The PlayBear Billionaire: A Bear Shifter Romance (11 page)

“There are lots of kinds… I’m sorry, Daphne, I didn’t do it intentionally. It was completely by instinct.”

Daphne’s hands were shaking. She was marked with his scent. “Is there, can I reverse it? Do I just… wash it off?”

Alex reached out to take her hands and Daphne snatched them back towards herself, inching away from him on the couch. “It happens every time we make love,” Alex said quietly. “Every time we have sex together, I mark you. It’s not something I can control. It’s completely instinctive. I wanted to tell you about it before but I wanted you to make up your mind about how serious we are first.”

“You wanted me to make up my mind?” Daphne felt a cold sweat breaking out at the back of her neck, the small of her back, her palms. Her heart was beating faster. “You didn’t exactly give me a chance to make up my mind before you marked me!”

Alex reached for her again and Daphne jerked away, standing up on unsteady legs and stepping away from the couch. “I told you, Daphne, I didn’t do it on purpose. If I could have asked your permission before I did it, I would have. It all happened so quickly.”

“You hid it from me! That’s… that’s how Eric found out about us, isn’t it? He, he smelled you on me, smelled your scent mark.”

“Yes, that’s how he knew.” Alex closed his eyes for a moment. “I wasn’t even aware I’d done it until he mentioned it to me.”

“So…for months now you’ve been telling all of the shifters in the world that I—that I’m yours, that I belong to you? And you didn’t think that you should tell me about it?” Alex stood, moving towards her slowly, cautiously.

“It’s not irreversible,” Alex said, keeping his voice low and calm. Daphne trembled, adrenaline rushing in her veins, her heart pounding, and her breaths coming faster. “If you didn’t want to be my mate, all you would have to do is stop seeing me, and the effect would wear off after one or two days.”

“That’s good to know.” Daphne laughed without knowing why, she wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to throw herself at Alex and punch him. She was angry, confused, hurt, all of her emotions jumbled up together. Part of her brain suggested that it was a good thing that Alex had marked her, that it showed how serious he was, that he was so serious that his unconscious, animal brain had made a move to show the world he was committed. But it was too much for her to take in. “I…I have to go, Alex. I can’t stay here right now. I need some time to think.” Daphne lurched towards the door, not even certain she knew where her car was.

CHAPTER 10

Alex sighed, glancing at his phone. It had been three days since he had told Daphne about the fact that he had marked her, three days since she had walked out of his home, bewildered and upset. He understood why she was upset, he understood that she needed time to wrap her mind around the importance of what had happened. But he also knew that the longer that she took to make a decision on whether or not to go with him as his mate to stand before the elders, the more damage Eric would be able to do. Alex thought—he wasn’t sure—but he thought that if the distance between them lasted much longer, Eric might make bigger moves. He might actually go after Daphne, knowing that Alex was in love with her, that he couldn’t help but love her as his mate.

He hadn’t been entirely upfront with Daphne. He had wanted to be honest with her but he couldn’t put the pressure on her that would come from telling her the truth. It was possible for her to leave him completely, to lose his scent-mark and no longer be his mate. For Daphne, the attachment would fade, just like any attachment she might form with a regular human, she could forget about him. But the process would be much harder for Alex. He would feel the pull of her for months afterward; scent her in his rooms, in his office where they had had trysts. Now that he had marked Daphne, he would have to work hard to forget her if she chose to no longer be his mate. He would be in pain without her. He could find another mate but Alex didn’t want another mate. He wanted Daphne. If only she would agree to be with him.

Alex took a deep breath. He would have to wait a while longer. Daphne needed time, he knew. But he also knew that he needed to speak with the elders. He needed evidence that Eric was actively sabotaging his life and Daphne’s life as his mate. For Daphne to testify to what Eric had done to her, she would have to present herself as his mate.

His phone rang. Instead of Daphne, it was Ben. “Alex,” Ben said, the moment he accepted the call. “Eric is about to move on a big project. You need to get him before the elders fast.”

“What is he doing?” Alex felt his heart beating faster. If Eric was going to make another move on Daphne—he felt a low growl forming in his throat. If Eric did anything more to harm the woman he loved, Alex was going to bypass the elders completely. He would take time away from Oberon Industrial and hunt Eric down wherever he lived and kill him outright.

