Page 20 of Healing His Darkness
“Claim.”He growls out.
“Yeah, I know. I get it you want to claim me, and I’m totally on board with that, but not at the risk of my bra. It was kind of expensive; I saved tips for three weeks for this set.” I don’t mention I bought them as a surprise for Rodney. Probably not a good idea to mention another man while he’s in predator mode. He lets out a huff that sounds close to a laugh before he backs up shaking his head.
“Shit George, are you alright.” Rooster’s voice sounds strained as he helps me off the table and tries to put my shirt back together.
“I’m fine Rooster.” I bat his hands away as he continues to try to fix my shirt.
“Stop, it’s not salvageable.” He takes a few steps away from me, rubbing his hands over his face a couple of times.
“I wasn’t in control, not even a little. He took over completely, that’s never happened before. Fuck George he almost…” Rooster looks like he killed my puppy, and it breaks my heart. The fact that he lost complete control of his own body probably scares the shit out of him.
“We just had a wee talk is all, your beasty wanted to have a chat. Okay maybe chat wasn’t exactly what was on his mind, but he did listen to me. I think he wanted assurance I was up for the whole claiming thing. Once I told him I was all for claiming he gave you back your body.” Rooster doesn’t seem convinced.
“I saw what happened George, I heard his thoughts, he was going to rip your clothes off and claim you right on that table. He’s desperate to claim you, he’s afraid I’ll fuck everything up before we can claim you.” He cups my face, running his thumbs against my cheeks.
“God if he’d hurt you, I’d never forgive myself.” Gripping his hands, I hold them against me, enjoying the feel of him against me.
“Listen to me very carefully, he won’t hurt me. He can’t hurt me, it’s not something he’s capable of when it comes to me. That’s what it means to be your mate; I have like a get out of jail free card when it comes to your beast.”
“You got lucky this time George. I’m going to stay at my dad’s until this over, maybe not being close to you will keep him from coming after you again.” My heart seizes in my chest at the thought of him leaving me.
“You know…I once saw my dad stop on a dime when my mom stepped in front of him when he was pissed. His animal roared his anger at her, but it never laid a finger on her. I remember watching in awe as he puffed out his chest and beat it, but my mom stood her ground.” Rooster looks like he can’t believe what I just told him.
“Why would she do that? Did she have a death wish? His gorilla must have been five times bigger than her.” I laugh because he has no clue how big my daddy is, which makes him look at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“Oh Rooster, wait till you see my dad change, you might want to wear your brown pants when that happens. She was protecting my brother, when gorillas are in family groups they will fight for dominance once the males reach a certain age. Well Cole reached that glorious age and challenged Dad.” The next part of this story is scary and reminds that the beasts that live inside them aren’t always warm and fuzzy.
“So, your mom stopped them from fighting?” Yeah, I wish that’s what happened.
“Yeah, not exactly. They fought, Dad won, but his beast didn’t want to give up. He was getting ready to charge Cole. Mom was afraid he’d kill his own son; he would never be able to live with himself if that happened. Cole was down, he was breathing, but wasn’t moving. Mom did the only thing she could think of to stop him.” I leave out the part where my other two brothers had to restrain me, or how I was a heaping pile of tears and screams.
“Holy shit.” Rooster whispers reverently, like it would be sacrilege to speak louder.
“I didn’t speak to my dad for a whole week after that I was so angry with him for hurting Cole. Until my mom sat me down and explained about how being a mate worked, how she knew he’d never hurt her. That it was virtually impossible for a mated shifter to harm their mate. She saidif they hurt their mate, they essentially hurt themselves like a boomerang effect. Then she told me that even though shifters share the body of a human sometimes their instincts are too strong for them to stay in control.” I can still hear her soothing voice as she told me how much ignoring my father was hurting him.
“My dad said something similar to me years ago when I started dating. He wanted me to be prepared for when I found my mate to understand fully what it meant. I’ll admit I didn’t pay that much attention to his speech, which is probably how I wound up with the wrong mate to begin with.” As soon as he mentions his previous “mate” it makes my blood boil.
“Yeah, well I’m surprised your animal didn’t eat her.” I snark and I can tell by his reaction it came out a lot harsher than I thought.
“He knew she wasn’t your real mate, but he knows I’m the real deal. So he won’t hurt me, so stop worrying.” I say with a smile, hoping he’ll forget about my earlier snarkiness, but no such luck.
“That’s just it, he did attack her, more than once.” He rubs his hand along the back of his neck, embarrassment evident.
“We were both shifted, and he snapped at her, she ran. He chased her into the woods, treed her, then to add insult injury he pissed on the tree.” I almost feel bad for Summer, but I can’t help but laugh at the picture he painted in my head.
“Ohmigod.” I wheeze out between bouts of laughter; his lips jerk a little like they want to join me.
“It’s not funny George, okay maybe it’s a little funny. It was almost like he was trying to tell her that she wasn’t our mate. But neither of us at the time wanted to hear that. We were young and thought we were in love and that meant we were mates.” His eyes get a distant look in them and I wonder if he still loves her, if he wished that I wasn’t his mate. He starts running his hand down his beard like he’s debating with himself about something.
“Do you still? Think that?” I want to take the words back as soon as they’re out of my mouth. Because if he tells me he still thinks they’re mates it will kill me. Earthquakes won’t have anything on the destruction those words will do to me.
He starts to stalk toward me, a determined glint in his eyes. When he’s standing in front of me close enough, I can feel the heat emanating from his body, he pulls me flush against him, crushing his lips to mine. I don’t know where he begins, and I end as we kiss like the world is about to end.
“Do you feel that?” Rooster asks as he places my hand against his heart, and I feel it beating rapidly against his chest.
“I never felt that with her. What I had with her pales in comparison to what I have with you. It’s like you took my darkness, my broken pieces, and you healed it.” My fingers stretch across the expanse of his chest as I reach for his hand and put it against my own heart.
“Do you feel that? That’s my heart answering your heart's mating call. I’ll take all that darkness, all those broken pieces, and I will mend them back together.” His eyes soften and his lips find mine for the softest kiss.
