He chuckled again. “Yeah, I guess they’re not. I’ll see you soon.”
35
ROY
* * *
From my van, I watched Brooke leave the office. Her steps were quick, as if she was in a hurry to go somewhere. She had on black dress pants and a pale blue blouse. On her feet were another pair of stilettos. Fuck, I loved those heels on her. I wanted to feel the sharp points of them digging into my back as I fucked her.
She’d worn those several times before over the past ten days. They must be her favorite. I knew this because I’d been keeping an eye on her. Humans would call it stalking, perhaps. As a shifter, it was called protecting my mate.
She’d accepted my mark. It was hidden beneath her blouse, but I knew it was there.
It was the only thing that kept me from going insane without her.
No harm would ever come to her. I’d been following her. Ensuring no one bothered her within her home as I knew she was anxious about staying there after what happened. I’d keep watch until she moved into the loft. She wouldn’t need to be afraid any longer. She’d be safe behind multiple sets of security doors. She’d be happy living in her dream loft. She’d have the comfort in knowing it would always be hers. Always a place she could return to, no matter what happened.
After she pulled out of the lot, I followed at a distance. Her car was older. It didn’t have the latest safety standards. I would get her a new car.
Yes. That and anything else she needed.
I was her mate. I would do anything for her, except return to Montana without her.
36
BROOKE
* * *
“Roy bought me a loft,” I blurted, the moment Mark brought me into his office. I clung to my purse like he might steal it.
Mark raised his brows. “Oh?” His nostrils flared like he was sampling my scent, and his gaze darted to my shoulder, like he could tell Roy had marked me.
I sounded like a crazy person. Like one of those people who dumped overly personal stuff on the first person they saw. But it had been ten days, and I had so many confused thoughts and feelings bottled up that seemed to be shaken loose by this crazy loft purchase. Like soda shaken up, I started spewing.
Mark was my only link to Roy, and for the first time since we broke up, the heaviness had lifted. Mark didn’t just know Roy, he knew him. What he was. He understood because he was a shifter, too.
I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Yeah, um. Sorry. It’s just that I need…”
His number. Advice. Clarity.
“I heard, ah, you ended things with him,” Mark offered, pointing to a chair for me to sit.
Relieved he at least knew that much, I dropped into it across from him as he sat behind his desk. “Yeah. It was too fast.” I licked my lips. “I guess I freaked out. I mean, I was all set to drive off to Montana with a guy I’d just met who I know for a fact killed five people.” I lowered my voice to a whisper on that last part and glanced left and right as if one of his law enforcement colleagues might jump out from behind a fake plant.
Mark arranged his expression into that of a concerned counselor. “That part bothered you.”
I shrugged. “No. I mean, a little. Not really. I don’t know. Aren’t I supposed to be bothered by someone being a murderer?”
“You know each time he was protecting someone.”
I nodded. “The woman in Afghanistan who was being assaulted.”
“And you,” he added.
“If you were my friend, would you let me date a guy who killed people?”
He smiled. “Roy’s not any guy. And you’re not any woman to him.”