Green turned off his phone, put it back in his bag and moved back towards the bed. Vanessa growled at him until he stopped and looked at her as if he wasn't sure what she was going to do. Vanessa wasn't sure either. She both wanted to tear out his throat and tear off his clothes, but those were animal urges and she tried to rein in the side of her that was all wolf.
"Of course I love her," he said.
"Why are you here with me if you love her?" Vanessa hissed.
"What has that got to do with anything?" Green asked, taking another step towards her.
"Don't come any closer!" Vanessa warned him, her nails lengthening into claws.
"Why are you angry with me?"
"Why am I... I heard every word of that phone call!" Vanessa yelled and Green flinched.
"She didn't mean what she said about you being stupid and ungrateful," he said. "She loves me and she takes it personally that you don't want to come home with me."
"She wants you to bring me home?"
"Absolutely!" Green said, relaxing into a smile. "She was so excited when I'd been to your apartment and came home and told her I've found my mate. That's probably why she was so angry I haven't called. She's dying to meet you, the whole pack are."
"She's... What sort of a twisted pack are you a part of?" Vanessa asked and Green looked as if she'd slapped him. Then his eyes started to glitter with fury.
"If you say one more nasty thing about my pack I swear I'll..." he cut off.
"You'll what? Bite me? Beat me? I'd love to see you try.
"I don't know what's gotten into you," Green said slowly and she could tell that he was fighting to keep his temper in check, "but I have had enough of this."
"Fine! Leave!"
For a moment it looked as if he was going to attack her. Vanessa tensed and prepared to transform. It would be hell to pay later if they wrecked the room, but she'd dealt with those sorts of things before. Then Green took a deep breath and a step back. Another step brought him to his bag. He picked it up and turned to leave.
"Tell your other girlfriend that she can have you all to herself!"
Green froze mid-step.
"My other girlfriend?" he asked.
"The one you love," Vanessa said. "I don't understand what you're playing at. You come after me and tell me we're mates and all along you've been in love with someone else. I don't know what sort of panamorous things you get up to in your pack, but I don't share."
Green turned to look at her and Vanessa was furious to discover that a tear or two might be escaping from the corner of her eyes.
"You think I'm in love with someone else?"
"You just told her, and me, that you love her!" Vanessa screamed.
Green blinked. Then he started to laugh. Vanessa grabbed hold of the nearest item, a bible from the bedside drawer, and threw it at him. He caught it before it him in the face.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Not yet," Vanessa growled, "But you will be if you don't get out of here before the count of three. One..."
"Vanessa, I don't have a girlfriend."
"What is she then? Your fiancée? First wife? Two..."
"She's my mother," Green said.
"You know what, I don't... she's what?"
"My mother," he repeated.
He smiled and dropped the bag on the floor. "The woman who carried me for nine months, then gave birth to me twenty three years ago and hasn't stopped getting on my case since then."
"Your mother," Vanessa said and tried to remember the exact conversation she'd overheard. It had been intimate, yes, but not sexual or romantic.
"I'm relieved to hear that you're not intending to share me," Green said and Vanessa blushed a furious red.
"That's not what I meant. I thought..."
"I'm also glad to see I'm not the only one who gets jealous."
"I'm not jealous!" Vanessa yelled.
"Then why are you angry?" Green asked, moving over to her.
"I'm not... I don't like it when people play with me. And don't come any closer!"
Green raised an eyebrow and sat down on the bed.
"I ain't playing," he said, creeping towards her in a way that was distinctly predatory.
"Neither am I," said Vanessa and shuffled off the bed. It felt safer than staying on it.
"Are you running away?" Green said and Vanessa felt her hackles rise at his mocking tone.
"No," she lied. "I want... to go for a walk."
"A walk?"
Why did he have to look so gorgeous? It was infuriating the way he lounged on the bed, smirking at her as if she had just given him a present.
"Yes, I... I need air," she said and hurried out the door. Because of her heightened senses she heard him laugh and his laughter followed her all the way to the elevator.
***
"How long are we going to stay here?" Green asked as they were working their way through the breakfast buffet the next day.
