Page 71 of Mated to the Enemy
Jessica finally found her voice. “Leave me alone, Klaue,” she said heavily. “I think I need some space. From you.”
The shifter slumped. But he didn’t give up. “Going to see them isn’t going to help. They’re just going to kill you, then your sister, and rid themselves of the trouble. They aren’t like you, Jessica. They’re shifters!”
She glared at him. “And so are you.”
The instant the words left her mouth, Jessica knew she’d screwed up.
Klaue reared back like he’d been slapped. “Is that what you think of me?” he whispered. “Do you think I’m like one of them? That I would hurt you like they have? Has all I’ve done been for nothing?”
“No, wait. Klaue, I didn’t mean it. It’s just—”
“Save your excuses,” he said tiredly, holding up a hand. “You wouldn’t have said it if you weren’t feeling it.” He turned and trudged toward the door, ignoring her calls for him to come back.
“Dammit!” she shouted when the door closed behind him, kicking the wall out of frustration. “Ow. Sonofabitch, that hurt!”
It’s probably the least I deserve. I can’t believe I said that.
She knew better. Klaue wasn’t like them, not in the slightest. From the instant he’d thrown himself to her defense as she crawled away from her crashed vehicle, to the way he’d protected her from his own brothers and sisters, she hadn’t seen anything that would make him deserving of a comment like that.
“I’m sorry,” she said sadly, slumping down into a corner between a table and the door to the washroom, pulling her knees into her chest as the tears came once again.
She cried for the two men who had died in vain that night. She cried for her sister, still stuck in that house of horrors with a man Jessica suspected loved her much less than he let on. And last, she cried for Klaue, for a man who deserved better than he was getting from her, on so many levels.
At some point, the tears themselves stopped falling, the sleeves of her shirt soaked through and much of her pants as well from where they had fallen. It was then she decided there was no more need for crying. It was time she ended this. No one else would suffer for her. Not Zoe, not Klaue, not members of House Ursa.
Standing up, she brushed herself off, adjusted her clothing and pulled on the big baggy sweater. Fear at what would happen to her weighed heavily on her shoulders and slowed her steps toward the door. Klaue was right, this was stupid, but what else could she do? Jessica wasn’t going to ask anyone else to sacrifice themselves for her. Shecouldn’t, not anymore. What choice was left to her then?
The door opened, and Klaue entered, his head down.
“I want to talk with you,” he said softly before she could tell him not to try and stop her.
“About what?” she asked, crossing her arms, then wondering why she was trying to appear tough to him. She’d thrown him out, not the other way around. There was no need to look tough, she’d already been a bitch.
“Us,” he said heavily, looking up at last, meeting her eyes.
The cold was still there, but it was…dulled, somehow. What was going on?
“Just what is that supposed to mean?” she asked a little nervously, hugging herself as she waited upon his answer.
“There’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago, but I didn’t know how. It didn’t feel right. So I waited, and now I’m afraid I may have waited too long.”
“Klaue, you’re scaring me,” she said, nervously shuffling her feet. What could be so important to tell her now?
“It wasn’t random that I was assigned to guard you,” he admitted, holding her gaze as he spoke. “There was another purpose behind it.”
“What’s that?” This was it. She knew it. Therewasmore to it. How much of what she knew about him was an act?
Klaue stood up straight, squared his shoulders and spoke with a pride that she didn’t see coming. “You’re my mate.”
