"You came inside me!"

Rome pulled himself up to his arms and took in her furrowed brow, glowing eyes, and clamped lips. "Baby, don't be angry. I don't think when I'm with you, when I'm touching you. I love coming inside you. And you love it, too."

“And when I’m pregnant will you be so cool about it?”

His expression turned dark and serious.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

With Rome's words still ringing in her ears, Alison finished making arrangements with her landlord. She also called her sous chef, Cassie, to let her know the café would be closed for the few days. She had enough bankroll to pay Cassie for her missed work, but her own personal finances weren't quite so nice.

After her last encounter with Rome, her breeding cycle had completed its course. It was by far the shortest she'd ever had. She'd heard that stress and other traumatic events could alter the female's breeding cycle. Maybe that's what happened to her.

She dressed from her shower feeling hollow inside. She couldn't get Rome out of her mind. He wasn't what she thought he'd be--not that she'd spent a lot of time thinking about him in the past two months. No, not at all.

There was more to him than she'd expected and the more she learned about him...the more she liked. He was too dangerous. The whole situation was way out of her league. She wasn't ready for him, ready for a relationship or whatever it was he was offering.

"Shit," she muttered, pulling on her flat-soled shoes. Now she really was kidding herself. He wasn't offering her anything. He'd never made any signs of commitment or interest other than bedding her during her cycle. Hell, most lykaen males would offer up his services. He was just doing his duty.

A honk sounded outside. Alison grabbed her purse and left the cabin eager to escape the short walls. And the thoughts of Rome. Sarina waved happily from the driver's seat, and two very large men sat looking unhappy in the backseat.

"Who are these guys?" asked Alison, taking the passenger seat.

"Oh, that's Gerome on the left and Teddy on the right. His real name's Jason, but he's big like a bear and sweet like candy so I call him Teddy. He hates," Sarina whispered loudly.

Alison looked back at Teddy and saw his lips fighting a smile; the other guard's shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter.

"I see. Do they follow you everywhere you go now that you're Queen of the pack?"

Sarina shook her head. "Nope, they're here for you. Vane insisted. He wanted to send Bruno and Kevlar too, but I told him no way unless he buys a mini-van."

Alison relaxed into her seat and laughed. "Tell me that isn't their real names either."

"Of course not, I've nicknamed the whole lot of sentry guards. I have that kind of time, you know. So what's on the agenda today? Are we going to the apartment first or do you want to check on the café?"

Alison thought about it for a moment. "Apartment first. I'm not going to live there anymore. I can't, not knowing...what he did, you know? I'll have to buy out of my lease and pack up my stuff."

"Rome already suggested to Vane that we hire some men to do that for you. Why don't we do that? It'll save you the hassle of boxing up everything."

Everything that isn't broken. "Yeah, I guess that's fine, though I don't see why Rome had to step in like that."

Sarina turned onto the highway before arching a thin brow at Alison. "You don’t, do ya? Well, a little birdie told me that your little friend John was sent packing the other night and you spent the night with Rome."

Alison couldn't stop the blush that flushed her cheeks. She turned away to stare at the passing trees like she’d never see one before.

"Oh my God! You did! Holy hell, how was it? Tell me everything, spare no details. I mean, let's be honest, the man looks like a Viking gladiator or something. He seems to like you too."

Alison glared at her friend. "And how would you know that? And to set the record straight he doesn't 'like' me. He just helped me during my breeding cycle. Now that it's over everything will be fine."

Sarina snorted with laughter. "Do you actually hear yourself? He punched John in the face! He just helped me during my breeding cycle'," Sarina mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "Yeah, I'm sure he was just helping you to orgasm like crazy out of the kindness of his heart. I'm sure he was just sexing you up out of his sense of honor and duty. Alison, I saw the way he looked at you at my wedding and then the other day. The man has something going on for you. I haven't known him long enough to know for certain, but it's something." She pulled into the Crossroads apartment complex and parked the car.

Alison bit off the corner of her pinky nail, and tore it into a jagged crescent. "How would you know he made me orgasm like that?" she asked grumpily.

Sarina turned to give her a duh look. "Honey, he's Vane's brother. Vane can make me squeal with just his fingertips. I'm sure Rome has at least some of the same traits."

The guards in the back muttered something like Christ, not again and escaped the vehicle like it was on fire.

Sarina held out her hands at the guard's reaction, her jaw open and shook her head as if to say can you believe these guys?

They left the car and walked down the narrow sidewalk to the Leasing and Office building. Alison cringed at the sight of her balcony and what waited for her behind it.

"How do you he looks at me a certain way? How do you know he doesn't look at all women the same?" Alison glanced behind her quickly to see if the guard's were paying attention to their conversation. They both watched the environment like trained predators, if they heard her silly question then they pretended not to.

"I've met his fling Sandra before. Or was it Sandy...Cindy, hm, I don't know. I only met her a few days after the wedding, but I haven’t seen or heard about her since, so I figured he'd tossed her to the side." Alison couldn't hide her grimace before Sarina caught it. Her eyes opened in alarm. "Oh no, listen, I'm sure he's not still seeing her. I don't think he's a scumbag. Besides, that's what I was talking about. The way he looked at her wasn’t anything special. But the way he looks at you, it's like he's seeing something he wants, bad."

Alison nodded absently, her friend's words fading to the background. She went through the papers, signed the proper checks to the landlord, and even arranged for a packing and delivery company called Two Guys, One Truck to box and transport her stuff into storage.

As they drove to her café, Alison couldn't stop the sickening feeling deep in her gut. She felt like she'd eaten something bad, but she hadn't. She didn't know what it was.

Jealousy? Envy? Hate? What she did know though was that she couldn't trust Rome. At least she'd been right about that all along.

Being back in her café helped to lighten Alison's mood. She flipped on the lights then walked back into the kitchen and cranked up the burners and oven.

"What are you guys in the mood for?" she hollered through the partition where she'd slide the orders across to be served.

"Italian!" Sarina said, picking a seat at a table with square wooden chairs. When Teddy and Gerome agreed, Alison smiled and shot back into her kitchen. It felt better than good to be back here.

She tied on her pink apron and snatched pots and pans from her ceiling hanger. Her mind pushed all the worries, fears, and pain from the last few days aside and focused solely on cutting the potatoes into triangles and slicing the carrots with a fast flick of her wrist.