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Thirty Eight
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ALPHA'S CLAIM Thirty Nine
It was only when she neared the vehicle that the door opened. But it wasn’t Onyx who stepped out. It was Trevon. She frowned when he closed the door behind him and stood in front of it like a protective barrier. “I’ll be driving you to work this morning,” he said stiffly as he came forward, making her shuffle backward. “I want to see Onyx.” His expression hardened. “You’ll have to wait until later.” “I want to see him now.” He arched a brow. “Why? So you can hurt him even more than you already have?” She inhaled deeply. “I understand you’re mad at me, I know how protective you are of Onyx—” “Then we don’t need to have this conversation.” What was bugging her more than Trevon’s reprimanding tone was the fact that Onyx hadn’t come outside. He had to know that Trevon was trying to keep her away; he had to hear what was going on, but he wasn’t interfering. That meant one of two things: Onyx genuine
ALPHA'S CLAIM Forty
Suddenly unsteady, she took a seat on the sofa. She’d noticed the occasional tint of pain in his eyes, but she hadn’t prodded him about it, determined to hide her concern for him…like an insensitive bitch—something out of character for her. She’d let the anger she harbored change her behavior in some ways. No more of that. That wasn’t the person she wanted to be. “I didn’t know about the headaches.” “Why would you? I’ll bet you haven’t taken the time to try to know him at all.” “Look, you can take as many potshots at me as you want. But not now, okay. I need to understand what’s happening with Onyx. And if you’re not going to let me wake him up and talk to him”—not that she really would disturb him, but Trevon didn’t need to know that—“then you’re going to have to be the one to tell me.” He snorted. “After what you did last night, I’m not in the mood to tell you shit. I’m guessing part of the reason you went on that dat
ALPHA'S CLAIM Forty One
Too shocked to speak, Tasha just stared at him. As his eyes took on a faraway quality, Tasha knew he was back there, seeing those flames surrounding him all over again. Wanting to bring him to the present again, she said, “Onyx?” His gaze snapped to her. “You’ve heard of shifters whose animals have surfaced early before, right?” She nodded. “I don’t know any. But I’ve heard that it can happen.” “Do you know what happens to them in later life?” At his hard tone, a blast of cold traveled down her spine. “What?” “Healers aren’t sure why it happens, though they speculate that it’s because the body and the mind were forced to deal with changes they weren’t ready for at a young age and that those changes put too much of a strain on them. It causes the cognitive functions to degenerate later on. When I found you, I was having healing sessions to try to fight it. The sessions worked. But I had that fear that the improvement was only temp
ALPHA'S CLAIM Forty Two
The image of a small version of Tasha feeling so lost and empty that she used her friend as a substitute sister almost broke his heart. “I’ll bet Tala was happy to be part of that game.” Tasha's smile widened. “Yeah, she was. She never had any siblings, so we both got a lot of fun out of that little fantasy.” Her smile faded as she continued. “But maybe I would have coped a lot better if it hadn’t been for what happened when I was four.” It was a struggle for Onyx to keep his voice even when anger was riding him at the idea of anything hurting her. “What happened, Tasha?” “For the first four years of my life, my parents and I didn’t live on pack territory. The Alpha—Tala’s dad, Jakob—didn’t approve of my mom mating a human, even though my dad was her true mate. So they lived in a house close by. But my parents…See, my dad was a Navy SEAL, so he went away a lot. My mom wasn’t very good at handling it—not
ALPHA'S CLAIM Forty Three
Before Onyx’s car had fully come to a stop, Tasha was attempting to jump out of the passenger seat. She might have been successful if Onyx’s arm hadn’t clamped around her waist. “Wait.” He didn’t release her until she nodded. Tasha thought it was strange how he could sound so unyielding yet so gentle at the same time. Taking a proper look outside, her mouth fell open in horror as she saw the front windows of the salon almost completely shattered and the door hanging from its hinge. Pieces of broken glass littered the sidewalk like glistening diamonds, and the salon’s sign had been splashed with black paint. “Oh my God.” Her wolf whined, anxious and angry. Once Onyx had opened the passenger door, Tasha was out of the vehicle and dashing toward the salon only to, once again, be hampered by an arm around her. “It’s okay, baby, Jean’s not inside. She’s over there.” Jean caught sight of her at the sam
ALPHA'S CLAIM Forty four
Before Jean had even revealed the Anti shifter ’ involvement, Onyx had known they were responsible, because he could clearly see Jace among the gathering humans. His expression was smug and daring. Little bastard. Vandalizing Onyx’s mate’s—or girlfriend, as Jace believed—place of work definitely counted as personal and was definitely one very good way to rile him. As both Tasha and Jean tracked Onyx’s hard gaze, they each snarled at Jace as the same realization dawned on them. “He’s got balls, showing up here after what he’s done,” hissed Jean, moving toward him. Trevon’s hand on Jean’s arm stopped her. “Not balls,” said Trevon. “He’s hoping Onyx will react.” Trevon briefly explained the situation. Onyx had expected Jean to be pissed with him, to blame him to some degree for bringing this trouble to her salon. But Jean gave Onyx a look of sympathy. “I can’t imagine what you must have gone through in that place. A lot o
ALPHA'S CLAIM Forty Five
shoulder hard, he flinched. “Hey, what was that for?” “You don’t get to blame yourself for other people’s actions.” Her wolf fully agreed. “I won’t allow it.” The fierceness in her tone surprised him so much, he found himself smiling. “Is that right?” “Yes." “I am not stupid.” She patted his chest patronizingly. “No, of course not. You just have bad luck in the thinking department.” Scowling, he turned on the ignition and began heading back to her house. Unfortunately, he got there to find his mother, Kass, and Sansa was waiting outside the motor home. Surprised by their anxious expressions, he exchanged a confused look with Tasha. No sooner had they got out of the car than the three females were in front of them. “My God, I saw what happened to the salon.” Kate studied Tasha, rubbing her arm. “Are you okay, honey?” “You saw what happened?” Onyx
ALPHA'S CLAIM Forty Six
Though Onyx’s expression was reprimanding, he kept his voice low and sensual. “Don’t make me bite you again.” Her pupils dilated, and she took an unsteady breath. “Oh, you liked it, did you?” Her snort said, Don’t flatter yourself. He placed his mouth to her ear. “I can smell your arousal, Shay.” The tips of her ears were suddenly as scarlet as her cheeks. “What I really want is to taste it again. What I want more than that is to be inside you. You have no idea how badly I need it.” “Then what are you waiting for?” He smiled against her lips. “For you to beg.” Because he needed an element of surrender on her part—he knew he wouldn’t get her total emotional surrender yet, so if he had to settle for this, it was enough for now. Her mouth fell open. “That’s so not going to happen.” “We’ll see.” He cocked his head, running his finger along her collarbone. “You didn’t give away the mov
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