Lover Claimed (14 page)

You’re not out of the woods, sucker.

She’d learned one thing in her time of
solitude. He didn’t think she was his equal. He thought she
couldn’t handle herself. But he was wrong.

She would prove it to him.

He walked into the room and stopped where she
had made his pallet on the floor. Well, where she had thrown the
comforter and pillow.

“Meisha, don’t be mad. I did what needed to
be done,” he said softly. “It was for your own good.”

She pressed her eyes and mouth closed. She
wouldn’t be answering or looking at him. It was for
his
own
good.

Even though she was silent he kept talking.
“Alexei is in the house now. I smelled him there. It was good that
you stayed away. He’s going to be out for blood. I can’t risk him
catching you.”

It took all of the composure that she’d
worked to maintain for the past hour not to jump from the bed and
go crazy on his ass. She took a deep steadying breath.

“I’m just trying to protect you Meisha.
You’ll understand why later.”

I’ll prove to you that I don’t need your
protection. Against anything.

* * * * *

“Don’t do it, fool!”

The sound of Meisha’s yelling pulled Lajos
from his sleep. The dream of her fucking him wildly vanished and
the lust he felt just seconds before was replaced by alarm. He
sprang from the floor, jumping into a defensive stance. “What’s
going on?” he quickly scanned the room, trying to locate the
danger. No intruder, but Meisha sat cross legged on the bed and the
television blared. “What’s going on?” he asked again.

Meisha didn’t turn to look at him.
“Nothing.”

His wolf flashed him a picture of Meisha with
her back turned.

I’m not an idiot. I know she’s mad at
us.

He wanted to go to her and touch her, but the
thought of her breaking his wrist stopped him in his tracks.
“Meisha, can we talk about last night?

She continued to keep her eyes on the screen.
“What’s there to talk about? You left me, end of story.”

“But do you want me to tell you why?”

“You already told me,” she said tersely,
keeping her focus on the television.

“Can I at least explain myself?”

“No need.” She erupted from the bed. “Oh my
God! You cannot be serious!” she screamed at the television.

He looked toward the television. One of those
“You are not the baby’s father” shows were on. A woman and two men
were sitting on a studio couch, arguing, with burly men in black
T-shirts surrounding them. Lajos guessed they were security to
break up a fight that was bound to happen.

“So you’d rather put all your energy into a
show like this than to talk to me?”

“They’re more interesting than you.”

Ouch.

“I deserve that. So tell me, what makes this
show so interesting.” He’d never watched one. He’d always breezed
past these types of shows, they never caught his attention. But he
wanted to know everything there was to learn about her. After all,
they were going to spend the next two hundred years or so glued at
the hip.

“Everything.” She waved at the television.
“These fools are dysfunctional and they both thought they were the
father of that girl’s baby. Now it turns out neither of them are
and she wants to bring in a
third
man for a paternity test.
Are you serious?” she screamed at the girl on the television. “A
third man? And to make matters worse that fool on the end just
asked her to marry him. Jesus, some people were hit with a stupid
stick when they were born.”

He watched her as she talked animatedly, her
hands flying in front of her as she did. There was something cute
and insane about how wrapped up she was in this show. Insanely
cute.

She huffed. “Where are these people’s
mothers?” she muttered.

He eased back onto the floor. “And all this
is interesting to you?”

“They’re the only thing worth watching during
the day while I’m working. I’m tied to the house and to my
computer.”

“What about the news? You could watch that
and expand your mind a little.”

She stuck out her pretty little pink tongue.
The same tongue that he wanted running up the length of his cock.
His stomach twisted in a knot.

“I can only take so much of the news. There’s
too much bad stuff going on in the world. It’s depressing.”

“And what you’re watching isn’t bad or
depressing? There’s a baby who might never know who her father is
or, worse yet, this episode will forever hang over her head—even to
adulthood. Now to me
that’s
depressing.”

“You’re right. But I like to watch these
shows. They keep me grounded.”

