Free Spark by Jessica Coulter Smith, Smith Page A

princess.
    “Your club must really like you,” she said. “My dad told them to assign their
    most trusted member to guard me. Not that I think I need guarding, mind you. What’s the worst that’s going to happen to me in a hotel room? I might break a nail. Hardly a matter of national security, but he worries.”
    “You’re his only child?”
    “Only girl. I have five older brothers. They’re every bit as protective as Daddy.
    You should have seen me in high school. They chased off every guy that paid attention to me, but I sneaked out behind their backs and dated someone for a while. My oldest brother was furious when he found out I wasn’t a virgin anymore. I told him that’s what he got for listening to private conversations.” She smiled. “I bet you never had to sneak out to see someone.”
    “Uh, no. My dad was absent from our lives, and mom was more interested in the
    bottom of her latest bottle. I pretty much had free rein to do whatever I wanted, which is why I started prospecting when I was fifteen. I was patched in on my eighteenth birthday.”
    “I’m guessing that wasn’t too long ago. You don’t look very old.”
    “I’m old enough. You look barely out of high school.”
    Her cheeks flushed. “I’m twenty,” she mumbled. “An adult.”
    “You can’t even drink legally.”
    Mina folded her arms over her abundant chest. “And just how old are you, Mr.
    Bigshot?”
    “Twenty-four. And I’ve probably seen and done way more shit than you have.”
    Mina huffed. “If you’ve gone somewhere by yourself before tonight, then your
    life has been more exciting than mine. Daddy treats me like I’m made of spun glass and he’s afraid I’m going to shatter at any moment. My brothers are just as bad if not worse.”
    “So why are they leaving you behind?”
    “It’s the full-moon run and I’m not mated.” Her cheeks warmed. “I’ll be in heat soon and Daddy didn’t want me running loose with a bunch of horny wolves.”
    Spark slammed back against the booth. “Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You’re
    going into heat? And they’ve left you with an unmated male?”
    Her eyes widened. “Daddy was promised a mated male or female would watch
    over me. I mean, I know I flirted a little when we first met, but it wasn’t serious. I thought you were already taken.”
    “This is all kinds of fucked up.”
    He pulled his phone from his pocket and shot a message off to Blitz, waiting
    impatiently for a reply. When his phone chimed, it wasn’t with news he wanted to hear.
    Blaze, Crash, and Burn were not going to be able to babysit, and Blitz claimed to trust Spark completely. Asshole! I don’t trust myself!
    “It looks like we’re stuck with each other, princess,” Spark said. “So if you want to call your daddy and pull the plug on this entire thing, now is the time to do it.”
    She shook her head. “This is the first freedom I’ve ever had. I’m not going to
    squander it.”
    “Suit yourself. But when this ends badly, just remember you were given an out.”
    Their food arrived and they ate in silence, with Spark stealing glances at her and catching her looking at him more than once. They’d just left the fox in the henhouse and he had no doubt hell was going to break loose when he couldn’t keep it in his pants. It wasn’t that he was setting himself up for failure, but he’d had an instant reaction to her, one that wouldn’t be ignored. As much as he hated to admit it, he’d just met his mate.
    And he couldn’t have her.
    When they were finished, he escorted Mina outside to her car, a cute little
    convertible in cherry red. It suited her from what he could tell and he waited until she was buckled before striding over to his bike. He swung a leg over the seat and started the engine, not pulling out into traffic until he was certain Mina was right behind him.
    He could feel her presence behind him the entire way to the hotel, which just solidified the thought that she was his mate.