Page 6 of His to Protect
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Xavier wanted to lift Kaea from hislap, throw him on the bed, and fuck him into submission, andperhaps if his mate were at all submissive that might actuallywork. But the fates had given him a match more equal to him as aman and as an Alpha. He contented himself with the fact that Kaeamolded himself against him, and allowed him to control the kiss.Not wanting to push his luck, he pulled back, allowing himself afew more biting kisses of Kaea’s now swollen lips.
“Damn,” Xavier murmured.“That was hotter than I ever thought possible.”
Kaea smiled, sighing as he placed hishead on his shoulder. “No arguments there.”
“That gives mehope.”
After a few moments of basking in thecontact, Kaea moved off him, and Xavier stood up with him. “We needto talk through a plan.”
Kaea nodded as the two of them clearedaway the remnants of their breakfast. “Agreed. Now that there aretwo of us tracking Gray, we’ll be able to get a hold of himeasier.”
The bear within Xavier rocked fromside to side on his large front legs, just as uneasy at the thoughtof Kaea involved with taking Gray out as the man was. “Baby, youdon’t need to be involved. I am perfectly capable of taking Grayout on my own.”
Kaea jolted visibly. “What the helldoes that mean?”
Xavier frowned. “It means that Gray isfucking dangerous. This essence he stole from your grandmotheralong with his own raging insanity is a terrible combination thathas the potential to explode in our face. I will not have youanywhere near that sick fuck when it does. I won’t allowit.”
As soon as the words were out, heregretted them.
“Not allow it?” Kaeagrowled, and Xavier’s frown deepened when he saw something movingin Kaea’s dark eyes. “Just when I thought you might actually besomeone worth spending some time with to get to know, you go andblow it by sticking your head up your own ass.”
Kaea began to move around the room,gathering his things and shoving them back into his bag.
“There is nothing wrongwith wanting to protect my mate, Kaea.” Xavier snapped.
Kaea stood up suddenly and glared athim. “If you think I’ll mate with a man who doesn’t see me as hisequal, then you’re as big an idiot as I’m thinking youare.”
Xavier growled, stepping closer to hismate, his skin felt too tight, telling him his bear was close tothe surface. “You aren’t my equal in this, baby. You are human.Someone who can be hurt, who can bleed, who can fucking die way toofucking easily.”
Kaea’s gaze narrowed on him. “I mightbe more human than you, and that might make me more vulnerable, butthat does not mean that I am without my defenses,Xavier.”
Xavier crossed his arms over his broadchest in a move that had intimidated many, but all he got from Kaeawas a sardonically arched brow. “What are you going to do, Kaea?Use that fucking rifle? It didn’t stop me, so how the hell will itstop Gray?”
Again, something seemed to move withinKaea’s eyes, and they lightened to amber. If Xavier didn’t knowbetter, he would have sworn that his mate had the eyes of ashifter, but he didn’t smell like fur, so there was no fuckingway.
“Killing was not myintent, Xavier, not yet.” Kaea’s tone spoke volumes. “I wanted touse the gun to bring him down, but I needed him alive. At leastuntil two days from now. If I had wanted him dead, I wouldn’t haveused the damn rifle.”
Everything in that confused the shitout of Xavier. “Why the fuck would you want to wait before youended that prick? Find him. Kill him. That’s it. Not bring him downand let justice be served. Fuck that! He needs to die, and I amgoing to kill him. How the hell were you going to controlhim?”
Kaea threw out his hand, facing uptoward the ceiling, and flames suddenly leapt from his palm. “Withfire, asshole. You might be able to survive a bullet wound, but ifI sent you up in flames, I can assure you, you wouldn’t get upafter it.”
Xavier’s watched, fascinated, as theflame seemed to spread wide, out from each side of Kaea’s palm.“How are you doing this?”
Kaea took a step back. “Because noteveryone who can’t shift into a hairy ass bear is helpless, and hadyou taken a moment to talk with me about a plan, I might have toldyou about it before you decided to not ‘allow me’ to do anything Idamn well please.”
It was sign of how distracted he wasthat he didn’t realize that Kaea had picked up his duffle, andmoved to the center of the room. Just as his bear signaled awarning within him and he took a step in his mate’s direction, Kaeasnapped his fingers and a wall of flame spread across the room,blocking him from his mate.
“Kaea! What thefuck!”
Through the intense heat of theflames, Xavier could see his mate moving back toward the door. “Youwere right about one thing. Gray does deserve to die, and he will,but not until I get what I came here for. I promise you that hewill die, but it has to be done my way.” Kaea opened the door, andtook a step through it, but hesitated, turning back to look atXavier over his shoulder. “Stay out of my way, Xavier. I have to dothis. Don’t you dare kill him until I get back what he stole frommy family. If you do, I will never forgive you. My Nanny-ma andAtaahua are depending on me. The flames will die out as soon as Iam out of range.”
And then his mate wasgone. Xavier threw his head back and roared in anger. How dare heleave him? How fuckingdarehe!
“Fuck this!” He moved backas far as he could, and assessed the wall of fire. There was asmall gap between the wall, ceiling and floor, but it seemed to beimpenetrable everywhere else. He took a deep breath then threwhimself at the wall. When he hit it, he felt the heat, but itdidn’t burn him, and then he was through. He landed and looked downat himself in shock.
“Holy shit. I thought forsure I was gonna be toast.” The wall flickered out behind him, andXavier moved with every bit of preternatural speed he had in thedirection his mate had just taken.