He chuckled. No one ever used shock jock
television programs to help keep them grounded. “How in the world
do they do that?”

“They help me to remember why getting married
would be a bad idea—well, one of the reasons.”

He pulled his brows together. “You don’t want
to get married? I thought that’s what all women wanted in life. To
grow up, get married and have kids.”

“That’s a stereotype. It would be like me
saying that all wolf-shifters lived on an Indian Reservation and
their main goal in life was to fight the blood-sucking vampires and
fall in love with too dumb-to-live high school girls just because I
read about it once.” She frowned at the last part. “Maybe I
finished the series and then re-read it. But you get my
meaning.”

He let out a snort. “As if.”

She chuckled. “Thought so.”

“So you never want to settle down?” His heart
thumped at an odd pace. He’d have to tell her about the imprint and
explain what that meant. He thought he wouldn’t have any
resistance, now he wasn’t so sure.

“Protective custody, Yaruzi hit out on us,
remember?”

“But they haven’t come after you in all this
time. Maybe they forgot all about you and your family and moved
on?”

“And how do you propose I test that theory
out? I’d always had dreams of going back to Japan and seeing my
grandparents again, but I’d never had the courage to make the
trip.”

Yeah right. She would have no way of knowing,
not without letting them know where she was and see if they came
after her. That was out of the question. “You’re right. But you
don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

She raised a brow. “Really now.” Then she
opened her eyes wide and snapped her fingers. “I get it, I’m
suddenly incapable of taking care of myself and I need someone to
do that for me.”

“That’s not it at all.” He let out a sigh. He
had to do this right or he could spend forever fighting her about
this. “Meisha, when we were making love, my wolf…he imprinted on
you.”

She frowned, confusion showing on her face.
“What in the world does that mean and, most importantly, should I
be kicking your ass right now?”

“It means that my wolf claimed you as his
mate.”

“Your wolf?” she asked slowly.

“Well, you’re
our
mate, but my wolf
has the ability to make it permanent.”

She frowned again.

Fuck. I’m not doing this right.

“I still don’t get it. So your wolf—”

“And I,” he quickly interjected.

“Your wolf and you,” she said correcting
herself. “Claimed me as your mate.”

He nodded.

“And this means what to me?”

“That you’re my mate. Life-mate,” he added
quickly.

She shook her head. “I still don’t get it. A
part of me is saying that I’m like your wife or something, but I
don’t think that can be possible because that would mean you’ve
taken my consent out of the situation.”

He ran his hand over the stubbles on his
face. She was getting upset and he understood why. Humans bought
rings, got on one knee and made a romantic proposal. Wolves didn’t
have a need for any of that.

“In my world, imprinting happens
spontaneously. It’s something that’s done without us knowing how or
when it will happen. We can’t plan for it or even predict if or
when it
will
happen.”

“What exactly is it?”

“It’s a joining of souls.”
Well, that
sounds corny
. He shook his head. “I never wanted to imprint on
anyone before. Imprinting meant that I’d forever be worried about
my mate. I’d have to spend all my time with her. That I would even
lay down my life for her. I didn’t want that…until now—with
you.”

Her expression was blank while she watched
him. Then she rolled her eyes. “Nice try. You had me going for a
minute.”

“Meisha, I’m serious. Our souls have joined.
Can’t you feel it?”

She turned away from him and frowned. “I’m
not some naïve chick who falls for any line, Lajos.”

He cradled his head in his hands, feeling
defeated. He didn’t know how an imprinting affected a human. He’d
have to call Kristof and ask him.

Good god, am I supposed to try and win her
over?
He shuddered at the thought.

“I think we should stop this conversation
now. There’s no way I’m going to believe that you spent your entire
life waiting for someone like me to come and fulfill all your
dreams.” She turned and winked at him. “It’s okay to admit the sex
was off the charts and you want to do it again. You don’t have to
tell me things that you think I want to hear. No commitment and no
strings attached.”

