Wyvern Protection Unit - Chapter 104: Chapter 104

She loves me. She loves me. SHE LOVES ME.
Zircon was on cloud fucking nine. He still couldn’t believe it. Oh, he’d been telling himself she did for years, but that was way different from this. Jennifer Dylluan had said those magical three little words to him.
Finally, after all this time, she’d said I love you, and it felt fucking awesome.
He watched her walk on her tiny-heeled shoes into the Dire Wolf run roadhouse and wondered at her sperm donor’s gall. First, the older male did not deserve to be called a father after what he’d done. Walking out on his child, leaving his mate while he chased tail all over the gods’ green earth—no bird joke intended.
He adjusted the sound on his earpiece, having outfitted Jenn with a microscopic wire. He could hear her heart thumping inside her chest and knew the moment she spotted him by how fast that muscle had started working.
Fuck.
He hated this. Zircon had agreed to give her ten minutes alone before taking a seat at the bar, but his Wyvern was pushing him to move already. He held onto control by a thread, reminding the creature she would be pissed if he busted her cover too early.
Double fuck.
“My, oh my, is that my ladybug? Look at you Jenny Bean!”
“Oh! Um, hi, um, Dad,” Jennifer replied.
Zircon knew from the squeak that prick had hugged her. It was unconscionable. He could hear the discomfort in her voice. Why couldn’t her father? Was he just that damn careless?
“You seem different,” Jennifer said to her father, her voice shaky.
Zircon’s instincts were up. Something was wrong here. He hit the steering wheel with his palms. Seven minutes to go on the little timer she’d set, knowing full well he wouldn’t wait otherwise. He waited, listening as they made polite and somewhat uncomfortable conversation.
“So, how’s your mom?”
“Mom? She’s dead, Dad.”
“What? Your mom died? How?”
“I thought you knew. She committed suicide a couple of years after you left,” Jennifer said tightly.
“Oh hell, I am so sorry. She was really something. Um, hey, ladybug, you know I got some pictures from when you were just a little girl up in my truck. Why don’t we go check them out and then we can come back and order?”
Fuck. He wasn’t waiting for another second to pass before he went to her. Jennifer could yell at him later. He got out of the truck and zoomed to the front of the bar, but she wasn’t there.
“Ouch! What the—Dad! No!”
Zircon froze a split second before he took off so fast for the back of the bar, he fucking blurred past patrons. Thank fuck, the place was mostly frequented by Shifters. He saw them then at the very last spot in the parking lot.
Jennifer’s father was holding something that looked kind of like a police baton, but it was buzzing and emitting a high frequency noise. Fuck, that hurt his ears. His Wyvern rose, and he pulled lightning from the sky to come down and zap the thing right out of the motherfucker’s hand.
Sonofabitch had been going to hit her again, and he was trying to stuff her into the cab of his big semi, but Jennifer wasn’t unconscious. She kicked out with her feet, hitting her father in the gut just as Zircon shifted completely into his beast.
Jennifer smiled at him, jumping up for him to catch her gently in one claw while he grabbed the sniveling male in his other, cloaking all three of them with his special brand of Shifter magic before taking to the skies.
“I just texted Mother. He’s sending a team to bring the rig and your truck back to base,” she yelled over the wind, and he loosed a short roar, so she knew he’d heard her. She patted his leg, and he kept hold of her, trusting she was safe in his talons.
A short time later, they touched ground just inside of the Wessex compound, and were greeted by his brothers, who’d obviously been successful in their mission to retrieve the stolen Drakein female. Aliza, Kizzy, Luna, Hydra, Serene, and Daeja formed a circle around Lyra, who seemed no worse for wear.
Once they’d landed, he tossed the unworthy male onto the ground, knocking him unconscious with the move. Then he gently let Jennifer down before shifting to his skin.
“Bro, pants,” Dor called, tossing him some gray sweats.
For some reason, ever since females started to live with them, all of their sweatpants had been swapped out for heather gray, which was fine, but he liked black or navy better. He’d have to ask Jennifer about that. Speaking of her, his eyes were fixed on the Owl Shifter as she frowned down at the man who’d sired her. Jonathan Dylluan was blinking and sitting up. But before Zircon could do anything, Jennifer moved, punching the man right in the face.
“Ow! Why, you disrespectful little animal! You’re just like her. Filthy, disgusting creature. So pathetic. Do you know she was the one who lined up my first sales? Your mother sold her friends to me for little more than a quick fuck in the back of my truck,” he spat with such hatred and venom Jennifer wobbled on her feet.
“Speak with a civil tongue, or I will remove yours,” Zircon snarled, advancing on him.
“Wait, Conny,” she said, moving in front of him with tears in her eyes. “He’s not a Shifter. He’s human. You’re human,” she said, the last turning to face the monster who sired her.
And there it was, the ugly truth to Jennifer’s past. Oh fuck, his heart broke for her. Zircon had suspected something strange ever since he’d scented the male. He wore some sort of hunter’s block, but the way he spoke explained it all.
Jennifer’s mother was a Shifter, but her father was human. A human who’d manipulated a woman into being his pansy, trading on her affection for him, using her to sate his greed.
Holy fuck.
“I didn’t remember,” Jennifer whispered, horrified. “I don’t understand. You were both involved in kidnapping women? Selling them? But you were Mom’s fated mate⁠—”
“That crazy bitch tried that line on me. After I found out what she was, and what she bore in you, I was disgusted. I wanted to kill her. I couldn’t stand being with her. I needed money, and she claimed she needed me. I knew some people, secret, scary types who provided entertainment for the rich. You know, the more money people have, the more perverse, ladybug,” he said, putting the emphasis on bug.
