“You do, do you? What if I wanted to see you go badass,” she asked again but this time her voice seemed have gone a little huskier. James’s heart was racing now.
“Well all you have to do is ask,” he replied softly, his own voice growing deeper and rougher. The air between them became charged and he felt the pull again. He wanted to kiss her so bad and he had to ball his hand into a fist to keep from pulling her to him. It was as if her body was calling out to his. Suddenly Lily stood on her tip toes, placing her hands on his chest and kissed him.
At first James was too shocked to react. She had just kissed him? Hell, stop thinking and kiss her back! His brain demanded and that’s just what he did. He returned the kiss but kept his primal urges in check. The little shocks spread through his body and heating his blood to impossible levels. Everything seemed so much deeper and intense than last time.
James laid his hands on her hips, pulling her gently closer to him as the kiss deepened and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He moaned quietly as her fingers tangled themselves in his hair intensifying everything even more. She tasted like pure heaven and he didn’t think he could ever get enough. Her aroused filled scent wrapped itself around him and it was all he could smell or ever want to smell.
He felt like his body was on fire and knew that they had to stop before this got out of hand so he broke the kiss and detangled her fingers from his hair. James didn’t want to follow old patterns. If he ever hoped to have Lily, then they needed to have a relationship together not just sex. She whimpered softly and pushed up against him, threatening his control, but he steeled himself and pulled her hands back down to his chest.
Lily blinked a few times and her eyes opened wide as she looked at him seemingly surprised. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. “I know I feel it too,” he told her softly with a little smile, amused by her confusion though she’d kill him if she knew it. Lily pursed her lips together for a moment
“What…” she started then stopped and took a step back from him. He instantly missed having her next to him and he could feel the beast inside him stir with irritation. “I uh… I… um… should go… A. J.’s probably ready for his bath and bed,” she said, clearly looking a little uncomfortable.
“Yeah I should go too. I’ve got to go to work tomorrow,” James told her, wanting to relieve some of her discomfort. She gave him a half smile and a nod.
“Okay I’ll see you around James… and thanks,” she said and started to the house when she stopped again. “For keeping Silvano a secret… not the…” Lily said and James tried hard not to smile as he actually saw her blush. “Good night,” she added hurriedly and practically ran into the house.
James smiled so wide his face nearly hurt as he walked to his truck. He was sure of it now, beyond a doubt. It hadn’t been a mistake. Lily really was meant for him, to be his mate. What’s more, James as sure if he took things slow, showed her that she could trust him that she’d accept him this time. His mind went to what she told him about Silvano and his smile dimmed. He didn’t like the way that Evan girl said it, Lily was on her own.
His instincts and the beast demanded that he do something to keep her safe, but he had no idea what to do to keep her safe. He had promised that he wouldn’t tell Tony about Silvano. James knew that keeping that promise would be a good start to proving to Lily that she could trust him, but he also felt it was his duty to Tony as his alpha to alert him to the dangerous threat that the vampire presented to the pack and to his family.
James sighed and ran his hand through his hair, wishing just once for a problem that had a simple solution. Monday morning came all too soon for him as he spent the majority of the night tossing and turning, trying to figure out what he should do about Lily’s situation. Despite the fact he felt dog tired; James welcomed the distraction work offered from his current dilemma. When lunch came along, he was surprised to see his brother in law waiting for him by Freddie’s truck.
“James, may I have a word with you,” he asked, glancing to Freddie. “Pack business and all,” he added.
“Sure,” James said, grabbing his bagged lunch and they walked over to Keon’s car. “What’s up? You look worried,” he asked and suddenly was worried something happened to Lily. Had Silvano came after her last night?
“Since the whole Xavier incident, the alpha has been asking me to sort of spy on the pack” he explained and James felt relief realizing it had nothing to do with Silvano. “I think I’ve heard some things that could be possible trouble… but… I don’t know how to proceed,” Keon stated, looking conflicted.
“How about we start at what you’ve been hearing then I can help you decide how to go about telling Tony,” James offered, as he took out his sandwich and took a bite.
“It’s about Lily…. some of the pack isn’t happy to see her back and it’s not helping that the alpha’s own uncle is the main voice outing her. He’s calling her dangerous and that she’ll end up draining one of us dry one day,” Keon explained and James growled with a hot flash of anger. Of course, that jerk was slandering her… like always, he thought with fury.
Hunter Roberts was the only Roberts that didn’t welcome Lily to the family with open arms and he had even bragged to James how he threatened her to kill her when she was just a little girl if she breathed a word to anyone about werewolves. Since the Xavier incident, he had stayed with the pack instead of returning to his own.
“Last night at Lupin’s he started to talk about some vampire king hunting her and how it’s putting the pack and our alpha at risk,” he explained and James nearly choked on his food.
How could Hunter be so stupid? Looks like he was going to get a simple choice after all, he couldn’t keep Silvano a secret because he wasn’t a secret any longer but how did Hunter know about the vampire king?
“I just figured it was all bark,” Keon went on. “But last night people seemed to eat up what he was telling them and today talk is all over town. I’m worried that bark will turn into bite if you get me,” he finished.
“Did they forget that she’s part of this pack too,” James growled in anger. How could this pack turn on one of their own?
“Look I know she’s your mate… sort of and she’s been really great with Eliza and that darn assignment of hers. Both Harley and I think she’s okay, but James not a single person in the pack sees her as one of them. Some say she’s power hungry and tried to seduce the alpha but when that didn’t work,” Keon told him then got a small smile on his face. “She seduced you and tricked Xavier into making her into a hybrid.”
“That’s absurd,” James groaned. “If she seduced me she’d be in my bed more often,” James mused and his brother in law laughed a loud booming laugh. James allowed himself a little laugh too before he turned serious. “We’ll need to take this to Tony as soon as he can see us. You call him while I tell Freddie I’ve got to take some time off,” James told him, there was no way he was going to let the pack go angry mob on Lily.
An hour later, James, Andrew, Keon, and Tony sat in Tony’s office at the meeting hall. Keon explained what he had told James. “I think you just misunderstood my brother Mr. Smith,” Andrew started. “He may not be Lily’s biggest fan, but he wouldn’t go out of his way to slander her,” he insisted, looking at the enforcer with silent anger.