Best Friends (New Species #15)(84)

“No. You are the first female to enter my domain. I have broken enough toothbrushes that they give me extras.”

“How do you break a toothbrush?” She remembered his sharp fangs. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. I plan to kiss that mouth. I’m leery enough already.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you, Mary.” He offered a sexy grin. “I want to keep you safe and happy.”

“That’s what you keep saying. But I’m still leery of your teeth and kissing you.” She left the shower and grabbed a towel. Those couldn’t be normal-size, either. His towels seemed like mini blankets. She glanced back at Lash. He washed his hair with his ass toward her. He had a super fine one, too.

She knew she should flee and find the door while he was distracted. It might take him a few minutes to notice that she’d gone.

She didn’t head for the door, though. Instead, she went looking for that toothbrush she wanted.

Mary was already beginning to like him too much. Not good. So not good.





Chapter Five



“Why do you keep looking around at nothing?”

Lash’s gruff voice pulled Mary from her thoughts. “I can’t believe Mel never noticed I disappeared from her wedding reception. She seemed so determined to throw her flowers to me.”

“She did. Males searched for you.”

“What? When?”

“While you slept.”

“They just left me here with you?”

He shrugged. “They weren’t prepared to fight me.”

“Unbelievable! So they’re just going to let you keep me?”

“I won’t let them take you from me, Mary.”

“That crazy hillbilly!”

“Who?”

“Mel. She promised to watch my back and swore that nothing bad would happen to me if I came to Reservation. Trust me, she said. Don’t worry, she said. We’re best friends and I love you like a sister, she said.” Mary was really upset. “Then, what? She leaves me with you as if she’d dropped me off at some pet shelter for you to adopt?”

“Nothing bad has happened to you. She wasn’t in agreement with me keeping you, if that helps. Her mate believes she’ll attempt to break into my domain to help you escape. I had to promise him I would take you up to our bed, and we’d stay there until he could remove her. He fears she’ll attack me.”

That cooled her temper. “She’d better. I’d face off against Dean Summers for her.”

“Who is that?”

“He comes into the diner every few weeks. We’re sure he’s Satan’s number one worshiper because he’s so vile and evil.”

He scowled.

“He probably doesn’t really worship the devil, but he’s a nightmare customer and super creepy. Mel and I joke about him often, since we can’t hide in the kitchen when he comes into the diner. Joel, the owner, yelled at us the one time we actually did that. Dean actually came in with blood on his clothes. He said he’d slaughtered a pig for food, but we decided we were right about him sacrificing people on some altar. Neither one of us wanted to wait on him since he’s bad enough when he isn’t splattered in blood.”

Lash just stared at her. He looked a bit confused and disturbed at the same time.

“You’d understand if you met him. We’re not going to be surprised if we ever see a story on the news that he’s a serial killer. Only no one who knows him is going to say what a nice guy he seemed to be or how shocked they are. Poor Mel had to see his wrinkly dink.”

“What is that?”

“I didn’t see it, but that’s what Mel called his dick. She said it’s wrinkled and small, like a malformed dying root of some diseased tree. Her words, not mine. It painted a horrifyingly vivid mental picture for me, though.”

“Why would she want to see that?”

“She didn’t. He kind of exposed it to her at the table when she went to give him a refill. Mel got even by pouring a pitcher of iced tea on his lap. That’s my bestie. That girl doesn’t take any shit. She’ll definitely come after me. My faith in her is restored.”

“You want her to attack me?”

“No. I want her to try to attack you. That’s what friends do.”

He shook his head. “Humans.”

“That’s just a woman thing. And stop using that tone. I happen to be one of those humans you don’t seem to like.”

“I don’t like them, but you’re my mate.” He paused. “Even if I can’t figure out how you think the way you do. You’re strange.”

“Says the guy with a bed thirty-some feet off the ground, who jumps around to get up there because he’s paranoid that people are out to kill him to the point of having a bulletproof platform.”

“It’s a valid precaution. We get attacked.”

“I’m more than aware. I was at the diner when two men walked in with guns to shoot Snow and his friends. Those assholes wanted their names in the news. But that was in town, with no NSO security. I saw the walls that protect Reservation, and the armed men who guard them. It would have been suicide if those two assholes had come here.”

“The NSO is expanding our walls. We’ve had a few breaches during construction. Our officers caught them before they got in far enough to kill any of us, but it is possible a small group could reach the hotel. I didn’t survive being caged at Mercile to die now.”