“That’s not how it is,” Grady growled.

“Fuck you. Get out. I mean it, Grady. Get out of my house and don’t ever come near me again.”

A snarl tore from Grady. “You’re marked by me. You can’t just throw me out. I’ll go insane and hunt you. I’m in mating heat.”

She jerked her chin up and glared at him. She held onto her anger so she didn’t totally fall apart in tears from her broken heart. “Then I’ll buy a big damn gun and shoot your ass if you come after me. Get out. I never want to see you again.” Her voice broke.

Grady growled again. He jerked his head to Eric. “Go.”

Eric left the bedroom. Grady’s head snapped in Mika’s direction, eyes gleaming black in a way she’d never seen before. “I don’t know why you’re so damn angry. Most women would have jumped at the offer. Eric is very popular with women. Most women would jump at the chance of having two men in their bed.” She blinked back tears. “I’m not most women. Leave, Grady.” He shook his head. “I won’t do that. Tell me why you are pissed off at me.” Her anger slipped away and pain took its place. “I’m not pissed.” Grady frowned. “You’re scenting of anger.”

“Then take a bigger damn whiff, ass**le. Inhale my pain.” Grady sniffed and she saw confusion on his face again.

“For a man so concerned about not hurting me you just did the one thing that hurt me the most,” she said softly. “I could have chalked up you not wanting a relationship with me to your childhood and the rejection of your human side you must have suffered from your stepmother. I could overlook and forgive you for making it damn clear that I’d never be enough for you because I understand how important it is for you to want a werewolf to mate with so you get acceptance from the pack as an adult.” Hot tears fell down her face. Grady took a step toward her. Mika shook her head at him and threw up her hand to stop him and he stopped advancing on her. Mika wiped at her tears and backed up so she was in the bathroom.

“Don’t ever come near me again, Grady. You didn’t need to protect me from you physically. You needed to protect me from you hurting me inside. I can’t believe I gave a shit about you. I can’t believe— Just get out.” She slammed the bathroom door and locked it.

“Babe?” Grady was on the other side of the door. “Open the door.”

“Don’t ever call me babe again. You lost that right. You lost all of your rights.

Goodbye, Grady.” She closed her eyes and didn’t bother to stop the hot tears falling down her face.

“Son of a bitch,” Grady roared from the other side of the door. “I thought you’d be excited about the idea.”

“I’m taking a shower,” she lied. “You made me feel dirty.” That part wasn’t a lie.

She turned on the water and then ran to the window. She unlocked it and carefully slid it open, praying the sound would be covered by the loud water pouring from her showerhead. Mika was out her window in seconds. She ran around the house and that’s when she saw Eric.

He was leaning against a Mustang and staring at the house. He turned his head and saw Mika. Fear hit her hard. Would he yell out to Grady that she’d escaped? Shit! She sprinted down the sidewalk barefoot.

At the corner, she waved down a woman in a car and the woman actually stopped.

Tears were freely flowing down Mika’s face.

“Are you all right?” The woman looked concerned.

“I had a fight with my boyfriend. I’m afraid he’ll come looking for me. Can you please give me a ride to my uncle’s house? I can give you money when we get there.”

“Get in,” the woman unlocked the door. “Where does your uncle live?” Gratefully Mika climbed into the car. She gave directions and felt relief as the woman pulled away from the curb. She’d gotten away from Grady and his friend. She wiped at her tears.

“Thank you so much.”

The woman reached over and patted her leg. “We’ve all been there, honey. I’m glad to help.”

Chapter Ten

Minnie handed Mika whiskey with ice. Uncle Omar wasn’t home, thankfully.

Minnie had taken one look at Mika’s tearstained face, bare feet, and had dragged her into the kitchen. She’d made both of them drinks and sat down across from her.

“What happened?”

Mika used a napkin to blow her nose. “He brought home another guy, telling me he was afraid he’d hurt me in mating heat. He said the other guy doesn’t suffer from it and wanted the guy in the room with us during sex. He asked me if I’d ever fantasized about threesomes.”

Minnie’s eyes widened and she took a good gulp of her whiskey. “Whoa. No shit?

Who’d he bring?”

“Eric somebody. I forgot his last name. Blond, about six feet tall, and he looks like a surfer.”

“Eric Voigt.”

“That’s him.”

Minnie stared at her. “And this made you cry and obviously run away from home without your purse and shoes?”

Mika’s mouth fell open. “Did you hear what I said? He brought his friend into my house and wanted the three of us to go to bed together.” Minnie sipped her drink and then slowly smiled. “And this hurt you? Eric is hot.

Hell, Grady is hot. You could have been the filling in a hot man sandwich. Where did I raise you wrong?”

“Unbelievable.” Mika glared at Minnie. “Picture this. You’re in your room and Uncle Omar walks in to tell you how he brought home another woman so the three of you can have sex together.”

The smile was gone from Minnie’s face in an instant and anger burned in her eyes.

“I’d kill him.”

“Why?”

Understanding dawned in Minnie’s expression. “If he touched another woman it would kill me.”