“He’s publishing a blog. In it, he’s alleging that the reason you sponsor so many animal rights charities, why you were involved with ARC and with Daphne, is that you have an interest in bestiality.” Alex inhaled sharply. “The post says that Daphne helped you get access to animals. He’s publishing it anonymously but I can link it to him. To have a full case for the elders, though, you have to present Daphne to them.” Alex groaned.

“I told her about marking her with my scent,” he told Ben. “She didn’t like it. I’m trying to give her some space… how soon is he going to take the blog live? And what kind of publicity is he getting for it?” Alex heard shuffling on the other end of the line, wind over the microphone, he wondered where Ben was, what the tracker was doing.

“I just left the girl he’s seeing,” Ben explained, as if he’d read Alex’s mind. Alex could imagine the man grinning. “You’ve got two days to persuade her before the blog goes live. I knew he was planning some kind of publicity but this is a bit extreme. It’s going to be a big deal.”

“I’m not going to ask how you got the information and why you’re leaving his girlfriend’s place.”

Ben chuckled. “I thought we’d catch Eric trying to reveal your status to the world. Of course, he’d be risking himself, if anyone beyond tabloid believers would actually buy it.”

“But this is a lot more believable,” Alex finished.

“Well yeah, everyone knows billionaires are freaky and into the kinky stuff.” Ben chuckled. Alex growled, not at Ben, but at the thought of what Eric had planned.

“I need to talk to her. We’ll have to go before the elders as soon as possible.” Alex could imagine Ben nodding.

“Within the next two days.” Ben hung up, and Alex sighed.

He had to talk to Daphne, he had to make her see reason. He didn’t want to use Eric’s plans as leverage to make the woman he loved—the woman he had taken as his mate—talk to him. But for both their sakes he had to get Daphne to understand. He had to get her to agree to stay with him. Alex set the phone down for a moment. Daphne had met his mom. He wondered if she had spoken to Jessica in the last three days. He wondered if she had spoken to Regina. He took a deep breath. Whoever she had or had not spoken to, Alex had to hope that she was beginning to come around.

He decided that for what he had in mind, a phone call wouldn’t work. He would have to do his persuading in person. Alex picked up the phone on his desk and buzzed his assistant. “I am leaving for the day,” he told her. “Let anyone who calls know I have a family emergency to tend to.”

***

Alex approached Daphne’s building, feeling more nervous than he would have ever guessed a woman could make him. He smiled wryly to himself as he shifted the flowers he had brought with him from one hand to the other. He hoped—he prayed—that he had done the right thing in getting them, in choosing what he had. He hoped that Daphne would be receptive. Both of their futures would depend on her coming around to the idea of being his mate. Alex had decided that he would wait to tell Daphne about Eric’s latest plan until she had decided one way or the other. If she didn’t want to be his mate anymore, he would have to go to the elders himself. They wouldn’t see Daphne unless she was his mate. He would have to make the case for Eric to be punished on his own.

Alex took the elevator to Daphne’s floor, trying not to fidget, he was almost grateful for the moment that she wasn’t a shifter like he was. She wouldn’t be able to smell the anxiety, the nervousness on him. He took a deep breath. What he was asking her to agree to was not unlike asking her to marry him, he thought to himself. Of course, he wouldn’t bring up that particular parallel until after she had agreed, either. He hated to keep her in the dark and he had learned from her reaction to his previous omissions that she hated it just as much but he didn’t want to give her more than she could handle knowing.

Alex knocked on Daphne’s door. He knew she would probably be home. After all, she certainly wouldn’t be at work, and to the best of his knowledge, she wasn’t on any of the outings he had put together for her to enjoy on her “vacation” before she started applying to work elsewhere. He heard stirring inside the apartment and took another deep breath to steady his nerves. He had to be prepared for the possibility that Daphne would take one look at him and close the door. He wished he could give her more time, to wait for her to really think about what their relationship had been like, to come back to him of her own accord but neither of them had that option. His preternaturally acute ears took in the sound of footsteps, the rattle of the door chain, the slide-and-thunk of the deadbolt.

A moment later, Alex’s gaze took in the sight of Daphne. She stood, her face blank with shock, her eyes wide. He could see the telltale signs on her of stress and strain, dark circles under her eyes, her disheveled clothes and hair, the tightness around her lips. “Please just talk to me for a few minutes, Daphne. I know you probably need more time, but I really want to work this out.” Daphne glanced at the flowers in his hand and her lips curved in a slightly confused smile.

