Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Tate’s brow inched up. “Do you realize that you barely got out the latter two words without grinding your teeth?”
Yeah, well, Deke didn’t like thinking of her with others. It wasn’t that he felt possessive of her. But the thought of other males touching her made his hackles rise—it was difficult to explain.
“Your mom likes her,” Tate casually threw in.
Deke exhaled heavily. “I know.” She often raved about the mamba. Well, Bailey possessed a lot of the traits that pallas cats found admirable—namely viciousness, ferocity, and fierceness.
Luke rubbed at his chin, his eyes dancing. “Livy also keeps taking food to her apartment.”
Deke almost rocked back on his heels. “What?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Luke, nodding. “Your mom frequently knocks on her door. Colby mentioned it.”
“Jesus,” Deke muttered, thrusting a hand through his hair. Why his mother thought that the mamba would make a good match for him, he had no clue. They were far from compatible. Complete opposites, really.
Bailey was more likely to shoot him in the face than let him touch her, and he couldn’t envision himself spending any real length of time around her without putting duct tape over her mouth. They had only two things in common: They possessed an ill temper, and they were seriously unforgiving.
His cat often snarled at her, irritated by how she dismissed and poked at Deke. And considering her snake had launched herself at Deke with lethal intent on numerous occasions, he felt he could safely conclude that the mamba would have no more interest in him than Bailey would. So. Yeah. His mother was aiming her arrow at the wrong female.
“Back to the subject of Dayna,” began Tate, “do you think she’ll take your decision well?”
Deke pursed his lips. “I would have said yes, considering it’ll mean she won’t feel torn between me and Evan any longer. But I’ve offered to free her from her promise numerous times in the past, making it clear that there’d be no anger on my part. She always turned down my offer, swearing she’ll be home ‘soon’ and asking me to wait.”
At this point, Deke didn’t understand why. They didn’t video-call as often as they used to. In fact, weeks at a time could go by before he heard from or contacted her. So he obviously wasn’t on her mind, just as she wasn’t on his.
Luke set his hands on his hips. “Did your cat’s weird behavior begin after you officially decided to break away from her?”
“No.” Deke ground his teeth as an itch built on his nape. “It was happening before then. It didn’t coincide with anything else that was going on at the time. I don’t know why he’s acting this way, but nothing helps.”
“So you don’t think he’d calm down if Dayna came home?” asked Luke.
“No. He’s not upset with her. He’s not anything with her.” It wasn’t until the skin of his nape began to sting that Deke realized he was scratching it hard. He lowered his arms to his sides. “Don’t get me wrong, he respects and likes Dayna. But he doesn’t pine for her. The thought of scrapping the agreement doesn’t bother him one way or the other.”
Tate leaned his side against the bar and braced his arm on it. “There’s no one he calms down around?”
“No,” replied Deke. “And he goes nuts whenever I even think of bedding a female. Like he doesn’t want the intimacy. Not even to alleviate the touch-hunger.”
Tate twisted his mouth. “Maybe he’s acting this way because he’s tired of waiting for his true mate to come along. It might be that he’s withdrawn from everyone because the only touch he wants is that of his mate.”
Deke frowned, considering that. “It’s possible.”
“I’d ask why you didn’t tell us about all this sooner, but I can understand why you kept quiet.” Tate paused. “There was a point where my own cat had similar issues, though not to this severity. Confessing weakness to other predators isn’t something we do. I protected my cat just the same as you’re protecting …” He trailed off, his brows snapping together. He whirled on the spot and began scanning their surroundings. “My mate is pissed about something; I can feel it through our bond.”
Deke swept his gaze around the Tavern, searching, searching—there. He frowned as he took in the scene. Blair stood off to the side, her eyes wide in what appeared to be bafflement as both Havana and Aspen stood at Bailey’s back. The latter two females seemed to be silently raging as the black mamba shifter argued with an unfamiliar male.
A male who was too far up in her personal space for Deke’s liking.
Before he knew it, he was on the move.
CHAPTER TWO
Should he mind his own business and return to the bar? Probably. Bailey would have said so. She’d repeatedly told him to not stick his nose where it didn’t belong.