Page 24 of Sinful Mates

I disguised my wary heart on the bond with a kiss. Her hot, starved lips were like being struck by the gods. Pulverized to dust and rebuilt into something new. Failure scared me more than anything, and if I guarded my heart, delayed mating with her, we might end up where my last relationship did. Divorced or dead.

CHAPTER9

Aaliyah

First family getaway.Slade, Zethan, Mia, and me trapped in the president’s Land Rover. No flames. No death breath. No brawls. Uneasy tension clogged the tight space, and I needed to get out of the 4WD, stretch my legs and move to shake off the suffocating heaviness. My mistake for not riding with Alaric and Castor in the latter’s Subaru Forrester. Rules were rules. No bikes. Not with Mia, at least not yet.

Lush greenery of the South Coast lulled me to admire it as I sat in the passenger seat beside my mate. Only I couldn’t get comfortable and shifted in the leather seat. In the back seat, Zethan playedI spywith Mia. Games a distraction to avoid talking with Slade, and adorable and sweet as it was, it crushed my hope of connecting as a family. Of them forgiving each other and fighting for their friendship.

“Remember what I said about the chaos, Nurse A?” Slade sensed my restlessness, his hand shifting from my thigh to tap my chest before settling back down, tighter than before. The first time in almost three hours that his palm moved, practically tattooed onto my tanned skin. Close. Overprotective. It gave him peace of mind, and I admit, I loved it, but sometimes he was too cautious, and it made me feel claustrophobic. I reasoned that he would calm down once the threat to the club vanished. “Let it out. Don’t hold it in or you’ll turn into an explosion like me.”

Not funny. Damn him, the mate bond, and his gift of reading my chaos. A little privacy might be nice. Shielding my bond the way Castor did… a future lesson to request.

I locked my fingers together and pushed my hands forward, elongating my taut muscles. “I’m getting stiff and need to stretch.” Lame excuse and Slade totally saw through it from the concern latching onto his bond like fangs sinking into flesh. Duller than usual but no less painful.

“I’ll pull over at the next pit stop.” His reassuring squeeze did the opposite.

Pitstops wouldn’t solve my disquiet. Slade and Zethan barely spoke to each other. Barely looked at each other, unless they spoke about Mia or me. Zethan shut down his emotions and I couldn’t read him at all. The last time my mates did this, they thought me a traitor. This time was different. All feeling had just… died. I tried talking to him, but he brushed it off, discussing the matter a no-go zone for ten miles. Thank fuck the two of them didn’t let their animosity show in front of Mia, oblivious to the kerosene fumes choking the vehicle. One spark, though, and explosions.

“Where’s the beach?” Mia broke the game.

“Thirty minutes away.” Slade’s gaze flicked to her in the rearview mirror. “You’ll see it soon as we come down the escarpment.”

Mia clapped and cheered, bringing on a pleased rumble from Slade. “What’s an es-karp-man?”

Slade laughed and explained to her.

To be honest, I thought he would take the news of me hiding Mia from him worse than he did. Another betrayal I felt the sting of in his bond. Other matters superseded those, and it was bound to swing back at some point. For now, I wanted to face one hurdle at a time, getting Mia settled and my men comfortable with her prominent in my mind.

Fuck, Aaliyah. Suck it up and put on a brave face for her.

Pulling back on the bond, I adopted my best nurse face—the one employed when doctors gave a grim diagnosis—hoping that might hide my chaos. Constant checks from my mate told me I sucked at it.

When we pulled into the driveway of his holiday home, he cornered me against the trunk as I unloaded a cooler with the food. “Got a minute, sugar?”

Hell. Confession time. Admit to all my sins. Envy of what my brother and father had with the Wolves. Wrath and I recently got acquainted again. Pride too, that Zethan supported me. Greed at wanting my mates to support my daughter when I kept her a secret.

Fuck. I sinned more than the devil Slade Vincent. He didn’t want to know my sins when he brought it out in me and told me not to hold back. He wanted to know what troubled me. My sinful mate never lied to me, and I owed him the same.

He waited for Mia and Zethan to clear and go inside, Zethan lugging a suitcase, and Mia pitching in, towels slung over her shoulders and dragging on the stone path to the cottage.

Slade forced my chin to angle to meet his gaze. “Talk to me. Let out that chaos. It kills me to watch you suffer.”

Selfish and other words flew through my head. My mates were on this rollercoaster with me, none of us able to get off. I wanted the angst to end. For the havoc and danger hounding us to end. Peace. Quiet. Calm. Whisky. Bike rides. Time with my mates. Fairytales didn’t exist in our world. Zethan reminded me of that, and I signed my soul to these four devils. No wonder I sinned when I’d rather burn in Hell with them than live without them.

I steered clear of his question to tackle another matter. “What about Zethan’s chaos?” Someone had to bridge the gap and instigate forgiveness between my stubborn mates.

Slade lugged a case of beer into his arms. “He’s pensive and broody. I’m giving him some space.”

Fuck. I appreciated that he was being respectful and biding his time, but there was an element of unfairness there.

“You wanted to resolve things with me straight away.” I played with his beard, loving the coarse, prickly texture. “Go to him. Talk to him. Have it out with him. Show him you’re there for him.” I pressed a palm into his pec for emphasis. “Not with fists or you’ll have me to deal with.” We were not repeating Zethan’s punishment. Healing thirteen broken bones, bruises, tendons, and muscles took it out of me.

Slade smiled, fleeting and repentant for such a sinner. “Would you be mad if he was missing a few teeth?”

I laughed and hit him. “Do that, and you’ll wake up missing a scrotum.”

Slade squeezed his legs together. “Zethan gets to keep his teeth.”

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