Page 12 of Cursed by Death

Or, so I thought. Perhaps it would actually be way smarter to cause a scene and draw attention to myself.

Maybe Dear Old Daddy would take notice of me then.

Did I want that?

No, probably not the best idea and I needed to be smarter, act smarter, if I wanted to live.

He took two steps closer to me, putting him less than a foot away from me and far too close for my liking.

He had to be a few inches taller than six foot and his arms bulged with muscles, making his dark green t-shirt look like it had been painted onto his big, bulky body. He had short, russetbrown hair and his beard wasn’t big and bushy but instead short and very neatly groomed. His eyes were a light brown with flecks of gold in them.

I felt oddly drawn to him and the urge to climb him like a tree was so strong it had me shifting on my feet and very subtly rubbing my thighs together.

He sniffed the air like the animal he could be and his lips curled up at the corners in the beginnings of a smug smile.

Fuck.

Fuck me.

And absolutely fuck him and his over sensitive senses.

The goddamn smug ass shifter knew just exactly what kind of affect he was having on my body and he clearly was enjoying it.

I ought to be embarrassed because he probably wasn’t the only one who could tell what was going on with my body but instead I found myself irrationally angry and wanting to pick a fight with the man.

He was responsible for this. Whatever magical juju he had going on was to blame for my body’s reaction to him.

“Mate,” he groaned before I could say anything.

My eyes widened in shock and I took a step back, away from him. I shook my head in denial at that one word out of his mouth.

“Impossible,” I whispered.

He took another step towards me, easily closing in the distance because his legs were far longer than mine and that one step almost put us chest to chest.

“I can smell it on you,” he continued to growl in his deep, highly attractive voice, making me shiver. “You’re my delicious little mate, even if you are human. Well, mostly. You’re destined to be mine and there’s no escaping either me or your fate.”

Yeah, that wasn’t going to work for me. Not right now, likely not ever.

I wasn’t the settling down and popping out fur babies’ type. I didn’t have that mom gene in me and I definitely wasn’t wifey material.

“Sorry,” I murmured. “But you must be mistaken. I’m not here for that kind of nonsense and I don’t really have the time for it. I’m looking for someone. Please excuse me so that I can go find them and then get back aboveground, where I belong.”

I went to side step him but the big man just stepped to the side with me, continuing to block my path.

Getting rid of him was going to be difficult, I could already tell.

“Tell me who you’re looking for, little devil, and I’ll help you find them because you’re right. You absolutely should not be down here.”

“Little devil?” I repeated cockily. “How do you know I’m not an angel instead of a devil?”

He smirked at me and I froze as his hand lifted towards my head. He pushed my hood back, exposing my vibrant red hair. “Yeah, you’re certainly no angel. What’s your name?”

He wanted a name? Fuck it, I’d give him my real name and we’d see what he did with it.

“Ruby Jane Maredo.”

His hand dropped away from my face and he immediately took a step back.

---