Alpha Male Incorporated Under Your Protection (24 page)

I felt as soon as you walked through the doors.

Seven minutes for me to know I wanted to make

You mine for the rest of our lives.

Seven minutes to know all of the people I have

Dated in my past prepared me for only you

And this one special moment.

Seven minute wouldn’t pass without me getting up

Enough nerve to walk across the crowded room and ask

You to dance.

So, all I need is seven minutes of your time.

Now years later when I catch a glimpse of you from the corner of my eye

In our home cooking dinner or doing what made you the man I fell in love with.

I think back to the time I only desired seven minutes of your attention and

Now you’re a part of my heart.

I know that those first seven minutes I met you were the best of my life.

It only took seven minute for me to realize

How I felt as soon as you walked through the doors.

Seven minutes for me to know I wanted to make

You mine for the rest of our lives.

Seven minutes to know all of the people I have

Dated in my past prepared me for only you

And this one special moment.

Seven minute wouldn’t pass without me getting up

Enough nerve to walk across the crowded room and ask

You to dance.

So, all I need is seven minutes of your time.

Standing in the back of the studio, Jax watched as Sahara finished practicing her song. Ever since the fight they’d had in his bedroom she really hadn’t said much to him. Mostly, Sahara had been hiding out in her bedroom or in her studio working on her dance moves. This was the first time he’d heard her sing since the night at The Kitty Kat Club and he missed the sound of her singing voice.

“Is
Seven Minutes
going to be the second single released from your CD?” he asked. “It should because it’s very beautiful. Any man who heard it would think you are singing it directly to him and no one else.”

Twirling away from the microphone, Sahara glanced back over her shoulder at him. She cut off the music before getting off the stool. “I didn’t know anyone was here. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“I just got off the phone with Frank. He’s going to spend another week overseas. He’s having fun with some woman he met over there. I told him about the incident at the Kitty Kat club. He wanted to come back home, but I assured him everything was fine and I could handle things.”

“Really...aren’t you concerned about the sleep of the dead about to come to you?” Sahara asked as she came towards him. “Isn’t today your four hundredth birthday? If I remember correctly, you only have a couple of days to live after it’s over. So, who is going to protect me once you’re gone?”

Jax closed his eyes and tried not to think about what was going to happen to him. Sahara was right. Next week, the symptoms of the curse were supposed to start taking effect on his body. But he was here now and he was going to continue to protect her until he no longer had the ability to do it.

“Jax, look at me.”

Opening his eyes, Jax found Sahara standing directly in front of him. Against his will, his hand reached out and touched the side of her face. Why couldn’t she have meant the words she told him the last time they’d made love? He would have turned her that night, but she only wanted him to do it because of his history with Colleen.

“Why are you denying my love for you?” she asked, placing her hand on the top of his. “I want to be with you because I love you. Don’t you understand how my world will be completely and utterly over if you aren’t in it with me?”

“No! You’re only telling me what I want to hear.” Jax jerked his hand away from Sahara. “I won’t allow you to torture me like this. Zander should never have opened his fucking mouth about the curse. You wouldn’t be here now in front of me pretending to be in love with me.”

“Pretending to be in love with you...” Sahara shrieked. “How can a man as fine as you, be so damn dense? God, what else do I have to do to prove my love for you? Do you know the night I asked you to turn me was the anniversary of my parents’ death?”

Surprise hit Jax’s body at Sahara’s news. He hadn’t had a clue. Why hadn’t she told him before now?

“You told me that I couldn’t come back to you until I loved you with my heart instead of my head. Well, I’ve loved you with my heart for a while. My heart was in love with you way before my head even entered the picture.

“Every time I was with you and you would look at me I knew I had something special because my father always had the same look in his eyes anytime he looked at my mother. The sleep of the dead isn’t the reason I asked you to turn me.”

“So Zander was the reason wasn’t he,” Jax demanded. “He made you feel duty-bound to do it.”

“Zander telling me about it didn’t have anything to do with it either. I wanted to be with you forever...because I love you and nothing else. Valentine’s Day is about love and promising forever to be with the one you love. How could I take this day and lie to you about my feelings?” Sahara asked, watching him, waiting for a reaction.

