His alpha wanted to talk and he wanted to talk now.
“I’ll grab you a cup.” Lowe dropped a kiss on her lips and then pivoted away from her, hurried down the stairs to find Saint alone in his kitchen.
The big brunet bear jerked his chin towards the deck as he thrust a white mug of black coffee at him. Lowe took it and followed him outside, closing the door behind him. Holly and Yasmin were walking back across the clearing, heading for Saint’s cabin, and Saint stared after his mate, a heated look in his dark eyes.
“Knox told me a little about your guest and now I’d like to know the rest.” Saint didn’t take his eyes off Holly.
Lowe sipped his coffee, got his thoughts lined up and told Saint everything, filling him in on all that had happened from the moment he had heard the first gunshot to when Saint had met Cameo.
Saint grunted. “Humans.”
He was preaching to the choir. Immortals had their issues with each other, but shifters didn’t tend to start wars within their own species and it was rare for them to hunt another in the way the drug dealers were hunting Cameo.
Saint scratched his beard and huffed, his gaze still locked on his mate. “If trouble rolls into Black Ridge, we’ll deal with it. Knox managed to get in touch with Maverick and Rune. They left Vancouver straight away and should be here before the day is out.”
That was a relief.
He stared at Saint’s profile, grateful for the help he was offering to Cameo, something Lowe was deeply aware he didn’t need to do. Saint would have had every right to make Lowe take Cameo away from the pride in order to protect them. The big bear had a big heart buried beneath his growly, take-no-shit exterior though.
Lowe had the feeling Holly had stolen it.
That feeling only grew as Saint absently held his empty coffee mug out to Lowe and took a step towards the edge of the deck as Holly strayed further from him. Lowe barely managed to catch the mug as Saint released it, clearly not aware of what he was doing.
Too swept up in his mate to notice that Lowe hadn’t taken the damned thing from him.
“Take care of Cameo.” Saint slid him a look, a sly edge to his smile, and then he dropped off the deck and hurried towards his mate across the compacted snow.
Lowe looked over his shoulder, up at the loft, hunger to do just that riding him hard. He turned and went back inside, set Saint’s empty mug down on the counter and grabbed a fresh one for Cameo. He filled it to the brim and carried it upstairs with him, stopped at the top of them to drink her in as she looked across at him, her blue eyes still bright. She looked so at home in his bed beneath the pitched wooden ceiling of the cabin, as if she belonged there.
Gods, he felt as if she did.
She belonged with him.
“You’re looking better already.” He held the mug out to her rather than setting it on the wooden nightstand and a shiver tripped through him as she took it, her fingers brushing his.
“I’m feeling better already.” That heat was in her eyes again, making him burn for her.
He caught a flicker of worry in them too though.
He pushed aside thoughts of kissing her and sat beside her instead, watching her as she sipped her coffee and that worry began to build.
“If those men come here, we can handle it.” He settled his hand on the covers over her knees. “Saint says that Rune and Maverick are on their way back.”
“And that’s a good thing?” She looked as if she needed to hear that it was.
He nodded and tried to think of the best way to sum up the duo. “They’re capable. Strong. They used to be cage fighters.”
She brightened a little again at that and part of him wanted to growl at the fact she was thinking that Rune and Maverick would be better at protecting her. He wanted her to only need him, even when he knew he was being ridiculous and possessive, and that it was better if she had all five of them protecting her.
“No one is going to hurt you, Cameo. I won’t let them.”
Her blue gaze strayed to the window behind him, a distant and troubled edge to it. “When he grabbed me, that man said that Karl was coming. He should be here by now. I don’t know whether the other man went back to the road. What if he contacted Karl and gave him this location? He might have seen me here.”
“Try not to stress about it. We can handle it.” He rubbed her right knee through the blue covers, careful not to disturb her left leg.
A flicker of panic lit her eyes. “You keep saying that, but what if you can’t handle it? What if he brings all of his men? What if they’re all armed to the teeth? Do you even have guns here? I haven’t seen any.”
Her voice rose with each word, the tension he could sense in her increasing with every question she threw at him, and he wanted to pick her up on the fact she had searched the cabin for a weapon but let it slide, because calming her took priority.
“Cameo, I’m sure—”
Her eyes were wild as she snapped, “You don’t know Karl!”
Lowe frowned at her. “And you do?”
She fell silent, her gaze dropping to her coffee as she clutched it before her, her knuckles turning white from the fierceness of her grip. He scented fear on her and her heartbeat was off the scale. He palmed her knee, trying to get her to look at him, needing her to answer his question because those primal instincts she triggered in him were starting to go as wild as her eyes had been.
If she didn’t answer him soon, he was going to head out and hunt the bastard down to get the answer from him instead.
She sighed, set her mug down on the bedside table, and closed her eyes. “Karl is my ex. He wasn’t a criminal when we were together, but… there was always something about him. Something dark. It didn’t take me long to realise he was a violent man. A driven man.”
She opened her eyes and lifted her head to stare deep into his.
“Karl wants his money… money I don’t have… and I fear he’ll do whatever it takes to get it… even hurt those I care about.”
The way she looked at him as she said that, the way her eyes softened to reveal nerves and a hint of affection, had the hunger to hunt Karl down and kill him falling away.
He fell into those eyes instead, warmed to his bones by her veiled confession.
He wasn’t the only one falling in love.
He reached his hand out and seized her nape.
Dragged her to him and kissed her.
Chapter 13
Cameo’s moan was sweet music to his ears as Lowe kissed her, as his tongue stroked the seam of her lips and she opened for him. Her tongue brushed his, sent a thousand hot prickles rolling down his spine and had him on the verge of growling. He came dangerously close to doing just that as she wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him down with her as she fell backwards onto the mattress.
Lowe groaned instead and pressed his hands to the bed, reluctantly broke the kiss and levered himself up so he could see her face. He needed to look into her eyes and see she knew where this was going. He needed to know she wanted it, even when he could sense it in her. His heart drummed against his chest, a powerful beat he swore she was in control of as she smiled up at him, making it skip.
“You sure about this?” His eyes darted between hers, twin worries arrowing through him.