Sanctuary

Chapter 10

Luke

My mind was reeling. Jaynah had gone into my arms without resistance. The closeness of her body was playing all kinds of havoc with mine. It was a struggle to keep myself under control. There was no way I could follow her conversation with Dad, but I don't think they meant me to. She seemed to be speaking to Dad, reassuring him of something.

All I could think of was getting out of there and getting time alone with her. Tami was in class so I had about six hours to change Jaynah's mind about me. "How about we go for a drive and stop somewhere for lunch?"

Jaynah looked into my eyes and smiled. Damn she was beautiful. I'd always thought she was, even when I wanted to strangle her for her insistence on following the rules. As soon as she smiled at me like that, I found it hard to breathe. Her smile transformed her into the most beautiful woman on the planet. And I was the one lucky enough to have a bond with her. I knew in that second I wouldn't let her go without a fight. She was my mate. The only thing left to do was convince her we were perfect together.

"Sounds good. I'd like to see more of the surrounding countryside. Not just the road between here and Armidale."

"How about you both go to Tamworth? Jaynah can meet the team at the safe house and she can play tourist or go shopping if she would prefer."

"Perfect." I looked at Jaynah and smiled. She smiled and gathered her gym bag. "While you shower and get cleaned up, I'll see if Pete has anything that needs to go to the safe house. If we're heading there anyway, we can save him a trip."

"Be quick, I'll be ready to go in about ten minutes." She looked at her phone and frowned. "Make that fifteen. Blaise is trying to apologise." She walked away, her phone already at her ear. Dad grinned as she walked away. I raised an eyebrow as I wondered what had him grinning like that. He shrugged. "As she was walking away, Jaynah told her brother 'Make it fast asshole. My team's leaving in fifteen.' It makes me curious about what she has on him."

"She is his sister, so she might have explosive information. But we won't get her to tell us unless she thinks we need to know. As long as he keeps his nose out of my relationship with Jaynah, I won't push her to tell me either."

"So there is a relationship then?"

I shrugged as we walked across the courtyard. "I'm not sure what to call it. For years she's been nothing more than a giant pain in the ass. She's one hell of a warrior, but I don't know any other woman that can have me wanting to shake her one minute and kiss her senseless the next. And all that was before the bond. Now it's ten times worse."

Dad gave me a smirk that had me wondering what I had said that amused him. I didn't have time to ask him about it though. My Mori fluttered, warning me of Jaynah's approach. "We'll talk about this later. I'm taking a beautiful woman out for the day and I can't keep her waiting."

Jaynah smiled as she approached us. I could see from her eyes that she was nervous. I smiled and reached for her hand. She placed it in mine, the nervousness in her gaze bringing the brown in her eyes forwards. Her relief was palpable when I raised her hand to my lips and lowered it again.

"Dad and I got to talking, so I didn't get back to my apartment to get my keys. Do you mind if we make a slight detour to get them? I'm sure Dad wouldn't mind talking to you if you prefer to wait here."

"I don't mind the detour." She fell in step with me and we walked in silence to my room so I could get my car keys. I had thought about taking my bike, but decided against it. A car would give us room if Pete needed us to take anything to the safe house. It also gave us space to put shopping. After we stopped off at my room, Jaynah went to put her gym bag in her room before we went to find Pete in his office.