Avet, Danica - Ain't No Bull [The Veil 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (38 page)

Izzy’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“You heard me. Your ‘heroic deeds,’” he snarled as he made air quotes, “earned you the respect of your tribe and the High Council. You’re the girl of the hour and everyone wants a piece of you. Congratulations.”

He flung the last word at her as he surged to his feet. Izzy blinked up at him, not sure what he was getting at. She wasn’t stupid, regardless of what others thought. She knew he was upset, but she didn’t know why.

“What the fuck is your problem?” she finally blurted because his anger only fueled her own. She couldn’t
believe
him! He was acting as though he was jealous, or something!

Grant’s blue eyes narrowed on her and his nostrils flared. He looked so different without his septum piercing and she felt a brief flash of sorrow that he’d lost it. Then she remembered why it had fallen out and her sorrow turned to anguish. They were mates, but he’d left her, just as she’d known he would.

He stalked towards her, that weird vibe she’d felt upon waking growing stronger the closer he came. Her skin felt ultra sensitive, pebbling beneath the wave of whatever power he exuded. It was strange, but strangely erotic. Her nipples tightened into painful knots, and her womb flexed.

Grant didn’t stop until he was next to the bed and leaned down to cage her between his arms. He lowered himself until his face was all she could see. His breath wafted across her face smelling of coffee and mint. From this close up, she saw the grain of his skin, the silver shards in his blue eyes, and the raw anger in his gaze.

“My problem, Isola, is that I never asked you to put your life in danger for me. My problem is with your careless disregard for your life and the unnecessary risks you took.”

She gaped at him as her brain tried to process his words. Was this some kind of macho bullshit? Did he feel less masculine because she’d saved his life?

That’s when her anger flared to life, burning hot enough to set the bed on fire. Without thinking, she jabbed her finger into his chest, ignoring the pain that shot up her shoulder at the movement.

“I don’t need your fucking permission to be myself.” She growled, punctuating her words with a meaningful poke. “And I saved your life because I didn’t want you to die, you asshole!”

* * * *

Grant stared down at the very pissed-off, battered, and hurt face of his mate. Isola’s eyes spit fire and passion, but she couldn’t hide the pain in the chocolate brown depths. He didn’t know if it was from her injuries or his words, but something inside him shifted at her declaration.

Warmth filled his chest, replacing the anger he’d felt at her total disregard for her own life. She cared for him, which he was eternally grateful for, but she hadn’t said the magic words. It was a step in the right direction, but it wasn’t enough for the kind of commitment he wanted from her. They still had some issues to work out. Mainly her inability to stay out of trouble.

“You think my life is more valuable than yours?” he demanded as he stared into her bruised face. “Dammit, Isola! What do you think would’ve happened to me if you had died?”

He watched as disbelief appeared in her eyes. “I wasn’t planning on dying, jackass.” She relaxed back against her pillow, closing her eyes as though tired. “As surprising as this might sound to you and my tribe, I’m not an idiot. It was a controlled risk.”

“I was looking right at you. You didn’t even stop to think! You just barreled across the room!”

Her eyes snapped open again, glaring up at him. “Gods, Grant!
You
were the one who wasn’t thinking! You were running towards me, and Ormond was gunning for you.” To his complete surprise tears flooded her eyes. “I couldn’t just let you throw your life away for me. You have a family who loves you, who would’ve grieved for you. As much as I don’t like your mom, I wouldn’t wish that pain on her. How could I look her in the eye afterwards if you’d died? How would I have been able to look at myself in the mirror when I was the only one closest to prevent it?”

A silvery tear spilled down her cheek, quickly followed by another and another. Isola turned her face away from him, leaving him to stare at her profile.

She sniffed and scrubbed her hand across her face, erasing her tears. “I’ll never be the kind of woman who sits on the sidelines watching the game. I was born and raised a warrior. It’s part of who I am.” She turned to stare at him, the light in her eyes letting him know that this moment would make or break them. “I
like
who I am, Grant. I like the fact that I’m loud and obnoxious and have bad timing. I like that my sisters know they can count on me to have their backs. I won’t change that part of my personality for anything, so if you don’t like it, just go the fuck away and never come back.”

