I can. I have finally found you. I can claim you now and finally make things right. Say you will be my life mate, Angelina.”
“The hell she will. She’s my life mate!” G.G. roared before she could respond. She wasn’t the least surprised by his outburst, or the way he suddenly leapt up and rushed across the room. She was surprised when he suddenly stopped dead. His face went blank and he backed up to the couch and sat down.
Ildaria turned back to Juan and demanded, “Let him go.”
“I will release him when you give me your answer,” he said simply.
When she started to shake her head, he said quickly, “Lucian told me this mortal was a possible life mate too. But he also told me he has refused to turn for you, Angelina. He cannot possibly love you as I do, or he would not hesitate to turn.”
Ildaria frowned. He was hitting her where her insecurities lay. G.G.’s refusal to turn and be with her longer than the thirty or so years he had left as a mortal did bother her despite knowing the reason for it. She’d hoped that time and life mate sex would convince him. That he would come to love her and change his mind. But while they’d admitted their love to each other in the SUV, he hadn’t said anything about turning, and she was beginning to fear he never would. That she wasn’t enough to make him want to. Her only hope was whatever trick his mother had up her sleeve and she didn’t even know what that was.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter though. She did love G.G. But even if she hadn’t loved him, Juan had been the boogeyman to her for two hundred years. And while she believed it was possible he was telling the truth—
“He is telling the truth,” Lucian said mildly, and Ildaria whirled on him furiously.
“Will you get out of my head and let me think?” she demanded.
“I am just trying to be helpful. I am telling you that everything Juan has said is true. He has been desperately searching for you for two hundred years, and became so desperate, he came up with that ridiculous plan to try to force you out into the open by removing any immortals in the area where you were spotted most often.”
“Thank you, Lucian,” Juan said dryly, obviously taking umbrage at his plan being called ridiculous.
“None of it matters,” Ildaria said firmly, scowling from one man to the other. “The fact is I love Joshua, mortal or not.”
“How can you love him?” Juan burst out, really looking as if he couldn’t understand it. “My men said they call him G.G. for Green Giant here for heaven’s sake, and look at his ridiculous hair and clothing.”
Ildaria did look. Her eyes traveling over G.G.’s bright green Mohawk, and the jeans and T-shirt he’d donned that day. The jeans were a faded blue with several rips and frayed holes, and there was a chain dangling between one of the belt loops and his pocket. His keys were on that chain, she knew. As for the T-shirt, it was pale gray with three small boxes on it, one under the other. The top box was empty and had the word SINGLE beside it; the next one down was also empty and had TAKEN beside it. The bottom box, though, had a check mark inside it and the words next to it were Waiting for a blonde with three dragons.
Ildaria smiled now as she had the first time she’d seen it. It was a reference to a television show called Game of Thrones. G.G. had purchased the entire series from Apple and had insisted they had to watch it when he’d found out she’d never seen the show. They’d only gone through half the first season so far, but she was enjoying it.
“He is a mortal child,” Juan said with disgust. “He could never love you as I do.”
Ildaria turned back to Juan, taking in his face, more traditional hair, and the designer suit he wore. He was a handsome man, she had to admit . . . but so was G.G., just in a different way. And G.G. had been nothing but kind and loving and passionate with her, while Juan . . .
“I have loved you for two hundred years,” Juan said now.
“You’ve wanted me for two hundred years,” she corrected him sharply. “You hardly know me at all.”