Maximus cringed at his mother-in-law’s mystic snobbery. And groaned when he caught
the hard glint in Sameya’s violet eyes. “You’ll mind your manners, Gabby.” He hooked
a finger in the neckline of his shirt that his mate wore and tugged
the material aside
, exposing the bite mark Gabriel had given her
on her shoulder
. It still oozed blood
,
and he
glowered
, worried over her body’s lack of self-healing. “Very sure she’s ours. And couldn’t
be more delighted.”
Gabby sniffed
,
and he was certain she disliked his command for her to mind her manners. “Before
she can be presented to the pride, we’ll have to clean
her
up.”
Twin black eyebrows smashed together when Sameya frowned. “I beg your pardon?”
With the mood Gabby and his mate were in, this wasn’t going to end well.
Maximus tugged his chair a little closer to his mate just in case he needed to grab
her before she went after the other woman.
“Kat, please locate Gabriel and bring him immediately.”
With a relieved
expression
,
Kat
fled the room.
“It’s bad enough
her
power is so weak.” Shit. Gabby had her haughty airs on tonight.
“Gabby—”
“I’m speaking, Maximus. It’s impolite to interrupt.” Apparently someone needed to
remind her it was impolite to insult others. Especially when that person was so important
to her son’s life. “The pride will be appalled someone of his stature has someone
as
magically inept
as
this
.
You know how hard a time they had accepting you.” Damn hard, not that Gabby had helped.
“
I will not have him a laughing
stock simply because of your appearance
, little girl
.” She shook her head. “That
god awful hair
has to go first
.
Then we’ll work on—
”
“You crazy bitch. Shut. Up.” Sameya pushed to her feet. Maximus sat back
, but grasped her hand to keep her close and away from Gabby. But he had no intentions
of stopping her from putting
her future mother-in-law in her place. It was the only way the shifter woman would
ever respect her. “I’m not weak in magic. You are. I could manipulate you like a twisty
tie if I were so inclined.”
“Which you’re not
motivated
to do
.
” Maximus
wasn’t entirely certain she hadn’t already utilized her siren spell against the other
woman
with the way her jaws flapped in shock
.
Sameya
didn’t spare him a glance, but held
Gabby’s gape
. “
I’m a siren
, which means you’d be eating your last breath by the time you realized I was there
.
”
“A reaper.” His mother-in-law’s hand flew to her throat.
His reaper gave Gabby
a tight smile. “
I would strongly caution against anyone laughing at
Gabriel
because of me. I’ll reap them without a thought.
”
“Neither
will
you alter
her hair, Mother.” Maximus waggled his eyebrows at Gabriel as he sauntered into the
room. Sameya stiffened, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge his sudden appearance. “Or
anything else for that matter. She’s perfect
the way she is.”
The tiger walked straight to
t
he
i
r
mate
, kicked the chair away and aligned his chest with her spine. His arms went around
her waist, but their little mate remained inflexible
,
and Maximus had the feeling she allowed his touch only because of Gabby’s presence.
“Congratulate us on finding
her
. She completes us. And you know how long we’ve been waiting for her.” Gabriel nuzzled
her neck, but not the side where he’d bitten her.
Smart move, lover, don’t draw attention to your recent mistake.
“Yes. Well…yes.” His mother-in-law rose to her feet. She smoothed her skirt even though
there wasn’t a wrinkle in place. “I should be going. You’re newly mated and….” She
wouldn’t meet their eyes as she
cleared her throat.
“You’re right,” Maximus reclined in his seat, enjoying Gabby’s discomfort. “Newly
mated pairs are compelled to fuck nonstop.”
She flashed him a shocked expression. “Maximus!”
He chuckled
and blew her a kiss
. “I love you, Gabby.”
She walked stiffly around the end of the table and touched his cheek. “I
love you, you rascal, e
ven
though I abhor
those
tacky
things in your nipples. Won’t you consider removing
them?”
“I like his piercings
.
” Sameya
met the other woman’s stare with a challenge in her eyes.
Fuck the siren had his cock twitching again.
“
I’ll walk you out, Mother.”
As
Gabriel
stepped away from Sameya, he
held his arm out to his mother and waited until she placed her palm in the crook of
his elbow.
“It was a…
delight
, Sameya.” A little too late she remembered her manners. “I’ll relate your
unique
charm to Gabriel’s father.”
Maximus rolled his eyes.
A saucy grin hit his siren’s mouth. “I’m memorable like that.”
Gabby opened and closed her mouth a few times, before settling on snapping her teeth
together. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the woman silenced by anyone before.
What a priceless moment. Gabriel shot him an amused grin as they exited the kitchen.
