Sixx (The Stone Society, #7) (14 page)

Rae pushed up from her chair and began pacing. She ran a hand through her dark hair, rumpling it more than it already was. She had never cared if she had bed hair or wind-blown hair. It seemed that hadn’t changed.

“This dream is even more screwed up than the last one. At least in it you didn’t try to convince me you’re a... a... I can’t even say it. This is unbelievable. Of all the scenarios that have played out in my mind over the years, this was not one of them. I doubted I’d ever see you again, but on the off chance I did, I figured you would tell me you had a wife. You were in witness protection. You were in a car wreck and suffered from amnesia. So many reasons for you to leave and disconnect your phone, but none as farfetched as this bullshit.
A shapeshifter
, he says.
A Gargoyle
, he says. You don’t look like a little stone creature, Michael. As a matter of fact, I don’t see anything about you that remotely looks like a creature, except maybe your heart.”

“Rae,” he said with authority. He could always command her with just her name. She somehow knew by the tone of his voice what he wanted. What he needed. She stopped pacing and turned his way. He allowed his fangs to drop.

“Uh-uh. It’s going to take more than a set of fake vampire fangs to convince me. I think I have a set of Desi’s fangs around here somewhere.”

“Why would our son have fangs lying around?”

“I take it you haven’t seen his show. He’s all about the theatrics. Pretends he’s a vampire.”

Sixx hadn’t seen his son in concert. Maybe it was time he did.  He didn’t want to scare his mate, so he remained seated. Since she needed more convincing, he held up his hands and called forth his claws. Rae wasn’t as quick to dismiss those. Even though she wasn’t close enough to touch them, she reached out a hand, letting it hang in the air between them. “Those are...”

“Very real. And very fucking sharp. I also have wings, but there’s not enough room in here for me to show you without knocking shit off tables.” She had knick knacks and picture frames on every available space.

“That’s convenient,” she sassed. “How about I move everything out of the way. Will you have an excuse then?”

“No, Rae. I’ll even help you.” He retracted his fangs and claws and stood. For a moment, Rae only watched him. Once Sixx began stacking picture frames on top of each other to move them to a safe place, she fell in, picking up anything that was breakable. The last thing Sixx moved was her surfboard.

“How did you know?” Rae fingered the design after Sixx propped it up against the kitchen door.

“I followed you one day. Well, I followed you every day, but on one particular day, you stopped by Pop’s for some surfwax. You described your dream board to him in detail. I went the next day and ordered one from a different surf shop.”

“I didn’t see you in the shop. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember you ever following me. Why didn’t you give it to me?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. Rae’s fingers were caressing the board, reverently. She used to touch him that way.

“Because I left. It was going to be your birthday present, but I left before I could give it to you.”

“You’ve kept this board for twenty-four years? Why?”

“To remember you by. To remember the good times we shared. I never contacted you because I was sure you were growing older and I wasn’t. It wasn’t until someone pointed out Desi’s picture and I read his name that I realized you are my mate. I knew then I had to find you. By that time, it had come to our attention that Gargoyles and humans could mate. In fact, several of my Clan have found their mates in humans. Our new Queen is human. There’s another reason I needed to find you – you could be in danger.” Rae rolled her eyes, and Sixx wanted to bend her over his knee and spank her.

“First things first. I still don’t believe you’re one of these shifter things.”

Sixx moved to the middle of the living room, removed his t-shirt, and called forth his wings. Rae gasped, clamping her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god!” she squeaked. “Holy fricking shit!”  She slowly closed the distance between them, stopping an arm’s length away. When she reached out to touch one, he pulled away.

“Rae,” he groaned. Sixx knew if she laid one finger on his wings, his shifter would be inside of her before she could blink. He didn’t miss the hurt and confusion in her eyes at being rejected. “Doll, believe me, there’s nothing more that I want than for you to touch me. You’re my mate, and as such, my shifter is demanding I take you. Right here, right now. If you touch my wings, I will lose myself to the beast within, and there will be no coming back from that. Not until it’s sated. Sex is just sex with a normal female. You are anything but normal. You are extraordinary, and this won’t be merely fucking, Rae. This will be my shifter claiming you like it tried to do all those years ago. Had I known then you could be my mate, I’d have explained everything to you. After you agreed to be my mate, we’d have spent the last twenty-four years together. Raising our children. Together. Do not doubt for one second we wouldn’t have a houseful.”