For centuries, Jax had never believed in the rumors about a
Unique
woman, a human female who was out there and born for him and no one else. He thought his life would end because of the sleep of the dead...now he had a talented and beautiful woman confessing her love for him. A love he had fought for since the first moment Sahara introduced herself to him inside of Frank’s den. He already loved her so much and it was only going to get better
once he turned her into a vampire.

“Fine, if you’re too stubborn or blind to see what is right in front of your face, I’m not going to tell you anymore how I care about you.” Sahara went past him, but with lightning speed his hand shot out and grabbed her arm.

“You aren’t going anywhere. If I’m not mistaken today is my birthday and I believe you have offered me the gift I’ve been wanting for a while,” Jax said as he spun Sahara back around to face him.

“What if I want to take the gift back?” Sahara asked, watching him. “You know I have the right to do that, don’t you?”

“I believe I forgot to tell you the number one rule you don’t break when dealing with a vampire,” Jax teased.

He tugged Sahara to him.

She lifted her chin. “I don’t care what the rule is since we’re over.”

He shook his head. “You’re a liar and we both know it. You want to know what the rule is; I can see it all over your face.”

“You need to have your eyes check because you’re seeing things.”

Jax couldn’t stop the full smile that spread across his face. “Baby, we both know that I have perfect eyesight. I can see very clearly.” Oh, how he was going to love spending the rest of his life with Sahara; every day was going to be an adventure.

“Fine, tell me the stupid rule, so I can leave and get on with my life,” she complained.

He leaned close. “Never promise a vampire that you will be his forever, because he might just take you up on the offer.”

“Do you think you can handle me being yours forever?” Sahara asked a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. “I mean I do love getting my way, but you already know that by now.”

Oh, yeah! Jax knew he could handle anything and everything his mate was going to give him in the eternity they were going to spend together.

“Darling, you bet that I can handle it and I’m going to enjoy every single minute of it.”

Standing on her tiptoes, Sahara wrapped her arms around his neck. “Prove it,” she whispered against his mouth.

“It will be my pleasure.”

Epilogue

A month later

“How are things with Sahara since you turned her? Has she gotten used to all of her heightened senses?” Zander asked him as he watched Sahara through the kitchen window outside playing with the German Shepherd puppy he got her as an early birthday gift.

“I think she’s getting used to it, but I still don’t let her go out by herself since her stalker is still out there. She confessed to me the other day that she’d gotten a letter from the guy a day before her performance at the Kitty Kat club,” Jax said, glancing at his brother from the corner of his eye.

“You mean she hid it from you?”

“Yes and she finally showed it to me yesterday. It was a picture with a red X across her face with the words Die Bitch. I was so furious with her. I mean that night I could have lost her and not even known she had gotten a warning from the bastard. I’m having a hard time knowing the person threatening Sahara’s life is still out there.”

“Do you have any clue how to find this guy? I mean he’s extremely smart and crafty. He knows not to do too much so you can track him. He just sends letters or threats at the perfect time.”

“I’m trying not to scare Sahara because she’s just beginning to relax a little when she goes out with me. After the incident at the Kitty Kat Club, she had a problem even going out the front door without me even after I turned her.”

“Frank wanted us to go with him to the mall a week after Valentine’s Day and she didn’t want to go. So, I had to stay at Frank’s with her and she invited Raya over for a visit.”

Looking away from the window, Zander faced him completely. “What are you going to do about the guy?”

“I’m going to find this jerk and make sure that he spends the rest of his life behind bars. I might not been able to save Colleen but I’m sure in the hell going to make sure Sahara is safe and well-protected. She’s living with me now instead of Frank and the wedding is in two months.”

“Enough about me. Tell me what’s going on with you and Sabrina? Have you made the move with her yet? Does she know she’s your mate?”

Zander shook his head. “No, Sabrina has the misconception that I’m like a brother.”

Chuckling, Jax crossed his arms over his chest as he rested his back against the kitchen sink. “Are you going to change her opinion of you?’

“Damn right I am. Sabrina is mine and I’m not going to wait any longer to make her see me as her lover and not a shoulder to cry on.”

The End

Coming Soon

Alpha Male Incorporated: Access Granted

*** All Songs © by Marie Rochelle***