“Laurel flowers?” she said, glancing from the bouquet to his face. Alex shrugged.

“I thought they’d be appropriate, considering your name.” Daphne chuckled slightly, biting her bottom lip.

In spite of how obviously upset she still was, the scent of her as she shifted in front of him, coming to Alex’s nose, sent a jolt of desire through him. He wanted to protect her, he wanted to have her in his arms once more, he wanted to mark her as indisputably his. But he swallowed against the dryness in his throat, pushing down the animal instinct that rose up inside of him. He had to appeal to his human care for her and he had to appeal to her as a human, not as a bear.

“I guess I was kind of hoping you would come to me,” Daphne said, opening the door wider to let him in. Alex offered the bouquet and Daphne took it, crossing to the kitchen to retrieve a vase. “I should apologize for… well, I won’t say overreacting, because I didn’t, but for not even talking to you since.”

“I wish I could give you more time…” Alex shook his head, casting the reasoning aside. “But I had to talk to you. I had to make sure you understood that I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Daphne was quiet as she filled a vase with water and put the flowers in.

“Your mom called me yesterday,” she said finally, turning to face him. Daphne smiled faintly. “And Regina called me today.” Alex sighed, chuckling shortly.

“You have to believe me when I tell you I didn’t ask them to call.”

Daphne’s smile grew. “I know. They both asked how I was doing, and neither of them tried to give me any kind of justification for what you did. They just invited me out for lunch.” Daphne pressed her lips together. “I guess whether or not I’m your mate, I’m still kind of, at least a little bit, an insider.” Alex nodded. Daphne moved to the dining room table and sat down.

“I wanted to apologize. I should have told you the moment I knew that I’d marked you as my own. I didn’t want to pressure you into a commitment but I shouldn’t have withheld that information.” Daphne nodded.

“I’m glad you can at least understand why I was upset.” She took a deep breath. Underneath the scent of her—the smell that drove Alex into a state of desire and need—he could detect stress pheromones, ketones. She hadn’t been taking care of herself in the days since she’d left. Alex hoped against hope that she would at least let him take care of her, let him feed her a good meal. Daphne sighed. “I have to admit, even as pissed off as I was… no matter how upset you made me, I do actually love you.”

Alex smiled slowly. “That’s good to hear,” he said. “I thought—I’d hoped—that I could make things right by asking you outright: do you want to be my mate, Daphne?”

Daphne pressed her lips together. “That’s… it’s a really serious commitment, right?” Alex nodded. “I guess I can’t really ask ‘are you sure you want this’ because apparently you’ve already decided.” Alex laughed. “I do want to be your mate. God help me.”

“Hey, I’m an excellent catch by any standard,” Alex replied, pretending to be offended. “I wanted to ask you outright because I realized that part of how I hurt you wasn’t just not telling you, it was that you couldn’t give your consent, the way it happened before.”

Daphne smiled again. “You are a pretty insightful guy.” She reached out and touched his hand. “I’m not, I won’t lie to you. I’m not 100%. I mean I know I want to be yours but I’m still dealing with some stuff.” Daphne took a deep breath and exhaled. “How much will the shifter community really accept me?”

Alex squeezed her hand. “Regina and my mother love you. I love you. There are some assholes in the community too, but that’s anywhere you go.” Alex brought Daphne’s hand up to his lips and kissed her palm lightly. “I’m glad you’re at least mostly okay with this. I have something else to tell you.”

Daphne groaned. “You know, you should probably just tell me everything that is going to affect me from now on just, right away. None of this hiding or waiting for the right moment business.”

Alex nodded, smiling ruefully. “I just wanted you to make up your mind without this weighing on you. You and I need to go before the elders tomorrow.”

“So soon?” Daphne frowned.

“Yes.” Alex explained what Ben had told him. “If the elders call Eric, he can’t refuse the summons. He will have to face their judgment immediately.”

“That’s good,” Daphne said. She hesitated a moment and then smiled. “So you wanted me to decide to be your mate without thinking of the fact that if I didn’t, my life might be ruined.”

Alex shrugged. “Well, I don’t know that they wouldn’t condemn Eric on just my word but I wanted you to decide one way or another just based on us. Not on anything else.” He leaned in and kissed her on the lips lightly.

“Okay. In this one instance, I can be okay with you keeping something from me but everything else, right away.”

“Agreed.”