So, as of now, you’re off rotation.”
Leif watched Saskia walk away while he resisted the urge to beat his head against the wall. Now a member of his own family was conspiring against him. Shit, shit, shit. Could his life get any worse? He didn’t want to be pulled off protection duty. He needed to be in the rotation. Without it, he would do nothing but think about Jaden with all the free time he’d have on his hands. He was so screwed.
Chapter Five
The next day at work, Jaden caught herself looking down the length of the line of customers for her cash register again. She’d done it at least a million times already, hoping to catch a glimpse of Leif. As in all the other times, she didn’t see him.
He had been all she’d been able to think about until she’d gone to bed, and she’d started thinking about him again as soon as she’d woken up. She’d even been awakened a couple times during the night to the most erotic dreams she’d ever had—both of them featuring Leif. Maybe because of the great orgasm he’d given her, she now found herself obsessing about him. And she never obsessed over men.
Even though she’d told herself that what they had done hadn’t really meant anything to Leif, she couldn’t stop thinking about him, wanting to be held in his arms again. It was stupid, really. After his departure last night, the chances weren’t high that he would want to see her again. Hadn’t he said so himself that he couldn’t and wouldn’t. Jaden took that to mean he couldn’t be with her. Not that she understood why. From her perspective, things had been going pretty damn good.
After she finished ringing through the last customer in line, for now, Jaden lifted her head to find Vicky staring at her from the cash register across from hers. “There’s something different about you today,” Vicky said as she studied Jaden closely. “I can’t put my finger on it.”
Jaden pushed her glasses higher up on her nose. “No, there isn’t. Maybe it’s just tiredness. I did work a longer shift yesterday.”
Vicky shook her head. “No, that’s not it. It’s hard to explain, but there is something different. If I didn’t know any better, I would say you got laid last night.”
Jaden blushed. “Don’t talk that way. If Grant hears you, he’ll give you hell for it.”
Grant was their manager and believed all his employees should be above reproach.
He’d actually laid off another girl just because she’d tried to stand up to a customer who was basically verbally abusing her. Grant had told everyone that he’d laid her off because she hadn’t been working out as well as he’d thought she would. They all knew that wasn’t true.
Vicky huffed. “Forget about Grant. Knowing him, he’s probably in his office right now seeing how far he can shove a stick up his butt just to keep himself all stiff and snooty. The pretentious ass.”
Jaden covered her mouth with her hand, hoping to smother her laugh, but it bubbled out of her anyway. She could just picture Grant doing it too. “You’re bad,” she said with another laugh.
Vicky waved her comment away with a flick of her hand. “So, are you going to tell me what you did last night that brought this change to your appearance?”
Jaden instantly sobered and another blush colored her cheeks. What could she say to Vicky? That the hottest guy she’d ever seen gave her an intense orgasm and then bailed on her right afterward?
When she didn’t say anything, Vicky then said, “Ah ha. I think I know what did it. It was that kiss that hot guy gave you yesterday.”
She rolled her eyes. “It was only one kiss. I doubt it was enough to change me that much. Remember, I don’t even know his name.” That little white lie wasn’t going to hurt anyone.
“Maybe it’s the prospect of seeing him again. I’ve been watching you. I’ve seen you trying to be oh-so-casual as you look at each customer that comes to your cash register.
You’re looking for him, aren’t you?”
Jaden adjusted her glasses again. “So what if I am?”
Vicky smiled. “There is nothing wrong with it. It just goes to show you have needs just like every other woman. And a man like that, I’d be watching for him at every turn as well.”
“Well, I doubt I’ll see him today.”
“You never know.”
Just then a customer walked up to Jaden’s cash register. Looking away from Vicky, and essentially ending their conversation, she rang through each item. As for Vicky’s last remark, Jaden did know. It was just wishful thinking on her part to assume Leif would just saunter into the grocery store, walk to her cash register, and say he wanted to continue where they’d left off last night. She had to be realistic and face facts. For a girl like her to end up with a man like Leif, Earth would have to tilt off its axis and spin in the opposite direction.
It had been three god-awful, painful days since Leif had last seen Jaden.
Tenaciously, he hung onto his resolve not to see her again, but he was losing the battle.
His mating urge had not only sunk its claws into him, it was ripping and pulling with its sharp teeth as well. No longer able to watch over Roxie, he thought of nothing but Jaden almost the entire twenty-fours in a day. It was unending, and it was driving him insane with need. And nothing he did seemed to stop it. He’d even driven out to Muir Woods, hoping shifting to his wolf form and going for a long run in the forest would help, but that was one mistake he wouldn’t make again anytime soon. In wolf form, his mating urge went off the charts, the wolf inside him more than willing to search Jaden out and force him to claim her.
And to make matters even worse, he basically walked around all day with a hard-on.
He’d tried to find some relief by knocking off in the shower, but at this stage, it no longer worked. He could stroke his cock until his hand hurt, but he never reached climax. He had a feeling only sleeping with Jaden would end that particular pain. Leif had no idea if that was normal for a male in the throes of the mating urge, mostly because he’d never heard of another male werewolf ever refusing to claim his mate.
Now in the third day of unending torture, Leif paced the length of his room like the wild wolf he was. He’d been at it for hours. Every time he passed the mirror attached to his dresser he caught a glimpse of his mutedly glowing eyes. Along with his dick staying perpetually hard, his eyes glowed with the state of arousal he was in constantly.
By now, everyone in the mansion knew he’d found his mate, and that he wasn’t thrilled about it. It was kind of hard to miss when he walked around with a huge bulge in the front of his pants and his glowing eyes. He’d had every member of his family cajole, then yell at him, trying to persuade him to just go to Jaden. He refused all of them.
Today, if they tried it again, he didn’t know if he could still do it.
Leif suddenly stopped pacing when his bedroom door slammed open and three of his brothers-in-arms barged in. He growled and snapped his teeth at Roan, Jager and Skylar.
Since they were the only three true brothers, they were all similar in looks as well as in size. When they advanced on him, Leif realized he was sunk. There was no way he could get away from the three of them working together.
Roan rushed in to take hold of one of his arms while Skylar grabbed the other. Jager picked up his legs, holding on tight to his ankles. Leif arched his back, pulling on his arms and legs to get free, but he couldn’t shake them off.