Page 13 of Mated to the Human: Volume One

Richard sneered. “Keep your voice down.”

The street wasn’t super busy, but there were a few people passing by, and the diner behind them was packed. Hollis quickly moved farther out on the sidewalk and closer to the diner door. Derek said he would keep him safe. Hollis had to trust that he meant it.

“I won’t do that,” Hollis said, holding Richard’s furious gaze. “Tell Neal I said no.” He turned and reached for the door of the diner just as Cane was opening it.

“I covered your tab,” Cane said, glancing at Hollis before focusing on Richard. “You done?”

“Yeah,” Hollis said. “Let’s get back.”

Richard took a step toward them, but Cane kept himself between them. They were nearly the same size, Cane and Richard, but there was something about the way Cane moved that with police training or not…Hollis bet he’d eat Richard for lunch.

“This isn’t the last you’ll hear from us, Holly. You’d do well to remember who your family is.” Richard didn’t shout, but Hollis heard him all the same. They wouldn’t let this go.

“Come on,” Cane said, falling into step with Hollis and leading them around the corner toward the council building.

Hollis bit his lip and kept moving. He had no idea what he was going to tell Derek.

6

Hollis was preoccupied and had been ever since Derek picked him up from the front of the council building when he got off work. Derek moved from the sink to the stove, putting the pot of water he’d just filled on to boil.

Hollis stood with his back to Derek, dicing an onion for the pasta dish they’d decided to make for dinner.

Moving slowly, Derek wrapped his arms around Hollis’s waist and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck. Hollis tensed up for a split second before relaxing back against Derek’s chest.

Derek pressed his nose into Hollis’s hair. His scent was marked with the other people he’d come into contact with that day. The possessive part of Derek didn’t like it and never wanted Hollis to smell like anything other than them together. That was unrealistic, but he grumbled a little all the same.

“What do you smell?”

Sucking in another breath, Derek nuzzled Hollis. “You. The bacon cheeseburger you had for lunch. People I don’t know.” The last part came out with a little growl. Derek thought Hollis might chuckle, but he tensed up again. “Sweetheart?”

Hollis started chopping the onion again. “My cousin, Richard, showed up while Cane and I were eating lunch.”

Reaching out, Derek gently took the knife from Hollis’s hand and laid it on the cutting board. He took hold of Hollis’s hips and turned him around, but Hollis didn’t look up to meet his gaze. That wouldn’t do. Derek lifted him up and set him on the counter, planting his hands on the outside of Hollis’s knees and leaning in so they were face to face.

Hollis sighed. “He had a message from my uncle. Neal wants me to get him a list of all the paranormal residents in the city.”

Anger started to build in Derek’s chest.

“I told him no,” Hollis said, lifting his chin. “I said that it would break privacy laws, and I wouldn’t do it.”

“What’d your cousin say to that?”

Hollis bit his lip and moved his left hand to his upper right arm. “He said I needed to remember who my family was.”

“I’m your family,” Derek said, pure conviction and an enormous amount of rage filling up every pore of his body.

Hollis met his gaze, a soft smile taking over his face. “I know.”

Something in Derek’s chest eased at those words. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to Hollis’s mouth.

Hollis responded by wrapping his arms around Derek’s neck and pulling him snug into the V of his legs. Derek groaned as their tongues pressed together, a jolt of pure lust surging low through his belly. He wanted to eat this man alive.

Leaning back, Derek grabbed the hem of Hollis’s shirt and pulled it over his head. Diving right back in to get his mouth back on Hollis while he reached to unzip Hollis’s pants. He pressed open-mouthed kisses along Hollis’s jaw and down his neck, savoring the soft skin of his throat.

Nipping along his collarbone got Derek a low, throaty moan from Hollis. He smiled against his mate’s skin and moved farther down his chest. Hollis gasped when Derek sucked a nipple into his mouth, grazing the little nub with his teeth.

He looked up, ready to give Hollis a sexy smirk when a trio of purple marks caught his eye. Pulling back, he looked at Hollis’s arm. There was a bruise circling his bicep. Someone had grabbed him hard enough to leave marks.

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