Page 30 of Monster Mate

Roxie scooped up the last piece of glass and tossed it into the trash can. “I can’t ask him to do that.”

“Stubborn,” Winston muttered, going back downstairs, shooing Waldo out into the living room.

Roxie gasped as Riordan materialized in front of her again. He helped her to her feet, looking frustrated and all kinds of pissed off. “They got away,” he grumbled. “Must’ve had a car running while they were throwing the brick. I lost their scent once they crossed the bridge out of town.”

She gulped. “I’m sorry.”

He tipped her chin up. “It’s my fault. I suspected the orc’s kin might try tracking you. I should’ve gone after them first. I was…distracted.” He shoved a hand through his disheveled hair. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”

“You think…it was an orc? Guy’s family?”

His brow furrowed. “Who else might it be?”

Oh, how she wished it had been an orc. At least then the whole thing wouldn’t have been solely her fault. “It wasn’t the orc’s kin. It was my ex. And now that he knows where I am, I don’t have a choice. I’ll have to leave.”

The confusion on his face clawed at her heart. “Why would we leave? Where would we go?”

Oh, God. This was going to be so much harder than she’d thought. “Not we. Just me. I’m hoping Waldo and Winston can stay here. But…I’m leaving. Tonight.”

So many emotions rolled through his eyes. So many. Confusion, hurt, sadness, and finally…rage. Rage was the one that stuck.

“The fuck you are,” he bit out, his fury shaking the ground beneath her feet and rattling the old church walls.

She’d never truly feared Riordan before. Not even when they’d first met. Not even when he killed an orc right in front of her. Had she been wrong about him?

Something told her she was about to find out.

CHAPTER 19

Roxie—his mate, the woman who’d spent every night in his bed for the past two weeks—had just pulled a shopping bag out of the bedroom closet and was stuffing her belongings into it. As if he was going to just let her walk out the door without an explanation.

“Just stop,” he urged from the doorway, not trusting himself to touch her just yet. Especially not when there was a part of him that wanted to tie her to the bedframe and not let her up until she agreed to listen to reason. “Tell me what’s going on.”

When she paced back to the closet, he teleported the clothes out of the bag. He wasn’t going to force her to stay (not yet, anyway) but he’d be damned if he was going to make it easy on her.

She came back to the bag with an armful of pants and underwear and shot him a severe frown when she found the bag empty. “I told you. It’s my ex. He’s dangerous. I can’t stay here.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Roxie, I’m a demon. I’m dangerous. Why would you run from a human when you have a demon protector?”

Again, she ignored him, going to grab more stuff from the closet. And again, he teleported the contents out of her bag when she wasn’t looking. It’d take her a while to figure out he was moving all her things to the garden, and every minute he had with her counted.

“I can’t ask you to protect me,” she insisted, then growled in frustration when she once again found her bag empty. “Stop doing that!”

“No. And you’re not asking me to protect you. I’m protecting you because I want to.”

She threw her hands up and marched back into the closet for another armful of clothes. This time he didn’t even bother to wait for her to try to put them in the bag. He teleported them right out of her hands. Her angry screech complimented his own frustration nicely.

“Sit down,” he said as calmly as he could muster. “Talk to me instead of trying to run from me. Let’s figure this out together.”

She looked positively mutinous, but she finally—finally!—did as he asked and threw herself down on the corner of the bed. “There’s nothing you can say to change my mind. I know what I have to do.”

He wanted to shake her, to yell, to kiss her until she couldn’t breathe without his air. But he was too infuriated for any of that. Instead, he said, “I’m disappointed in you. Running away, letting this man have your power, is beneath you.”

Her eyes flashed with fury, and he was glad to see it. “You’re disappointed in me? I’m leaving for you, you ungrateful oaf!”

He crossed the room in two strides, stopping only when she had to crane her neck back to glare up at him. “Retreating from a fight like a kicked dog is for me?” He snorted. “I think not. You’re afraid and you’re using me as an excuse to run and hide from feeling too many adult feelings.”

“Adult feelings? Are you calling me a child?”

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