Vanessa had come back late, hoping a long walk in the rain would clear her head. The last couple of days had been extreme. First the confrontation with the faun, then her poisoning at the club and Green's phone call. His mother! She still cringed when she remembered her reaction to overhearing their conversation.
Green looked smug. In fact, he looked as confident as she remembered him looking the first time she met him in that library. It was hard to believe that anything could leave a dent in that self-assured surface of cockiness, but her continuous rejection must have had an impact because now he was back to his old self.
Vanessa glared at him. He'd been asleep when she came back, stretched out all over her bed. She'd crawled under the covers of his instead and fallen instantly asleep. Despite getting enough hours of rest she felt as if she'd been through the wringer. It was unfair that a phone call that so completely drained her would have the complete opposite effect on him. Especially since she hadn't been the one having the conversation!
"Vanessa?"
"Hrrm?"
"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, suddenly concerned.
"Yes," Vanessa growled.
"You're not still affected by the venom, are you?"
"No."
"Are you sure?" he asked, leaning over to pull her hair away from her face and back behind her ear.
The gesture made her feel uncomfortably warm and embarrassed. She wanted to pull away, but like always when his skin touched hers it was nearly impossible to move anywhere but closer to him.
Vanessa looked up into his eyes before she remembered that eye-contact was almost worse than touching him. His green eyes lit up when he smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her. She should stop him, but honestly, what was the point? She wanted him to kiss her. She might as well admit that to herself. It was one thing to lie to other people, but she'd never seen the point in lying to herself. A small voice inside her head told her that it didn't matter what she wanted because kissing him was a bad idea, but for once she decided to ignore it.
Rising up on her toes she put her hands in his hair and pulled his face down to hers. She could feel his surprise when she kissed him, then he smiled against her lips and kissed her back.
It was different this time. No fighting for dominance, no anger or desperation. The fire that always seemed to erupt inside her when they kissed was slow and steady now, not like the blazing inferno she remembered from before.
Pulling back a little, she watched him gaze at her and felt a pang of worry at his expression. This would not end well. Things never ended well for people who lo... who liked her. Especially not if she liked them back.
"Good morning," he said and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"We already said good morning."
"But I didn't get my good morning kiss," Green said. "And I don't think it's really morning until I do. That's a new rule."
Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "You're making rules now?"
"Yes, I am," Green said and took her hand to lead her over to one of the smaller tables and sat her down on her chair. "The second rule is that I'm bringing you food."
"I am perfectly capable of picking food from containers and putting them on my plate," Vanessa protested.
"I know, but you didn't sleep much last night," Green said, looking inordinately pleased with himself. "Let me do this for you."
"But I..."
"Please."
Damn him for being so cute. There was no way she could say no to him when he looked at her like that. Besides, the chair she was sitting in was surprisingly comfortable and she was tired. Her need for total independence warred with her exhausted body. Her body won.
"If you pick something I don't like, I'll throw it on you," she grumbled.
Green laughed and headed back to the buffet while Vanessa started munching on the roll of bread she'd grabbed before he decided to wait on her.
As he moved around the buffet she looked around at the other guests and tried not to think about what had prompted his new solicitousness. She knew it had less to do with her being tired and more to do with traditional werewolf courtship. It was all instinctive so Green might not even be aware he was doing it, but by bringing her food he was demonstrating his capacity to provide for her and future pups. Vanessa shivered and felt the first stirrings of panic. She should never have let things go this far. She should never have shown she was jealous, never have kissed...
"Here you go," Green said, plunking down a plate ladened with food in front of her. "Eat up."
Vanessa opened her mouth to tell him that she wasn't hungry anymore, but he looked so proud of himself and the food smelled wonderful. Perhaps eating it wouldn't be such a terrible idea. It wasn't as if she'd agreed to marry him. Accepting food was quite different from accepting the man, after all, or she'd be wed to a long line of waiters.
She speared a sausage on her fork and ate it while Green watched her closely.
"Very nice," she said when she'd chewed and swallowed.
Green beamed at her and pranced back to the buffet to load up his own plate. Vanessa sighed into her fried tomatoes. At least the food was cooked. That could have gone worse. He could have slapped the carcass of a deer onto the table for her to eat. That would have made the other guests in the room take notice.
Smiling to herself at that bizarre image, she dug in.