Page 23 of Kitten Kisses

Taking a small breath, Alex kept his eyes fixed ahead. “Desperately, but I’ve already lived that kind of life, and I’ve worked too hard for my peace of mind in the past five years. I won’t let him dictate my life or threaten me again. I appreciate your concern, but I don’t need him sending anyone else to check on me.”

Alex slowly turned his head when he heard a low growl emanating from the deputy. His heart stopped, icing over, sliding through him to freeze the air in his lungs, from the darkness that had fallen over the deputy’s features.

“He threatened you?”

“Do you have one, too?” Alex tried to swallow, but there was a hard lump lodged in his throat.

“One of what?” He tilted his head.

“A tiger?” With Slater’s tiger, Alex felt as if he were being seduced. Those amber eyes scared him, and he felt the beast’s power, but not once had he felt threatened.

Staring at Tenshi, all Alex felt was pure danger.

“I have a wolf,” he said calmly. “But you don’t have to fear me, Alex. Our animals would never harm anyone’s mate.” His jaw tensed. “Nor would we harm our own.”

How many people had animals living inside of them? Alex had assumed it was just Slater.

“I was joking with my mom when she asked if Slater was the deputy at my apartment. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was something about me rotating through all the deputies.” As he spoke the words out loud, Alex realized how terrible they sounded. He’d only been kidding with his mom. He wasn’t interested in anyone else but Slater.

God, he should have never said anything like that in front of Slater. He owed him an apology for that, but it still didn’t excuse the threat.

Tenshi closed his eyes for a moment and silently cursed before asking, “What did he say to you?”

Alex didn’t even want to say anything else. He felt like he was sinking deeper into a world he never asked to be a part of. “He growled in front of my mom.”

The deputy’s head snapped up, and his nostrils flared.

“I said something to him about it,” Alex quickly added. “He was just reacting to my very, very bad attempt at humor.”

Alex shouldn’t have accepted those free lessons. His life had gone from an exhilarating rush to… He didn’t even know what to call this mess.

“Alex.”

He hung his head. “Slater told me if I joked about men again, his growl wouldn’t be so little.”

Tenshi shot to his feet and was gone. Then Alex saw his cruiser fly down the street.

“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

Chapter Six

Slater was torn between disbelief and anguish. He couldn’t wrap his head around what just happened. It felt surreal, like he was living someone else’s nightmare, because this damn sure couldn’t be his life right now.

How could it all go so wrong in a matter of seconds? One moment they were lost in each other’s gaze, ready to share a passionate kiss, and the next...it all fell apart.

And now Alex didn’t want anything to do with him.

Fuck.

Slater’s blood boiled with white-hot fury, angry at himself for not being able to control his beast, especially now when it mattered most. Ever since meeting Alex, his animal had been on edge, constantly fighting for dominance.

When he felt it trying to break free during their moment on the porch, Slater fought with all his might to cage it.

But it was the pain that cut deepest into Slater’s heart. Watching Alex walk away from him was the hardest thing he had ever experienced.

It had taken an iron will not to go after his mate, but he knew he couldn’t. Not when his beast was still fighting at the time to get out. Because if it had…

He stood from the chair on his back porch and went inside, wanting to talk to Alex so goddamn badly right now. Slater was even willing to take a deadly knee to his nuts if it meant he could have his hummingbird back in his arms.

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