I didn’t want to find out. And this tiff between the three of them had to stop. I couldn’t think. I could barely breathe. My heart felt like it was about to beat right out of my chest. So much had happened all at once, and the only thing I could think to do was get them to stop any way I could.
“That’s enough!” I shouted.
They continued as though I hadn’t said a thing.
This was going to take something drastic. Something that would get their attention regardless of what was going on. Something that even they couldn’t ignore.
A spark of an idea came to me, and though I really didn’t have the energy in me, I had even less tolerance for their antics to continue any longer.
So, I took off my shirt and screamed, “Hey!”
Steele flicked his gaze to me, then did a double take. His mouth clamped shut. Shortly thereafter, the other two followed suit. As soon as all three of them were staring at me. I tossed my hands out to my side.
“I don’t belong to any of you, and if you don’t start behaving like men instead of animals, I’m going to kick you out of this room.”
Dallas chuckled. “Interesting statement.”
12
MALACHI
“What is that supposed to mean?” Cassidy asked and regrettably put her shirt back on. I frowned and observed as she then set her glare on Dallas who had made the smart-ass comment following her accusation of us acting like animals.
Not surprisingly, she was even more beautiful when she was angry. She had the slightest crease that appeared over the bridge of her nose. And her eyes turned a bit stormy. Man, what I wouldn’t give to fuck the anger out of her. I bet taming that anger of hers would be one hell of a night to remember.
Then again, I could probably spend the rest of my life becoming lost in her eyes. Of course, I could spend forever with her period, but with Dallas and Steele insisting they should be with her, it was a competition I wanted little to nothing to do with. Never mind there shouldn’t have been a competition in the first place. Because I believed with every fiber within my being, I should be the one who she chose to be with. Because it was already her for me.
But what impressed me the most about her was her standing up for herself. I imagined she didn’t do things like that very often. Such a shame too. No one should have ever taken the fight out of her.
I smiled at her, though she wasn’t looking at me. I was still proud and impressed. I could also spend forever watching her.
Dallas chuckled. “Because we are animals.”
I shot a glare at Dallas. He ignored it, of course. There was a time and a place for what he was doing, and where we were and at that current point in time, it wasn’t it.
It was one thing to hint at us being shifters, but it was a whole other thing to completely spell it out. Whatever Dallas called himself doing, it wasn’t for anyone’s benefit but his own. And I would be damned if he tried to throw Steele and I under the bus to save his own ass.
“Whatever,” she said. “I have to leave before Xander comes back, which means you all have to go. So, get out.”
She pointed a thumb at the door and waited for us to move.
We stood firmly where we were, unmoving. I smirked at her again. This was far from over. The sooner she got that through her head, the sooner we could all get back to what we came for.
She growled. “Fine. Regardless I’m still leaving.”
As she made a move to walk out of the room, Steele jumped in front of her and in the middle of the foyer, blocking her way to the door. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her.
“Move,” she said.
“No,” he replied, continuing to stare her down.
“Why are you stopping me from leaving?” she asked.
“Like it or not,” he said. “We’re going to help.”
She scoffed. “You can’t help. No one can.”
“Face it, my dear,” I said. “You’re not going anywhere until we get to the bottom of this.”