Page 15 of Healing His Darkness
“From what I hear you don’t want to claim her, so she’s not your mate. So back the fuck up.” Rooster’s eyes narrow at Brody, his fists tightening, and his eyes start to flash colors. Brody’s shoulders start to grow, and I know what’s coming if I don’t stop them. Skirting around Brody, I get between him and Rooster.
“Stop, both of you!” When they both don’t back down, I do the one thing that I know will get their attention.
“DADDY!” I scream at the top of my lungs, I’ve only screamed for my daddy in extreme cases, and this is definitely an extreme case. My dad is out the door and across the yard in seconds standing between Rooster and Brody.
“That was a dirty trick George.” Brody glares at me, causing Rooster to edge himself closer to me growling.
“Oh, will you two just whip it out already and measure it. I’m not a fucking territory and you will not be pissing on me. Daddy handle this shit, I’m out of here.” Turning on my heel I stomp towards my dad’s truck, I need to get as far away from these testosterone filled men as I can right now.
“Stupid, ego driven, think their dicks are golden, jackasses.” I mutter to myself. As I pull myself up into the cab of my dad’s truck, the passenger door opens, and Roosters jumps in.
“I’ll have you know I don’t think my dick is golden, maybe bronze, but not golden.” He says, grinning at me with the most devastatingly perfect smile.No, I’m mad at him, he didn’t want me, I deserve better than that. I deserve my happily ever after.
“Get out.” I say with a calm I don’t feel at all, when he’s near me my whole body is hyper aware. Even angry at him, I still feel that magnetic pull towards him.
“Where you headed?” He asks as he buckles his seat belt smiling. Taking a fortifying breath, I look out the window and see my dad and Brody standing by the front door talking. Brody doesn’t look like he was beaten to a pulp by Rooster. Looking back over to Rooster, he doesn’t have any new wounds.
“So, did you whip it out and measure it like I suggested then?” Rooster sputters like he might have choked on his tongue.
“Damn woman, is there anything that you think that you don’t say?” He asks, chuckling a little and I shake my head.
“Nope, but that didn’t answer my question.” I raise my eyebrow questioningly. Maybe they did whip them out and measure them. I haven’t seen Brody’s, but I have gotten a good look at Roosters. Pretty sure Rooster would win that competition, if there was one.
“I asked you a question first. Answer mine and I’ll answer yours.” Oh, this man is infuriating me to the point of no return; I let out a little groan.
“Where I’m going is none of your business, you made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me.” I reply as level as possible, hoping my voice doesn’t crack, knowing he doesn’t want me as his mate.
“I think you made it my business when you waltzed into that kitchen and declared you were my mate.” He reaches for my hand running his fingers against my wrist in circles, but I snatch it back. I’m not playing his games, I got played for a fool once already, there’s no fucking way I’m doing that again.
“Yeah, and you made it clear in my bedroom you wanted nothing to do with me. So, I’m going to tell you again. Get. The. Fuck. Out.” I grit out through clenched teeth, seething with anger. He rubs his hand against the back of his neck, his head down, and a self-deprecating smile on his lips.
“Shit George, I fucked up. Okay, I fucked up big time.” There’s pain in his eyes when he looks up at me, and it guts me that he feels that way about our kiss.
“Yeah, you already said our kiss shouldn’t have happened, no need to rub that shit in. Thanks, but you can leave now.” Sometimes fate has a really fucked up sense of humor, and right now I’m not laughing with her ass. Right now, I’m ready to take the big metal flashlight Daddy keeps in the door and beat Rooster over the head with it. Maybe it would knock some sense into him, or it could put me out of my misery. Either are good options right now.
“No, I don’t mean our kiss. I meant I fucked up with my first mate, which I’m now coming to the conclusion wasn’t a real mate. Let me explain.” And he does, he tells me all about Summer. About how he forced his animal to claim her and how things imploded. He pours his heart out to me inside the cab of my father’s truck, begging me to understand why he ran from me. From us.
“So, you thought that because your previous mate, who wasn’t really your mate, ran off with her actual mate that I would do the same. Let me ask you something Rooster. Do I feel the same as Summer?” I’m pretty sure I already know that answer to this question, but I need to make sure we’re on the same page. He huffs out a laugh before he answers, rubbing his hand down his face.
“No, I can unequivocally say that you do not feel the same as Summer did. When I’m near you it’s like...I can’t even describe it accurately. It’s almost like I’m fighting the pull of my magnetic other half.” I nod, trying not to show any of the giddiness I feel over his words.
“Now let me ask you one more thing. How does your animal feel about me?” I lean in towards him, close enough that I can feel the heat from his body. This is the biggy, because even if I feel the pull and he feels the pull it’s possible his animal doesn’t feel it. This can’t be forced; it has to be real for it to work.
“He’s been trying to claim you since the bar. If I let him have his way, we wouldn’t have left your bedroom ‘til it was dinner time.” He purrs out. Did it just get hot in here? Maybe I should roll down the window or turn on the air conditioning.
“But here’s the thing George.” He gets a serious look on his face as he gently touches my cheek with his thumb.
“I’m a shit mate, no before you say anything hear me out. I took Summer for granted. I was young and expected her to just always be there, like it was her job to always be there simply because she was my mate.” When he unbuckles and scoots closer to me, wrapping his arms around me we both let out a sigh of relief.
“So, are you saying you don’t want to claim because you think you’ll be a shit mate again?” He’s finally admitting I’m his mate, but what if he doesn’t want to claim me anyway.
“I’ve watched my fellow Dark Leopard’s find their mates. Seen how they treat their mates, and that’s how I realized what a fuck up I was at the whole mate thing. I kind of called them all pussy whipped, but they’re not. They’re just not taking their women for granted, they’re cherishing them like they should. Like I should have done.” His answer doesn’t give me much hope that he’s going to claim me and sadness inches its way into my heart.
“Life is about learning from our mistakes, Rooster, if you can’t learn from them then you’re stuck repeating history.” Reaching for his hand I lace mine through his, giving it a squeeze.
“I don’t want that for you George, I want you to feel cherished. Which practically gives me heart palpitations just thinking about how I’m going to make you feel that way every day, for the rest of our lives. But for once I’m willing to make the effort; I’m willing to do whatever it takes to see you smile at me like I’m the king of the world.” My heart feels like it’s about to burst from his words as his lips touch mine in a scorching kiss.
11
