Fury like I’ve never known boils in my veins. I back away from her, my muscles tight and nostrils flared. “You think I’d want to force myself on you? After I sacrificed so much to stand up for you?”
I shake my head, walking backwards away from her.
I don’t wait for her to answer me. I shift into my bear, unable to stop it. I pounce at her and she stumbles backwards, falling with a thud on her ass on her backpack. She grabs her pack, fear covering her face as she walks backwards to her bike.
She holds her hands up, trying to reason with me, but there’s no reasoning now. Not with me. My bear has taken over, and he’s feeding on my fury. He wouldn’t hurt her. I know that, but I won’t stop until she’s back on her bike, going back to where she came from.
I don’t stop until I’ve nudged her to her bike and she takes off down the road.
Even when she’s gone, completely out of sight, I still can’t stop my heart from racing out of control. The idea of allowing anyone at New Law to “use” her makes me feel like I’m capable of murder. It doesn’t make sense, this reaction I have to her, but at least it came in useful and I could run her off New Law land. If she has any sense at all she’ll return to her side of the Klamath in Oregon.
The rest of the night and part of the next day I spend guarding the territory. I spent most of the time running through the territory, trying to forget about Mona and not worry about where she’s going. And all that anger has me spent. I’m tired as fuck when Zeus shows up to relieve me. No doubt Deator sent Zeus because he’s a Teddy wannabe. Zeus is a badass but he must sense that fucking with me would be a mistake because he doesn’t try any of his usual flexing.
They probably expect me to show up at the clubhouse, but I’m not going. Even though I’m calmer, I’m still on edge and I don’t want to have to look at my father right now. The only thing I want to do is take a shower and get into my own bed. My cabin is in the mountains of New Law territory. I use to have a room at the clubhouse, but five years ago, I gave that up. I enjoy the refuge of having my own place.
As I travel across the mountain, I can smell something delicious even before I can see my cabin. I inhale deeply, trying to make it out and wonder where it’s coming from. I can smell food that’s making me salivate like an animal and I swear I smell the sweet scent of Mona. As I get closer, I don’t even have to see her to know she’s inside my cabin.
I park my bike and look through the front window. There stands Mona in my kitchen. Her hair is up in a ponytail and it looks as if she’s cooking a meal, doing a little dance as she moves around the kitchen.
I stand there and watch as she moves around, almost like she’s familiar with where everything is. I may have thought I ran her off, but I didn’t. Now she’s even closer to me than she was.
Fuck!
Chapter 7
Mona
When I drove away last night, I knew I’d pushed too far. I’m filled with regret but there’s nothing I can do to take back the words now. I never dreamed I would offer myself up to someone like I did with him. And if he was anyone else, I probably wouldn’t have. But I trust him. Even after all this time, I still trust him. I drive straight to his house just by following his scent. When I break in, I try to be respectful and not pry too much. His cabin is nothing like I would expect his house to be. Instead of a house for a bachelor, he has matching furniture and even decorations. It makes me wonder if there’s a woman he’s involved with. I run my hand through my hair, lost in thought. Just thinking of him with another woman makes my heart hurt.
I shower in his big open shower and the whole time I was in there all I could think about was the fact that he has stood in this exact same spot, and my body tingles thinking about it. I sleep in his bed, wrapped in his scent, and being there is the safest I’ve felt in forever. When I force myself to get out of bed, I start cooking.
I know it’s a long shot, breaking into his house and then cooking for him, but as soon as he walks into the door, I can hear his stomach growling with hunger.