Oh, how Zircon wanted to squash him like one. Jennifer must have sensed it because she stepped back, leaning on him, allowing him to put his hands on her waist as she faced off with the male.
“You were going to sell me, too, weren’t you?”
“Yeah well. Life’s hard. I got needs.”
“But I’m your daughter,” Jennifer whispered.
Zircon was shaking with rage, but everyone else seemed frozen in place. His father joined them. With him was the man called Mother. It seemed they wouldn’t have to do a whole lot of work to get this piece of shit to spill the beans. Jonathan Dylluan, aka douchebag from hell, seemed all too happy to comply.
“You are not my daughter. I don’t have a daughter. You’re just a thing. Like them. Like all of you. Animals!”
“You are the only animal here. You’ve been kidnapping and selling people for how long, huh? And I disgust you?” Jennifer asked, shoulders straight, anger in her eyes.
Good girl.
He loved seeing her spirit rise and temper flare. Conny would much rather his Jennifer be angry than shaken.
“People kidnap and sell animals all the time. It’s not even a jailable offense in most states,” he laughed. “Hell, I’ve sold hundreds of monsters like you!”
“That’s enough of that,” Zircon growled, hoisting the male up and tossing him to Larimar, who had him cuffed and muzzled in seconds.
“There ya go,” his brother said, slapping the male on the shoulder so hard he fell to his knees.
Everyone was moving then, talking, and there was a lot going on outside in the crisp afternoon air. The Drakein walked off together, having been joined by OX and Xabat. All except for Daeja, who was talking urgently to Dor, casting glances at him and Jenn. But Zircon didn’t care. He focused on Jennifer alone. She looked too calm.
“That is the man who took me,” Lyra told Mother, finger shaking as she pointed at Jennifer’s sperm donor before going inside the house.
“Jenn, you alright?”
“Huh? Oh, um, yeah. I just, I didn’t remember. I mean, I was so little, but still. Mom said they were fated mates, but did you hear him when he mentioned her? He hated my mother. He hated me.”
“I’m sorry, Jenn⁠—”
“No, don’t you see? I’m such a fool. A total idiot,” she said, turning in his arms to hold him tight.
“No, Jenn⁠—”
“No, really. I am. So much time, I let so much time go by, trying to keep a promise I made to my mother when I was way too young to swear such a thing. I’d convinced myself I would never be able to take a mate because my parents couldn’t keep their fated mates happy and together. Everything I thought I knew about them was a lie.”
“That’s on them, Jennifer. Not you,” he said, cupping her cheek with his warm hands.
“You are too good to me, Conny. I wasted years not telling you how I felt cause my mother poisoned my mind about fated mates, because that man manipulated her. And she let him. Oh my gods, I can’t believe all the time I wasted.”
“You didn’t waste anything. Everything happened like it should.”
“But I almost lost you⁠—”
“Never. I told you, woman, you will never lose me. I love you, Jennifer. I love you so fucking much,” he growled, kissing her hungrily in front of everyone.
Jennifer didn’t care about their audience. She didn’t care about the wolf whistles. She might have laughed when Arthur Wessex slapped one of his son’s upside the head. And she definitely moaned when Zircon lifted her off her feet and spun her in circles.
“I love you, Zircon Wessex,” she told him, then tilted her head back and shouted it to the sky. “I LOVE YOU!”
“Fuck, woman, I waited so long to hear you say that out loud,” he growled, kissing her again.
She slid down his body, feeling every muscular inch of him until her heels were touching the soft grass. Even then, he held her tight.
“I love you,” she whispered when their kissing slowed. “And I want your bite, Conny. I want to bear your mark. Will you give it to me? Will you claim me?” she asked.
Her face was turned up to his, and he could not stop staring at her. This woman got him like no other being in the entire multiverse. She knew him, inside and out. Was attuned to him, and he to her. She was always meant to be his. He knew it from the moment he first saw her.
Zircon and Jennifer moved in perfect symbiosis. She asked him to claim her, and he could not wait. Her sexy, luminous brown eyes were intent behind her glasses, and idiot that he was, he realized he hadn’t answered her.
“Mine,” Zircon growled, his chest rumbling with the force of his Wyvern.
He hoisted Jennifer onto his shoulder, giving her ass a sharp spank. What did she expect when she walked around in those tight little pencil skirts of hers? Fuck, he loved her responding squeal. Then he hauled ass to his suite of rooms, ignoring everyone else as he sped by.
“Conny? Jenn? I have to talk to you—” Daeja called, but he was too busy, too intent on claiming his mate to slow down.
He kicked the door shut and spun around, pressing her back to the wall. The need to claim her was damn near overwhelming, but he did not want to hurt her. Never that. And it was with that single thought in mind that his Wyvern chilled the fuck out.
“You are so beautiful, Jennifer,” he whispered, taking her glasses off her face reverently.
His eyes worshipped her as he unwrapped her like a present. Pausing to stare at every womanly curve and freckle.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
The woman was fine as fuck, and she was his. Finally, irrevocably, his. His Wyvern reared up, and he knew his eyes were glowing with the blue of his mythical beast as he stared at her and said the one word he’d been waiting to say to her since day one.
“Mine.”