He looked so different from the gorgeous man I’d left sleeping in bed just a short time ago, but I was no less drawn to him. Maybe even more. He was even hotter when he went into fierce, territorial warrior mode, which was saying a lot since he’d already been darn close to irresistible before.
“Because the mating urge has made him lose his damn mind,” Ren grumbled as he swiped a drop of blood before it dripped from his bottom lip.
“What the hell did you expect would happen?” Braeden growled, his focus returning to Ren as he fisted his shirt in his hand and lifted him off his feet. “I teleported in and found you laying on top of my woman, for fuck’s sake.”
I was tempted to roll my eyes over how ridiculous it was for him to think anything remotely sexual was going on between Ren and me. Not only was Braeden the only man I’d ever desire, but Ren couldn’t even physically react to anyone. And even if we weren’t constrained by our daywalker nature, neither of us was the kind of person to betray Braeden.
But I had to cut Braeden some slack because I couldn’t imagine how I’d react if I walked in on him touching another woman—no matter how innocent the situation. “You know darn well it wasn’t like that,” I snapped.
My fated mate was beyond reason, the animalistic side of his nature pushing for violence instead. He strode forward and shoved his brother against the nearest wall. “You will never put your hands on my woman again. Got me, little brother?”
“There’s no need to get your knickers in a twist. I was just teaching the girl how to fight properly.” I switched my glare from Braeden to Ren, my irritation with him growing as he added, “In fact, you should be thanking me for all the shit I’ve taught your destined consort. If it wasn’t for my efforts, you would’ve had to worry a fuck of a lot more about her safety.”
Neither of them paid the slightest bit of attention to me as I huffed, “You make it sound as though I didn’t put in a ton of hard work. Or that I wouldn't have found someone else to train me.”
Ren grimaced and jerked his chin toward his brother. “Cut me some slack here, Callie. All of my focus is on trying to stay alive right now.”
“Don’t even look at her,” Braeden growled, lifting his brother another inch and slamming him against the wall again, with enough force to rattle the lights and make them flicker.
Ren snapped his gaze back toward Braeden. “I get it. She’s all yours, brother.”
The situation needed to de-escalate fast, and Ren didn’t seem able to talk his brother off the cliff. Moving to Braeden’s side, I pressed my chest against his arm and stroked my hand up his back. “C’mon, babe. You don’t really want to hurt your brother, do you? He might be an idiot sometimes, but you’ve managed not to murder him for more than five hundred years so far. Right?”
Braeden’s bright blue eyes cut toward me as he growled, “I have two other brothers who’ve already found their consorts and haven’t touched mine.”
Ren looked like he was going to protest, but the last thing I needed was for him to make the situation worse, so I shook my head and tried to appeal toward Braeden’s softer side. “How will you explain killing Ren to your parents? It would break your mom’s heart to lose one of her sons.”
His muscles loosened just a little bit beneath my palm, and I smiled up at him. “How about you let your brother go and put those big, strong arms around me where they belong?”
He blinked, and when his eyes reopened, the man was back with me. His lips curved into a smile of pure male satisfaction as he released Ren’s shirt and slid his arm around my shoulder to pull me close. “I know you’re attempting to placate me, but I like hearing you say that too much to give a damn.”
“I wasn’t just trying to appease you.” Going up on my toes, I brushed my lips against his jaw. “It’s the truth.”
“And that’s why your tactic worked, baby.” He yanked my body flush against his and captured my mouth, his tongue sweeping inside to tangle with mine. It didn’t take long for me to get lost in his kiss, completely forgetting Ren was in the room with us until he said, “I think that’s my cue to leave you two lovebirds alone.”
Braeden lifted his head to glare at his brother. “Not so fast.”
“Fucking hell, I should’ve just left without saying anything,” Ren muttered.
Braeden kept me tucked against his body as he nodded. “Probably would’ve been a good call. I’m not too thrilled with you right now.”