“I thought I already was your mate since you bit me. Why would I have to agree to it?” She crossed her arms over her small breasts. He could sense she was still eager to touch his wings, so he removed the temptation. She gasped again. Her pupils dilated, and her breathing hitched. Sixx ran a hand down his stomach, her eyes following the movement. Until then, he’d kept his erection at bay. The way his mate was eyeing him hungrily made it impossible to stop his dick from filling out in his shorts. When her eyes landed on the bulge behind his zipper, her tongue slicked over her bottom lip.

Sixx growled and turned his back on her. He would not allow his shifter to take over. Not yet. He bent down for his t-shirt and pulled it back over his head. When he felt he was in control enough to continue, Sixx turned back around and had a seat on the sofa. “Just like with a human, you have to agree to be my mate. Even though I technically sealed the bond when I bit you, I cannot consider you truly mine until you say the words. There’s so much you need to know before we get further into that discussion, though. I need to tell you some of our history and, more importantly, what’s happening between our Clan and our King’s uncle. There’s a good possibility we could be going to war in the near future. We also need to discuss our son.” Rae’s eyes snapped to his then.

“Yes, Rae.
Our
son. There are no words that can describe the depth of my sorrow at missing out on Desi’s life. Your life. Our lives together.
I’m sorry
doesn’t come close to telling you how badly I feel for what you went through. Hell, I can’t begin to imagine what you endured all these years. If I’m being honest, I don’t want to know. I’m too selfish to want to hear the words and deal with your pain. But I will. I will listen as you tell me everything you’ve done, everything you’ve been through. I want to know each and every detail of your pregnancy, Desi’s birth. I want to see the pictures of him growing up. I need to know what I missed.”

“I don’t think I can give you that,” Rae whispered. She sat back down in the chair opposite him. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to live through it all over again. The pain of living through it the first time was enough to... Let’s just say if I didn’t have Desi to keep me going every day, I might not be here right now.”

Sixx felt as if someone stabbed him through the heart. She had. Her honest feelings of desolation were worse than anything he thought she could have said. “Rae,” he started, but she held up her hand.

Sad Rae disappeared and clearly pissed off Rae was back. “I’m over it now, so let’s talk about this war you mentioned. I rarely leave my house anymore, so I doubt I’m in too much danger. But Desi’s out there. Every night he is out among thousands of fans. Any of who could get to him. I need to call him. I need to...”

“Rae, stop.” Sixx moved from the sofa and knelt in front of her chair. He knew it was a mistake before he did it. Still, he pulled her hands into his. Being this close to his mate was pure torture, but the feel of her soft skin beneath his fingers also brought a feeling of rightness to his soul. A feeling he hadn’t felt in over five hundred years. The feeling of
home.
Sixx took a deep breath and was assaulted by her scent.
Oh, fuck.
Rae was turned on, and her arousal was calling to him. He wanted nothing more than to rip her panties off and bury his mouth in the sweet taste of her pussy. The way she tasted was embedded in his senses. Never had a female come close to tasting and smelling as divine as his mate. Tamping down the need coursing through his body to his throbbing dick, he continued, “I have someone looking into Desi’s security as we speak. Our Clan is large and has many connections. He will be watched over.”

Rae nodded her head and let out a sigh. Coffee mixed with whatever Rae had eaten earlier hit Sixx’s nostrils. One wouldn’t think coffee breath would be enticing, but coming from his mate, anything made his dick stand up and take notice. Stupidly, he focused on her lips. When her tongue snaked out, licking first the top lip then curling down to moisten the bottom, Sixx groaned. He closed his eyes to avoid any unnecessary temptation and pushed up from his feet to stand. He counted on his self-control to take him to the other side of the room. What he didn’t count on was his mate’s lips finding his.

