Chapter 11

Dax

When I got back to the apartment with her french toast, she was at the sink doing some dishes.

“Are you awake now?” I teased.

She laughed, “Coffee helps. Did you get the french toast?”

I held up the bag. “Yessss!” she gasped as she ran over to take the bag from me, opening it as she walked back into the kitchen area.

I looked back at the dishes, then glanced around the apartment. It was a bit of a mess. “Do you want help cleaning up?”

“No I’ll do it.”

I grinned, “But you’ve never had a vampire boyfriend before. We are excellent at getting things done. You know, cause of the superspeed.”

She had begun to dig into her french toast. “Superspeed or not, it’s still my mess, I will be the one to clean it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stubborn as ever.” I went ahead and cleaned up anyway. In a matter of seconds I had the bed made, everything picked up and put away, the dishes done, laundry put in the machine, and dusted the entire apartment. I was already vacuuming while a mop bucket was filling up in the sink as she just stared at me. She saw the bucket (nearly full) in the sink and started to get up.

“Seriously? It’ll take me less than a second to mop this place,” I made her sit back down.

You can’t rush vacuuming, but it only took me ten minutes to vacuum the whole apartment. I then mopped, and even cleaned the bathroom in a matter of seconds. I spent a total of maybe twenty minutes cleaning the whole apartment. She hadn’t even finished her french toast when I sat down next to her at the little dining table.

“Wow, I wish I could clean that fast,” she said with a mouthful of food.

When she had just about finished, I decided to try to talk to her about her past.

“So about last night, what scared you?” I prompted.

She pushed some of the topping left around her plate. “That man was following me.”

“I know, he was a private investigator. Who is looking for you?” I nudged.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She was just staring at her plate.

“If last night was any indication, you need to. You can’t keep this stuff bottled up.”

She looked at me. “You’ve seen what happens when I let it out.”

“Maybe if you actually talked about it, that wouldn’t keep happening.”

She said nothing and a whole minute passed.

“If you’re afraid of someone hurting you, I want to know about it. I want to protect you, but I can’t do that if I don’t know what I’m protecting you from.”

I don’t know why I felt so strongly about protecting her. I knew she was my mate and I knew that certain instincts came with that, but despite how long I’d been watching her, I barely knew her. I’d only introduced myself to her a few days ago.

I barely knew her, but I so desperately wanted her to accept me as my mate, and not just because of the mate bond. Having a fated mate gave me hope. It made me believe that I could have more out of life. Maybe I was a little infatuated with her too. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t started to fall for her over these weeks watching her. Bur if my fated mate didn’t want me, then I truly had nothing more to look forward to in this life. There was nothing left for me but running from Tallia and the family, and I didn’t like that bleak future.

I needed to protect her, and I needed to protect that hope.

She stared at me for a long moment. Then finally she said, “A little over a year ago now, I was forced to leave my coven.”

A tiny bit of relief began to wash over me as she opened up a little.

She continued, “I chose to move to Florida to start over, and while I’ve always wanted to live in Florida, it also has its advantages. It’s near lots of water, I could leave the country by boat or plane if I had to, and it’s on the opposite end of the country to where my coven is.”

“Did something happen with your coven?” I pushed.

“Not exactly. I wasn’t kicked out for a crime against my coven if that’s what your asking.”

“What forced you to leave then? And why did you need to get far away from them? Who are you running from?” I asked. I k ew I might have been pushing her too hard, but I needed to know.

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped to freezing. Ice and frost began to creep along the walls. She was looking through me now, going to that place in her mind again. Whatever happened had given her some serious PTSD.

“Marianna. Marianna, look at me.” I gently shook he shoulders. She was hyperventilating. I had to do something to snap her out of it.

I pulled her into my lap, wrapping my arms tightly around her. Her skin was literally colder than ice; I was shivering, but I held her tighter. I breathed deeply and slowly, in and out. Slowly, her breathing began to align with mine.

After a few minutes the temperature began to rise. The frost and ice slowly evaporated. She took a deep breath and pulled away from me. “I told you that would happen!” She got up out of my lap.

“I’m just trying to help you,” I kept my voice calm.

“How is making me remember that helping me? You’ve seen what it does to me!”

“Because I need to know!” I snarled. I had lost my patience with these walls of hers. “I already have someone looking into your past, so I’m going to find out one way or another! And I’ll do whatever it takes to stop this from hurting you even if it means making you talk about it! Because the only way out is through. If I have to drag you to a therapist to help you through the PTSD, I will! I’m offering you help and protection, and all you do is push me away. Do you even care if whatever this is catches up to you? Because it doesn’t look like your doing anything about it other than letting it ruin your life!”

“Leave!” she demanded. But I wouldn’t. Not now, not ever.

“No.”

“No?” she asked incredulously.

“I am your MATE!” I roared. “You are mine, and I am going to protect you whether you like it or not!”

I was breathing heavily. I was teetering on the edge of control, but I saw it then, a shift in her attitude. She shook her head slowly.

“You can’t protect me. Not from this. No one can. And if it seems like I’m not doing much about it…” she took a deep breath. “It’s because I can’t. It is going to catch up with me, and your just putting yourself in the crossfire.”

I waited as she took another breath. She grabbed my hand gently, taking me by surprise, and held it tightly in both of hers. Like she needed to borrow some of my strength.

She continued finally, “I did something… I made a very powerful alpha wolf angry. I… I killed his son.”