M&L03 - SS by Stacie Simpson Page A

this shadow of manhood transformed his carefree
teenage persona into something edgy, something dangerous. It made it that much
harder to rein in my own fox and stop what was about to happen.
    “Come back to me Solomon,” I
whispered, holding his powerful gaze. “You know I don’t want to do this. Please
help me stop it before it goes too far again.”
    His hands fell away from my
face forming fists at his sides. He tensed, his muscles rigid as he struggled
to gain control. “Go Renee,” he finally ground out through his teeth. “Get away
while you still can.”
    Tearing my eyes away from
his, I hurried down the hall with my fox howling in my head the whole way. I
knew exactly how she felt; I wanted Solomon just as much as she did, but I
would fight this mating with everything I had until I was sure all three parts
of his soul wanted me as much as his fox did. I just couldn’t accept anything
less.
    ~ Solomon ~
    I clenched every one of my
muscles tight in an effort to keep myself from following Renee. I’d never had
to struggle so hard to bring the fox back under control - but then, he’d never
been face to face with our mate before tonight. It didn’t help that she still
carried the fire demon’s scent on her either. The fox wanted to cover her with our
scent until there was no mistaking who she belonged to. He also wanted to
slaughter Dimitri and any other male that dared to even look at Renee.
    As soon as she was out of
sight, I took a few tentative steps and found that I had enough control to
leave the dance club and the fire demon behind. Using the back hallways and the
service elevator, I headed back up to my suite, maintaining a tight leash on
the fox along the way.
    Once I was in my room I
flopped back onto the bed with my hands behind my head and thought about
everything Renee said. When I looked back at the last thirty years from her
point of view, I could see why she might think I wouldn’t want her to be my
mate. She was right; I’d fucked just about every unmated female that crossed my
path since I met her. Most of those women came to me easily, but the ones who
hadn’t I’d pursued relentlessly until they finally gave me what I wanted. Renee
was the only woman that I’d ever accepted no from without putting up much of a
fight.
    How could she not come to the
conclusion that I didn’t want her?
    Shaking my head at my own
stupidity, I vowed to make things right between us. Somehow, I was going to
show her exactly what she meant to me, and not because we were mates, but
because she’d always held my heart in the palm of her hand.

Chapter Seven
    ~ Solomon ~
    The following morning I stood
in front of the bathroom mirror examining the new mating marks on my body. It
looked as though my flesh had been ripped open by claws to reveal reddish brown
fox fur underneath my skin. The marks started at my wrists and spiraled around
my arms up to my shoulders. There was also another set of claw marks slashing
across my back from my right shoulder to my left buttock with a fox eye hidden
behind them.
    I was happy to see the mating
marks, but I was concerned because the eye on my back was closed. Usually that
only happened when one of the mates had gone into the afterlife. With both of
us still living, it should have been open and reflecting whatever emotions
Renee was feeling. On top of that, I should have been able to feel those
emotions coming through the mating bond. The closed eye and the fact that I
couldn’t feel even the slightest twinge of emotions from her indicated that
whatever spell Renee used to keep me away was still working to some degree. It
shouldn’t have been possible since magic normally treated mates like one being,
but I couldn’t deny the evidence.
    The only reason I wasn’t
completely freaking out was the fact that there was already so much color in the
marks. That reddish brown fur was proof of the love Renee and I already shared.
Normally new mating marks resembled pencil sketches