Page 28 of Rhett
Always have, always will.
Even before that damn Hunter had killed Maggie.
It didn’t matter that Nova had no clue about her Hunter bloodline until she stepped into Black Forest.
She had Hunter DNA, which meant it was a matter of time before her sadistic, calculating, bloodthirsty side reared its head. At least that’s what I’d convinced myself.
I didn’t give a shit that she was my fated mate.
And I damn sure didn’t have feelings for her.
My inner jaguar roared with displeasure.Her scent calls to us. She’s ours.
It calls to you,I argued.Not me.
Liar,my jaguar said.
Quiet,I barked.
After years of my inner beast refusing to communicate with me, the grouchy animal had now decided to be social after getting one whiff of Nova’s sultry aroma of vanilla, lavender, and citrus with soft floral.
I will not be quiet,my animal grumbled.She’s ours.
My jaguar wanted Nova.
And normally, what he wanted, I wanted, but not this time.
A Hunter cannot be our fated mate,I argued.
She is no Hunter,my beast countered.We have faced off and killed many Hunters. She does not act nor smell like any of them.
Enough!I shouted, even though I couldn’t refute his statement. Nova wasn’t like any of the Hunters I’d encountered.
My inner beast retreated into silence, which was not a good sign of things to come. It was not in my beast’s nature to take orders or to remain silent when he wanted something.
Swinging my legs over the edge of my sofa, I stood up, scrubbing my fingers over my face. Glancing around my spacious house, my eyes drifted toward the cardboard boxes scrawled on in broad strokes by a black felt-tip marker. Years of Maggie’s personal possessions that I couldn’t quite get up the fucking nerve to give away to charity.
Maybe Quinn was right. It was finally time to let her go.
I’d mourned her passing for years, even after I’d avenged her death by killing the Hunter who had slaughtered her.
But revenge hadn’t quieted the inner demons within me, nor had it brought me any closer to solace. And it damn sure hadn’t been enough to help me move on with my life.
Years later, I was still standing in a house devoid of life, except for the boxes stuffed with memories of Maggie that I couldn’t even bear to let go of. Or maybe I was just a sick fuck who loved to torture myself with the reminder that she was dead because I’d failed at my job as her protector.
I was her shield.
Her protector.
But I wasn’t there for her the one time that she needed me.
I knew Maggie wouldn’t have wanted me dwelling in a past that I couldn’t change. She’d want me to live in the here and now and find happiness.
Striding upstairs, I ended up inside my bedroom. Except for the California king bed, the room was barren and unadorned, with sterile and dull white walls. The space was missing a woman’s touch and vibrancy.
As I stripped off my clothes, my mind drifted to the vexing hybrid Nova and how sexy she would look draped across my bed with her hair spread across my pillows. My cock stiffened, craving the one thing that I’d desired for the longest time.
One woman to spend all my nights with.