Mika nodded. “Exactly. You really love him and the idea of him touching another woman kills you inside, right? The idea of Grady touching another woman does that to me. It kills me to think about it. He brought a man into my home and wanted that guy to climb into bed with us, Minnie.” Hot tears filled her eyes. “What would Uncle Omar do to a man who even thought about touching you?”

Minnie downed her drink. “They wouldn’t find all the body parts of the man who touched me. Omar would see to that. He’d tear the man apart a piece at a time.”

“Because he loves you, because the idea of you being with another man hurts him.

Grady doesn’t give a damn about me. I thought he’d get over his anti-human thing he has if we spent time together. Maybe I was stupid enough, hell, I was stupid enough, to even hope he’d fall in love with me.” She wiped at her tears. “I fell for him, Minnie. Oh God. I fell hard for him.”

“Baby…” Minnie stood up and walked around the table. She sat next to Mika and pulled her into her arms. Her fingers brushed through Mika’s hair to try to soothe her.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Me too. It hurts. How could he do that? How?”

“Men are different. You don’t need to be told that. Maybe he thought he was doing something nice.”

Snorting, Mika shook her head against Minnie’s shoulder. “Don’t bullshit me. He brought a guy into my home, Minnie. Into my bedroom.”

“I know.”

“You can’t tell Uncle Omar. He’d kill Grady.”

“You aren’t kidding about that one. He might have given you to Grady but he would kill him if he found out he’d offered your body to his friend as well.”

“I want to go home.”

Minnie tensed. “You can’t leave. You’re marked, baby. It’s not close enough to the end of mating season for you to be able to leave. Grady would go insane and come after you in a matter of days.”

“Fine. I won’t go home. I’ll travel around so he won’t find me. It’s not as though he can track me if I decide to fly to Washington to visit one of my friends or get a rental car and just take a sightseeing trip on my way home.” Minnie suddenly moved and forced Mika to look at her. Minnie shook her head.

“You don’t understand. Just because mating season comes to an end… Hell. Your uncle told you so much about us but he left out the entire important woman-to-man shit. If you split on a man who’s marked you during mating season, he goes insane. His need for you will drive him out of his head until it’s all he can think about. They totally lose it. The sex keeps them sane when mating heat strikes. Since you’re marked, only sex with you will do it for him. If you run and he were to go insane, well, until he has you again he won’t just get over it. If he goes long enough hunting for you and he doesn’t find you? Well, most don’t ever recover from it. They have to be put down, Mika. If you run, Grady will track you until he finds you, no matter how long it takes, and he’ll just go more nuts the longer it takes, until he’s totally gone. Do you understand me? He could kill you when he finds you and never mean to. If you manage to hide long enough then the pack will have to kill him, baby. He’ll be that crazy.”

Horror engulfed Mika. “I just thought it would stop when mating season ended. I mean, Uncle Omar said something about hurting Grady and making it so it took him a while to recover until mating heat was over so I thought―”

“Damn idiot.” Minnie cursed. “He said that?”

Mika nodded. “The night Grady marked me and brought me here to tell Uncle Omar. He said that was the only way to not hand me over to Grady.”

“Look, something like that could have happened if Grady had never mounted you but now he’s totally bonded to you through mark and sex while he’s in heat. The only way I can see to do this is if we put him in a damn coma so he doesn’t suffer missing you through the rest of the mating heat. I wonder how hard that would be.” Mika stared at Minnie in shock. “A coma? Are you kidding me?”

“No.”

“You can’t put him in a coma. He could die.”

Minnie shrugged. “If you run, one of you will die for sure. He’ll track you down and be so nuts he will probably kill you. Mating heat is very painful and he’s marked you. He can have sex with other women but it won’t stop his suffering. You are what he craves and needs.”

Mika picked up her glass and downed the contents. “I’m stuck is what you’re saying.”

Minnie downed her drink and then grabbed the bottle to refill their glasses.

“Welcome to the wonderful world of being a female in a male, shifter world. Be happy you aren’t mated to the son of a bitch. Then you’d never have a way of getting away from him and the entire pack would consider you his property.”

“Was being mated that bad?”

Minnie nodded. “I admit he was really awful. I’ve seen a lot of really happy couples but I was in a nightmare. My mate was horrible and he was abusive. I was trapped and no one would help me. It was a long time ago though. Now if a mate is abusive he will get his ass kicked until he learns not to do it.” Mika sipped her new drink. “Really?”

“Really. We had a guy kicking the shit out of his mate. Omar and Elroy went and kicked his ass. They told him for every bruise his mate had he’d get twenty. He stopped hitting her pretty damn fast after a few rounds with the men. He’s too afraid to abuse her now.”

The silence stretched into minutes as they sipped their drinks. Mika finally sighed.

“Grady will be coming for me, won’t he?”

Minnie nodded. “He’ll be coming.”

“I was afraid of that. What if that guy is still there?” Mika fought tears. “I won’t let him touch me, Minnie. I don’t want anyone but Grady.”