Page 152 of Dominion

“Twenty members of my pack will be here in a few hours,” Mark said. “I think that should be enough without you risking any from yours. I want everyone to stay in human form and use a gun. I can’t explain away torn throats and claw slashes a second time.”

He nodded absently, not asking when the first time had been. Everywhere he looked he saw signs of Melissa’s stay. The rubber band she’d used to pull back her hair lay on the coffee table. She’d left the Chromebook he’d bought her in the kitchen, her clothes were stacked neatly folded on the dryer.

“I’ll be in the garage if you need me,” he mumbled, needing to be alone.

Dammit. He’d acted like an idiot. Had he really accused her of being a gold-digger? That wasn’t her, and he knew it. This was a woman who cared deeply about a piss-poor teen with blue hair, and about an abused shifter family she’d just met. A woman who said she’d never forgive his father for throwing him out. A woman who worried for her good-for-nothing ex-boyfriend who had endangered her life.

Why had he kept his identity as CJ Steele a secret from her?

The truth may be as simple as the fact he loved hearing her wax on about him. Did that mean she didn’t care about him, the person? That she only cared about some ideal she’d created in her mind about who CJ Steele was?

Maybe.

Maybe not. She loved his work. And he was the man who’d created that work. Could she come to love him? Her body certainly responded to his touch. And the times when she’d let her guard down—which admittedly, he hadn’t made easy—things had been easy between them. So easy, it might have scared the hell out of him. He’d never felt so close to a female, especially not one he’d just met. Especially not a human.Parthuman.

Part shifter.

But every time they got close, he had to shove her away. He’d been scornful, closed off, and a downright jackass on several occasions. Now that she had her sister and Stone back, she wouldn’t need him. He’d have no excuse to be near her, to keep her close to him.

He should have marked her!

But no, that wouldn’t change things for her. He’d still be in the same boat—needing a female who may not ever want to see him again.

If only he’d shown even a smidgen of charm. Of chivalry. If only he’d made more of an effort to get to know her, or to show her more of himself. Instead he’d been prickly and defensive.

Each minute that passed made him grow more agitated, as his true mate drew farther from him.

His fingers worked mindlessly, tinkering with the Ducati. Cleaning and greasing the same parts over and over again.

Minutes turned into hours. His mind fogged into a haze of self-abasement, alternating with the steely determination to win Melissa’s affection at all cost as soon as Rabago had been taken care of.

The Denver pack began to arrive and he went inside to listen to Mark assigning roles and weapons.

His phone rang and he looked at the screen. “It’s Stone,” he told Mark and swiped the screen to answer. “What’s up?”

“Melissa’s gone.” Ben’s terse words send a sheet of ice over his skin.

“Where?” he croaked.

“I don’t know. Ashley thinks she’s headed back to the Springs for some reason. Be on the lookout.”

She was going to the meet.The thought struck him with the surety of truth.

“Hang on a minute.”

That duffel bag she’d left with—what had been in it? He’d seen all the things he’d bought her still lying around his place. He strode quickly to the closet where he’d stowed the cash and flung it open. The bag stood empty.

Fuck.

“She took the money. She’s planning on going to the drop herself.”

Ben swore loudly.

“I’ll take care of it.” He hung up before Ben could answer. There was nothing more to be said. Melissa would be walking into a death trap without enough shifter blood to save her from a bullet hole. He had to get there and head her off before she got killed. “Let’s move,” he barked, though he had no authority over Ben’s pack.

He shoved a gun in the waistband of his jeans and jogged out to his truck, gunning it before the rest of the pack had finished filing outside. He tore off toward the meet location—the only place he could think to find her.

Mark’s original plan had been to get his pack in stealthily, without being seen. Maybe he’d still play that angle. All Cody knew was that he had to get there before Melissa did. With his foot pressed flat to the accelerator, he screeched to the road that led to the abandoned lot Rabago had designated for the meeting. He hid his truck behind a hedge out on the road, not wanting to call attention to his arrival.