he won't."
"Wait," Z said, "You own theriantype.com? That's hilarious. Nobody trusts werewolves, and they're all doing business with one. And a demon." He gave Jane an appreciative once-over that made Fiona feel insecure times thirty.
Jane and Cole both glared at Z as the wolf shoved the paper into his hands. "You call me if you hear anything," Cole said. Then the two disappeared out of the cave without another word.
"The manners of some people," Z said, sinking back onto the couch. He crumbled up the piece of paper and tossed it in the corner.
"You had no intention of looking for the pup, did you?"
"Fiona, I'm tired. I want to go back to sleep. Do we have to do this now?"
Her voice was cold when she replied. "That's all I needed to know. Take me home right now."
She was already packing up bags, putting her magic book back into the duffel beside the fireplace.
"You know I can't. It's not safe out there. We don't know who they are. They could come back. And anyway, it's outside" He used sarcastic finger quotes, putting emphasis on the word to remind her of her phobia, as if it were some red button he could push to control her. And ordinarily, it might have been. But at the moment she was too pissed.
"Yeah, I know how agoraphobia works. It's just that I don't care what happens to me right now because you lied to get me in bed. Maybe you're the thing the birds warned about. If you are, the danger's over so take me home."
Z stood, his jaw clenched tight. "Oh my god. Virgins are such drama. I did not lie to you to..."
Before he could finish the sentence, she slapped him. She'd moved so fast that for a moment he forgot she was human. The sharp snap of her fury echoed off the walls of the cave.
"Don't you ever make me feel like some lesser being just because I haven't screwed everything breathing. You are not the measuring stick of normal so get over yourself. Take. Me. Home. You have no right to keep me prisoner here."
"Fine. Fuck."
Chapter Ten
Z had to get her out of his cave. If he didn't, he'd try to mount her again. The flushed anger in her face was much sexier right now than he wanted to admit.
He didn't say another word as he helped her get her things together. He slung a few of the satchels over his shoulder and loaded Fiona down with the others. He helped her down the side of the rock, gave her his helmet, and took her back to her place.
This is why I don't sleep with virgins. Of course it would end like this. Sex was too big of a deal to them. No matter what they said, they couldn't just fuck and move on. It had to be a big deal. It had to be romance and relationships and confrontations.
What was he supposed to do about the pup? How was he supposed to find him? Maybe he should have put some kind of tracker on the little guy, but that was water under the bridge now. Whatever he should have done had no bearing on what he had done or where they were now. All he wanted was to disentangle himself from all of it and get back to being a normal panther.
He was relieved it was the family's problem now, instead of his. Z could sleep without guilt, without having to be further involved in any of it. And that suited him just fine. Who was more motivated and better equipped to find the missing pup? Him with his unpracticed witch, or the parents, one of whom was a demon and knew a powerful sorcerer?
And now that Fiona had gone nuclear, he didn't have to worry about what he was going to do with her, either.
He could get rid of that stupid cage and all the toys from the bachelor cave. He could sleep through the damned night. He could go out whenever he wanted and sleep with whomever he wanted and go back to who he'd been before this domestic interruption. Life was good again.
But it was hard to convince himself of that when he could smell Fiona's tears and feel the warmth from her body as she held onto him on the back of the motorcycle. His protective urges wouldn't shut up around her. Didn't she need him? No, that was stalking, he was pretty sure. Yeah, he'd