“Meisha, you have to believe that this is
what’s completing me. I’ll be with you always.”

“You’re only twenty-eight. You have you whole
life ahead of you.” She chuckled sarcastically. “
Completing
you
,” she mocked.

“For what it’s worth, I’m way older than
twenty-eight.”

“That’s what it says on your driver’s
license,” she pointed out.

“Hey, what were you doing looking at my
driver’s license?” He grabbed his pants, pulling them over to him.
Reaching inside the pocket, he fished out his wallet. He flipped it
open, finding his license where he’d left it.

She shrugged. “I wanted to know who I was
hanging out with.”

“So you snooped through my things? Why didn’t
I wake up?” The last question was more to himself. He’d never been
a heavy sleeper. At the hint of a sound or a creak in the floor, he
should’ve been up or least had one eye open.

“You were snoring away and I couldn’t sleep.
That’s the only reason that I’m up at this ungodly hour.”

He stuffed his wallet back into his pants and
put them on the other side of him, away from Meisha.

“If you really want to know, little miss
nosey, I’m one hundred and twenty years old.” If they were going to
spend the rest of their lives together he might as well start
telling her the truth about everything—starting with his age.

She snorted. “Yeah right, and this is the
part you tell me you’re an immortal.”

“No, I’m not immortal. Nothing is. Everything
has to die, but some of us get to stick around a little longer.

She turned to stare at him. “You can’t be for
real.”

“I am. Shifters typically live to anywhere
between four and five hundred years old.”

“So when I’m dead and gone you’ll still be
walking around.”

A stab pierced his heart. His wolf howled in
his mind. Lajos clenched his jaws together against the pain.

“It was a joke,” she said, the humor falling
from her face.

He put both hand on his head, trying to calm
his wolf. “S-Since we’re mated, your life-force has been extended.
You’ll live about two hundred years longer than a normal
human.”

She nodded slowly. “Right, because you
imprinted on me.”

“Listen, I know this is a lot for you to take
in right now. We can go slowly and move at your pace.”

“Why, thank you, Lajos,” she said
sarcastically.

He threw up his arms in defeat. “Fine, let’s
just get some breakfast and finish this discussion later.”

“Fine with me, I ordered room service. It
should be here in…” she looked at her watch. “Twenty minutes. I
hope you don’t mind but I charged it to your card.”

“You got my credit card information too?”

She shrugged. “I figured you could write all
this off as a company expense and also consider it as payback for
leaving me behind.”

“I can, but really?”

“You’re welcome Meisha for ordering me
breakfast,” she said in a low voice that was meant to mock him. “Oh
and after breakfast we’re going to the beach. I rented us a cabana
from the hotel.”

“Let me guess,” he said. “You put it on my
card.”

She winked at him. “You’re welcome.

Chapter
Sixteen

The beach had been a disaster—for Lajos and
for her. She’d tried to put Lajos out of her mind as she relaxed in
the sun while dipping her body in the cool water of Biscayne Bay.
It was a beautiful day, it seemed like it was always beautiful in
Miami. Meisha and Trudy usually took a trip south about four times
a year—girls only. It was always just the two of them, lazing on
the beach or by poolside and checking out the boutiques and local
hot spots.

Lajos looked completely miserable, like he’d
never been near water in his life. He’d explained that he preferred
marshes to large bodies of water and stayed in the shade under the
cabana watching her while she frolicked in the waves.

The distance between them gave her some time
to think about what he’d been trying to explain to her earlier.

His life-mate. Yeah right.

They hardly knew each other. What had it
been, four days? Who found a life-mate in four days?

Stupid shifter.

But still, there was a part of her that
jumped for joy. The stupid part.

Part of her wanted to stay with him always,
to never leave his side. When she was out of her sight she felt
sad, needing to go back to look at him again. And when she did lay
her eyes on him—wow. He was a sight to behold, even sitting there
looking mad and uncomfortable.