Dylan (Bowen Boys, #3)(20)
“They didn’t touch you because of me.” George looked at Dylan when he came into the room. “You’re my mate and they know it.”
She looked at each of them, and Reed dropped his head, his face bright red. She looked back at Dylan and glared. George was glad he was there to see this. He had a feeling she was going to strip a hunk of hide off his son.
“You told them not to touch me? You actually told them that we had sex and now they can’t come near me because of it? Why, you chauvinistic *.” She slammed the spatula down on the counter and eggs went flying. “How dare you? How dare you treat me like I’m some sort of plague to them.”
“I didn’t tell them anything. They can smell me on you.” George knew the moment she got it and so did the rest of them. Dylan was a little slower.
Jack looked at Reed, who still had his head down. She snapped at him to look at her. His head came up like she’d yanked it up. George felt a tightening in the room and looked around to see whose panther was showing. No one. He looked at the girl again.
“What do I smell like?” Reed looked at Dylan. “I asked you a question, not him. And you’ll damn well answer me.”
“Him. You smell like Dylan. And not because you used his crap in the shower either. You have his scent, the way his panther smells.” Reed’s nostrils flared. “And you smell like feline, too.”
She looked at George. “What does that mean? And your answer had better be more helpful than his was.”
“I would like for you not to speak to my dad like that.” She glared at Khan and didn’t back up when he stood. “You’ll have respect for your elders, or I’ll show you how to have it.”
Her fist came out so quickly that there was no way for Khan to avoid it. When he started to lunge after her again, she pulled her gun out and shot between his feet. No one in the room moved.
“I’m a little stressed out right now, and you f*cking aren’t helping me by ordering me around and treating me like pond scum.” She ordered Khan and Dylan to sit. “I’ve been shot up, beat up, and left for dead before, but I at least knew what the f*ck was going on. You people are giving me just enough for me to feel like the rabbit down the hole and no tea party at the end to make it fun. And I’m not happy about it.”
“No shit,” Reed said very softly, but she heard him and took his plate away. He looked ready to argue with her, but she looked like she’d take him on if he did. Smart boy sat back in his chair and glared back at her.
“Now, this is how this is going to play out. I’m going to ask questions and you four are going to answer them. And I want the rip-the-bandage answers, not the millimeter–by-millimeter version. Got it?” Everyone nodded but Dylan. “You have a problem?”
“Yes. You’re going to get your ass whipped when I get you alone. You don’t treat my family like this and expect there to be no consequences.” Dylan stretched his legs out in front of him as he continued his threat. “And then I’m going to have you apologize to them, each of them, for this.”
“Fuck off. If I wanted to be treated like a five-year–old, I would have asked you to dress up like my daddy. I don’t need this shit.” She looked at the door again, then at them. “I’m twenty-seven years old, and single. I came into this world alone and as an orphan. My father died of a drug overdose, so I was told, and my mother did the same a few weeks later. I was delivered by c-section by some homeless man that had come across her. No one wanted a drugged-up baby, and I was one until I was a year old. I grew up on the streets as soon as I could escape the place I’d been put. You think you can threaten me and have me tremble in my boots?”
No one answered her, and Dylan even looked ashamed. He started to stand up, but he was stopped when she pointed the gun at him. He nodded once at her but didn’t threaten her.
“You bit me, and that’s how they knew not to touch me.” Dylan nodded at her as she hopped up onto the counter. “And does this smell thing, will a human be able to smell it?”
“No. Unless they have some latent abilities, no one but another paranormal will smell it. To a cat you’ll smell like another cat, but to other weres you’ll smell off-limits. And when another male touches you, even human, I’ll have an overwhelming need to mark you again.”
“Mark, as in biting again or sex?” George felt his face heat up. She looked at him. “I’m sorry, but he started this.”
“You go ahead and get your answers from us. You should have had this talk sooner. It’s partly my fault. I wanted to see Dylan happy, and I encouraged him to see to you.” George looked at Dylan. “Answer the girl, son.”
“Both. The biting to mark you physically, sex so that I can dominate you again. Not that what we did wasn’t mutual, but that’s the way of my…our beast.” She nodded. “If Reed had hugged you like he wanted, then I would have taken you back to the bed and f*cked you until you couldn’t walk. Next I would have sank my teeth into your cream flesh and marked you.”
She reddened a little, but looked at Khan. “And what are you? You have some sort of power over the rest of them, right?”
“Yes. I’m their leader. Yours, too, now that you and Dylan are mates.” She snorted again. “You will pledge to me or I won’t be able to call you to me or you call me to you. I’m your leader as much as I am Dylan’s. And your family, as well.”