. So, he decided to ignore his request. “What can I do for you, sir?”

Rodrigo sighed through the phone. “We have a bit of a problem. With Colby.”

“Yeah, I’m aware. Isabelle stopped by and told me that he put a mark on me.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Rodrigo told him quickly. “I know you can handle him. I’m talking about the fact that he somehow found out about you and what you are.”

---