Chapter
Fifteen
The instant the door shut, Maximus peeked at Sameya
. Her
two-toned waist-length hair hugged her curves. His shirt hid those curves, but he
knew what lay beneath the garment. When he stripped it off
of
her later, she would smell like him. That appealed to the possessive vampyr and would
please Gabriel, too.
“I’ve never seen anyone put Gabby in her place before.”
“Is she always that bitch
y
?”
“She grows on you.”
Sameya made a face.
“So does fungus
,
and I don’t like it.”
He laughed.
“She’ll be the perfect mother-in-law from here on out.”
That title had her fingers touching the shirt where the bite was located.
“The mating-mark
will fade.
” Eventually.
“
You didn’t accept
it
, so
it’s
not permanent
.”
Sameya crossed her arms in a defensive gesture.
Her silence
felt like a bad omen
. “I would like to point out that I bit you
,
and you didn’t freak out.”
“You didn’t try to force a mating. He did.
If I wasn’t wearing this
”
—she yanked on the gem encrusted collar—“I’d kill him for what he attempted. At the
very least, I’d make him miserable.”
“He’s already miserable.”
“Not nearly enough.”
Maximus elevated an eyebrow.
She might
possess
a bigger taste for blood than he did
,
and he survived off the elixir
.
He
rolled out of his chair and
moved to the refrigerator. “So, tell me about yourself.”
“Like what?” He didn’t look her way, but he could hear her confusion.
He snagged the tray of eggs, a packet of diced ham
,
and a bag of cheese.
“
I want to know e
verything.”
E
ven the littlest details
…like her favorite col
or. If she
owned any pets, what
were their names
, and
their breeds?
T
he name of her best friend? What’d she do for fun? What was her favorite food? “Want
to join me for a
n
omelet
?” Maximus indicated the items he’d set on the table.
“You eat?”
“Don’t you?” At her silence, he peered at her. Eyes narrowed quizzically on the contents
scattered across
the counter
she approached him. “I especially get the munchies after having fantastic sex.” Their
gazes locked
,
and she froze like
one of his victims in his sights
. “For the record, Sameya, what we shared was phenomenal.”
She glanced away quickly and shrugged. “I suppose.”
Maximus chuckled. “Shame on you for lying.”
“In comparison to my other lovers, I guess it was okay.” She leaned a hip against
the island and watched him as he
set a skillet on the stove and sprayed it with non-stick oil.
“You experienced multiple orgasms.”
From what he’d read, not many women could say that. Neither could they claim to have
men that
cared about their
satisfaction
.
“
Who doesn’t think that’s phenomenal?”
Using a
whisk
, he beat eggs in a bowl.
“Those were…disturbing.”
The serious note to her voice had his gaze whipping up to meet hers.
“How so?”
Sameya shrugged. “You wouldn’t understand if I told you.”
“Try me.” Dumbfounded by her confession, he
poured the battered eggs into the skillet
.
He waited a moment for them to cook before sprinkling cheese and ham in the pan.
“You might be surprised by how well I understand.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll be gone soon.”
Sameya shifted to walk away
,
and Maximus caught her wrist. “Please, Sameya.
Our relationship isn’t built on sex with you.”
“Yes, it is.” A minor twist of her wrist. He understood the hint and released his
hold on her. “N
either of you
asked if I wanted a liaison with you.” It was a l
ot
more than a liaison, but Maximus let it slide. “All I’ve heard from you both is caveman
grunts of mine, mates, mine.”
“That was only to prove to you that you’re our mate.”
And it wasn’t like she hadn’t been doing the same thing with Gabriel’s mother before
she figured out the woman wasn’t one of their former lovers.
“Let’s get something straight, vamp. I am no one’s property.”
“Mates are not property
, Sameya
.
For your fellow sirens to enslave their
s
, that’s…atrocious.
” He
folded the omelet in half over on top of itself and
flipped
the food
.
Enslaving
a partner
was worse than atrocious, but it was the best he could come up with. He really wasn’t
a man big on communication.
She stared at him as if she were trying to figure him out. He was pretty simple really,
but he’d let her discover that on her own.
Keeping his movements measured so as not to alarm her, he casually met her
eyes
. “I want to know the woman
you are. I
nside
and out
intimately. What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? What—”
“I don’t cry.”
She
almost
had earlier
when he’d been undressing her
, but he wouldn’t remind her of that. “
What
is your favorite food? I’m a chef. I want to cook what you love.”
A tiny smile tweaked the right corner of her mouth. “I don’t eat. Or drink for that
matter.”
“Hmm…
.
” Interesting. He’d heard stories timerelics no longer required nourishment, but he’d
, also,
believed them myths.
He retrieved a plastic container
off the counter
and popped the lid. Washed strawberries
created hills and valleys within the dish
. “Allow me to tempt you to indulge.”