He’d thought he was pissed before, but that had nothing on how he felt now. “You’re my mate. If I go, you come with me.”

Her eyes were cold. “That’s what this is all about?” She scoffed. “You’re still trying to make me into your idea of a perfect mate? I hate to break it to you, Raging Bull, but if I leave you, you won’t be following me.”

The minotaur rose to the forefront of his mind, clawing with the need to make her understand that their mating was forever, but Grant held him back. It wouldn’t do his cause any good to ruin his chances with her. As he stared at her, he realized she was right and he was an asshole.

He loved her because of her strength and loyalty, how could he condemn her for those same qualities when they were focused in his direction?

“You didn’t jump in the way because you doubted I could handle myself?” He hated asking the question, hated revealing his insecurities to her. When her gaze softened, he let out the breath he’d been holding.

Chocolate brown eyes searched his face as though trying to understand the question. “I know you’re a total badass, you idiot. You took on a whole room of shifters by yourself, not to mention a mass of imps.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “Not killer nymphs?”

Isola’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “You can’t send a bull to do an Amazon’s job, honey. As much as I love you, you seem to think women aren’t dangerous.”

His heart stopped beating, he was sure it had. He could only watch as her eyes widened as realization of what she’d said poured through her. A blush started at the edge of the sheet, washing up her neck before settling in her face. Her lashes lowered as though she could hide her feelings and Grant couldn’t allow that.

“You can’t take it back,” he murmured as he brushed his lips over hers. He rubbed his nose against hers teasingly. “You love me, you really love me.”

“You ass.”

Grant clucked, feeling as though his body would explode from the happiness inside him. “You love my ass.” He kissed the tip of her nose. The disgruntled look on her face forced him to pull back a little. “What’s wrong?” How could anything be wrong? She loved him, he loved her…they were going to be fucking awesome together.

She poked him in the chest. “You’re supposed to respond in kind. Ass.”

That’s when he saw the vulnerability in her eyes. “Gods, Isola, how could you even doubt that I love you?” He stroked his hand over her thick hair, her soft cheek. “You’ve been driving me crazy from the moment you threatened to castrate me. When you were hurt protecting me, I thought I’d go out of my mind!”

Her lips curved into a self-satisfied smile. “You did?”

Grant glared at her. “Don’t ever do that again, dammit.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “I don’t think I could live without you, baby. I don’t even want to think about it, so have some mercy.”

She studied him carefully. “Okay, I’ll try not to get myself killed again, but no promises.”

It wasn’t quite what he wanted to hear, but it was better than a flat refusal, so Grant took it. As gently as he could to compensate for her wounds, he kissed her with all of the passion and love he felt for her.

His mate, as usual, nearly blew his socks off, her tongue rasping against his with an urgency that made his blood thicken with need. He had to remind himself that she wasn’t in any condition to make love, but damn if she didn’t make him wish she was. She suckled on his tongue and his cock throbbed with want.

“Grant Torrance Strickland, you let go of that girl right now!”

* * * *

Izzy winced more from the pain in her shoulder than embarrassment. For a moment when Grant was kissing her, she’d forgotten all about her hurts. He loved her, had claimed she drove him crazy. Was there any greater compliment?

Of course, then his mother had ruined the moment. Grant leapt away from her so quickly he jostled her, causing her to gasp with agony. She groaned, closing her eyes. She wanted to die, the pain was so bad.

“Ma—”

“Don’t ‘Ma’ me, Grant Strickland! That girl needs to rest. She doesn’t need you pawing at her like a bull in rut.” Izzy heard Bella’s voice near and knew the cow-swan was advancing on the bed. “You go and talk to that nice vampire about your business. He had some more questions about it.”

