And the suffering wasn’t easy. Mating heat demanded touch, it demanded a kiss. And now with Mica and Navarro it seemed to demand love and the mate.
“I should warn Mica,” she sighed. “She needs to know what the possible outcome to this can be.”
“No, don’t.”
She stared back at him in surprise. “This isn’t your call, Jackal.”
“And it’s not yours either, Ely,” he stated, his tone harsh as she stared back at him in disagreement.
“Stick to the science of mating heat, and leave those two to figure out their emotions alone. They won’t thank you for interfering, and you’ll only end up hurting yourself if you don’t stay out of it, and blaming yourself if you don’t attempt to see what effect Navarro’s control of his emotions could have on future mates, or the world’s discovery of mating heat.”
“Just let him break her heart, Jackal? Is it worth following this if she lives her life in pain?” she questioned him bitterly.
“It doesn’t sound to me that you could help either of them either way, Ely. Let them have a chance to find each other’s heart. Just because you’re determined to deny it yourself doesn’t mean Mica should.”
Ely stood to her feet slowly. She was finished at this point. She’d be damned if she would be drawn into this argument again.
“I don’t deny anything, Jackal. Nor do I avoid it. I leave that to the rest of you.”
She turned and walked away from him, shaking on the inside at the confrontation and wondering if this time Jonas would finally give her a new bodyguard.
CHAPTER 11
The next morning Mica was waiting for Navarro at the elevator entrance of the floor their suite was located on.
Leaning back against the wall, her arms crossed over her br**sts, she watched as he turned into the small corridor and then came to a stop in front of her.
His dark gaze went over her, remaining impossibly distant, before meeting her eyes.
Slowly, Mica arched a brow as she reached over and pressed the old-fashioned button to send the order along the lines to the elevator, telling it to rise to meet them.
She didn’t speak, but she didn’t break his gaze either. She had sworn she wouldn’t beg him, and she meant it.
“Did you sleep well last night?” he finally asked her with all discretion of a falling wall.
“Perfectly well,” she lied, and she did it effectively.
His nostrils flared as he drew in her scent to check for the lie she was certain he knew she was telling.
The lie she knew was well hidden.
She may have spent an absolutely miserable night, but she was rather calm this morning if she did say so herself. The night hadn’t been one of her more pleasant, the symptoms of mating heat had driven her nearly insane. At one point she had actually found herself outside his bedroom door, shaking, so desperate to feel him inside her that she was ready to demand her rights as his mate.
Hell, he’d moved his stuff into her room. Everything but him. What the hell was going on here?
Pride had finally kicked in though, a second before her fist landed on the door. Thank God. She couldn’t have borne the shame of it otherwise.
The elevator doors slid open, and with a graceful roll of her shoulders Mica pushed herself from the wall and entered the compartment.
Sliding into the far corner, she kept a wary eye on Navarro and cursed her body at the same time. She was supposed to have a handle on this arousal stuff for the day. She’d finally taken one cold shower too many the night before, chilling her body until the heat abated.
And now it was rising once again, with a strength that had her groaning silently as she stared at the back of the man that claimed to be her mate.
“Have you eaten this morning?” he asked as the old elevator made its way to the labs nearly ten floors beneath the estate house.
“Nope. I know better,” she assured him. She hadn’t been coming to Sanctuary all these years for nothing.
He was silent then, his back tense as Mica wisely remained silent as well.