His job was strictly to protect her until his mark was gone. Then she would free and he "I'll be a fucking eunuch," he growled under his breath, hating the very idea of it.
But what else was there?
Keep her in chains like his father had done his mother? Beat her into submission? None of that would work. Besides, Bride was his mate. He couldn't find it in him to hurt her in any way. Unlike his father, he understood what "protective" meant.
Vane had spent his entire life guarding Anya and Fang. Taking their pack's and their father's abuse for them. He wasn't about to hurt the one person the Fates had designated for him.
He heard Bride turning off the water. Flashing back to wolf form, he forced himself not to go into the room where he would meet temptation.
But then, he didn't have to. Bride came out a few seconds later with a towel wrapped around her.
He ground his teeth at the sight of her standing there with the damp towel clinging to every curve of that damp, voluptuous body. Worse, the towel was too small and left a large gap of succulent flesh bared to his gaze.
She dropped the towel to the floor.
It was all he could do not to whine, especially when she bent over to sort through a box of clothes for her underwear.
Bride started at a strange sound from her new pet. Turning, she saw the wolf staring at her with an intensity that was extremely wild and disturbing.
A tremor of fear went through her. "You're not going to attack me, are you, boy?"
He came over to her with his tail wagging. He jumped up unexpectedly and licked her cheek, then bounded back to the other side of the room.
Well, that was weird.
Frowning, she grabbed her panties and pulled them on, then quickly dressed in her pajamas. They were a bit tight, which was why they were in storage. Her mother had given her a whole new wardrobe two years ago when she had gone on a liquid protein diet that had caused her to drop twenty-five pounds. It had worked, but within a year every ounce of the weight had come back plus another ten pounds.
Bride sighed and put the matter out of her mind. Screw Taylor and his diets.
Like her mother and grandmother before her, she was destined to be a round Irishwoman, and no amount of anything would ever change the fact that she was chromosomally damaged.
"I should have been born in the fifties when it was fashionable to be pudgy."
Sighing, she went over to the couch to sleep. The wolf came over to her and stuck his nose close to her own.
"Sorry, kid," she said, patting his head. "No room for you tonight. Tomorrow we'll get a real bed, okay?"
He nuzzled her face.
"You are good company, aren't you?" He seemed to like it best when she stroked him just under his chin. He closed his eyes and wagged his tail as she gently scratched him there. "So what am I going to name you?"
She thought it over, but only one name hovered in her mind "Don't be stupid," she said to herself. It would be ridiculous to name him after a one-night stand.
And yet "Would you mind being called Vane?"
He opened his eyes at that and licked her chin.
"Okay then, you'll be Vane Two. Vane for short, though."
Bride reached over her head to turn off the lamp, then snuggled down to sleep.
Vane sat in the dark, watching her quietly. He couldn't believe what she was going to call his wolf form. If he didn't know better But no, she didn't have any sort of psychic powers. Maybe she had just liked his name.
He waited for her to fall sound asleep before he changed to human form again and made sure all her doors and windows were locked. Once he was certain she'd be okay for a bit, he flashed from her apartment back to his room at Sanctuary.
It was pitch-black here, too. He opened the door and headed to the next room, where Fang was staying. As he'd been since the night Vane had brought him here, his brother was in wolf form, lying comatose on the bed.
Vane sighed wearily as he crossed the room.