Izzy opened her eyes to see Grant hesitating, looking between her and his mother. She could tell he was uneasy about leaving her with Bella, especially in her weakened condition, but when he caught her eye, she gave him a nod. Now was as good a time as any to try to iron things out with his mother.

She gave an inner wince when the cow-swan looked at her. Yeah, she would’ve preferred to be on her feet for this, but she was willing to tough it out to be with Grant.

The door closed behind her mate and silence filled the room, thick and heavy. Bella fidgeted with the collar of her dress. Her hands danced down to the buttons as she meandered to the window next to the bed.

Izzy didn’t know what the fuck to do with herself either except fidgeting was not an option. Her fingers twitched with the need to do something and blinding pain shot up her shoulder.

She must’ve made some kind of noise because Bella whirled to look at her. “Oh, you need to just stop all that moving right now,” the cow advised as she neared the bed. “The witches aren’t sure how long it would take you to recover from whatever that monster did to you.”

It took a lot of effort to keep from snarling at Bella as she fluffed the pillows behind her head. She didn’t know why Grant’s mother was pretending to be nice, but she didn’t like it. She much preferred someone to say and do what they really want instead of hiding behind bullshit.

No sooner did the thought cross her mind than Bella’s face crumpled as tears filled her eyes. “I’m so glad you were there,” she sobbed, yanking a handkerchief out of her pocket. “You sacrificed yourself for my baby and I can never, ever repay you.”

A blush scorched her cheeks as she lowered her gaze to study her toes beneath the sheet. Okay, so she hadn’t expected that. It was embarrassing to see so much gratitude in the other woman’s eyes she didn’t know what to do with herself. She supposed she’d have to just be glad Bella seemed willing to like her, even if it had taken putting herself in harm’s way to win her over.

It took a few minutes for Bella to calm herself, but Izzy let her. She didn’t know how to comfort someone who was bawling like a newborn calf. She was actually scared if she attempted to, the other woman would throw herself in her arms and then where would she be? In pain and unable to deal with a stubborn mate, that’s where.

“Well um.” Izzy coughed into her fist. She was so uncomfortable! “I’m glad I was there, too.”

Bella reached out and patted Izzy’s hands. “Don’t you worry none, I’ll help you find a nice young man to take care of you.” She sniffed with a watery smile. “Rebecca Connelly is so taken with Grant, she would’ve mourned for him if anything had happened to him. I keep expecting to see the bond form between them.”

Izzy’s jaw dropped as she stared at the cow-swan who was smiling blankly into space. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

The cow jerked as though someone had poked her in the ass. “I’m sorry, dear?”

“Grant is
my
mate,” Izzy growled, narrowing her eyes on Bella dangerously. “You can tell Rebecca moo-cow that she’ll have to find another bull because I don’t share.”

Bella blinked at Izzy as though thoroughly confused. “But that’s impossible, dear, I’ve already spoken to Rebecca’s parents and we’ve started planning the mating ceremony! Why, some of the invitations have already been sent out and—”

“Bella!” a sharp voice interrupted from the doorway.

Both women had been too busy to pay attention to anything but each other and they jumped when the deep, masculine voice intruded. Izzy jerked her head around to see Paul standing in the room.

He narrowed blazing blue eyes on his mate. “That is enough, Bella. This little girl is Grant’s mate. Anyone can see that since his ring fell out. There ain’t gonna be a ceremony with the Connellys, so get that right out of your head.”

“But Paul, no one witnessed the ring falling out!” Bella protested. “You know that’s a requirement—”

He made a chopping motion with his hand. “The damned ring’s out, ain’t it? Let it go. She’ll be the mother of your grandchildren, so if you wanna see them, I’d suggest you cozy up with her instead of pissing her off.” The eyes so similar to Grant’s shifted to look at Izzy. She thought she saw approval in them, but it was hard to tell. “I just hafta ask: where’s your ring?”

Izzy gaped at him, not sure what he meant. “Ring?”