D
esirae couldn’t stop herself from leaning into Michael’s body. Pressing their lips together. When he rocked back on his feet to stand, she snaked an arm around his neck, holding him in place. His body was calling to her like a siren’s song. One that couldn’t be denied. For twenty-four years, she had shored up her defenses. Built a wall around her heart that she vowed would never be breached by Michael Gentry in the event he ever sought her out. What a fricking joke. Forget the fact he’d proven to her he wasn’t human. Somehow that made him that much more appealing. The ultimate bad boy. As long as he was across the room sitting on the sofa, she had been able to resist going to him. Even though her panties were wet and she ached between her legs, she resisted the undeniable pull he had on her. Maybe it was a shifter thing. He had some super power that sent waves of want through her body. She didn’t remember it being this strong.

As soon as Michael closed the distance and placed his hands on hers, all bets were off. Her brain was screaming at her to stay the course. Remain strong. Yeah, right. The second she felt him getting ready to retreat to his corner, Desirae had to do something to keep him engaged. So, ignoring her brain, she leaned in and kissed him. The electric current that ignited as soon as their mouths engaged was shocking. What was even more shocking was finding herself sitting there with her eyes closed and no lips pressed to hers. She opened her eyes to find Michael on the other side of the room, chest heaving, hand braced on the wall. If she didn’t feel he was trying to hold back from attacking her, she might have been hurt.

“Michael, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

He shook his head. “Don’t apologize. It’s the mate bond. The pull between a Gargoyle and his mate is automatic. You can’t help the way you feel. All you can do is either go with it or learn to resist it. You’ll need to get used to it when I’m around.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing you won’t be around. It all makes sense now. Why someone like you would want someone like me.” Talk about a slap to the ego. Desirae knew she was on the skinny side and her boobs were small. She barely needed a B cup. But damn. She’d been told she was pretty by more than one man, but now she understood why a man as hot as Michael wanted her. He didn’t have a choice.

“Don’t you even, Desirae. I’ll spank your ass if I hear one more word about
someone like you
. For months, I followed you around like a fucking dog chasing a bone. Months before I ever sat at your table at the diner, I watched your every move. Fuck, if you’d ever caught wind of how much I was in your space, you’d have called the police on me for stalking you.” It was his turn to pace the small room. He’d stalked her?

The doorbell rang, interrupting their discussion. Desirae peeked through the curtains to find another floral truck parked at the curb. “More flowers,” she spoke aloud for Michael’s benefit. She didn’t bother looking through the peephole before opening the door. Her smile faltered when the same man from the last few days presented her with a vase of red roses. There had to be two dozen. “What the hell?” She wasn’t expecting the driver to answer, because her question hadn’t been aimed at him. She was asking the man who was no longer standing in her living room.

“Miss Rothchild, how are you today?” the sweet older man asked. She was about to answer him, not so honestly, when his eyes darted back and forth. If Desirae didn’t know better, she would swear he was nervous.

“Is everything okay?” Desirae asked.

The man’s face quickly returned to his normal smile. “Perfectly fine, my dear. Perfectly fine.” His voice was barely above a whisper. Okay. This was getting weird. She took the vase from him and did her best not to inhale the scent of the flowers. She hated the way roses smelled.

“Thank you. Again,” she said before moving back to close the door. He tipped his invisible hat as he always did. Desirae kept the door cracked as the driver strode down the sidewalk. Before he reached the van, he turned around and looked toward her house.

As soon as she was inside, Michael reappeared and asked, “What the fuck?”

His tone startled her, considering he was the one who’d been sending her flowers all week long. At least, she assumed they were from him. “You haven’t been sending me plants?”

He took the flowers from her and carried them into the kitchen. He sat the vase on the counter long enough to move the surfboard away from the door so he could open it. “Yes, but not these. You hate roses.” He remembered. Desirae’s heart fluttered in her chest. She had to tamp that shit down and quick.

Michael searched through the red buds, probably searching for the plastic stick. Before she could stop him, he pulled the flowers from the vase and tossed them in the garbage can outside. He closed the door and locked it, then, as naturally as if he lived there, Michael dumped the water into the sink and placed the now empty vase on top of her refrigerator. As he was washing his hands to remove the scent of the roses, he said, “I called the florist this morning and cancelled today’s order, knowing I’d be bringing you your surfboard. Someone is probably going to be pissed that their two dozen roses were delivered to the wrong person.”