Free Marisa Chenery by Warrior's Surrender

logical about it. It just was.
    Trying her best not to show that anything had happened, she leaned back against Jaxon and fought to catch her breath. He released her completely, allowing her to stand straight. Chyna turned to face him. He stared at her with no emotion showing on his face. She opened her mouth to say something, but Jaxon spoke before she could.
    “I’ll wash up first, then you can have it,” he said in an even tone.
    Silently, Chyna watched him run the bar of soap over his body in short, jerky motions. He didn’t meet her gaze. Not even once. After he rinsed off, Jaxon walked out of the shower and shut the glass door behind him. She stood under the water as he toweled off then left the bathroom.
    Had she done something wrong? She didn’t think so. As far as she was concerned, this last bout of lovemaking had been the best they’d had. Whatever she’d felt had to be only one-sided. The way Jaxon acted, Chyna had to wonder if he’d had the opposite happen to him.
    * * * * *
     
    Jaxon pulled on the pair of sleep pants he’d packed before he sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. He’d done it. He’d bitten Chyna. His eyeteeth had grown longer and sharper, and he’d sunk them into where her shoulder and neck met. Then he’d felt a bond form between them. He had tried to fight the urge. Had fought it to the bitter end, which he had a feeling had been his undoing. The harder he’d tried to push it away, the harder it had ridden him until he’d lost all control.
    And the bite had the end result Anubis had told him about. Chyna was as immortal as he. Jaxon had watched as the bite mark he’d given her healed in a matter of seconds. A sense of horror had washed through him. But with that emotion had come others he’d never wanted to feel for a woman—love and the need to always have her at his side.
    Unable to handle what coursed through him, Jaxon had shut down emotionally. He’d seen the hurt in Chyna’s eyes when he’d distanced himself from her, but he couldn’t snap out of it. This was the only way he could cope with it right now.
    Jaxon heard the shower turn off. He lifted his head and scrubbed his face with his hands. No matter how much he hadn’t wanted it, Chyna was now his mate. It wasn’t her fault. She had no idea what had happened between them. He supposed he had to tell her the truth about everything, but not today. He was already having a hard enough time of it and didn’t need to throw that into the mix.
    Chyna stepped into the bedroom area dressed in the clothes he’d stripped off her in the bathroom. It looked as if she’d finger-combed her damp hair. She stopped just inside the entrance to the room and stared at him. Her features were guarded.
    “This isn’t going to work, is it?” she asked in a quiet voice.
    “I never said that.”
    “No, but you don’t have to. What happened in the bathroom, I got the message loud and clear. You’re not comfortable with us.”
    Jaxon stood and walked over to Chyna. “No, I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I want to end what I have with you.”
    “I don’t know if I can handle too much more of your roller coaster emotions. You’re obviously still having issues with having a relationship. Maybe it would be better for both of us if I let you go.”
    Something that felt an awful lot like fear shot through Jaxon as Chyna spoke. She couldn’t leave him. He took hold of her upper arms and bent his head to look directly in her eyes. “No. You’re not letting me go. I can work through this.”
    “And how long will that take? Days? Months? Years? I’m going to be blunt here. I’m thirty years old. I’m getting to the stage in my life where if I don’t find a man to settle down with soon it’ll be harder and harder to do so. Sorry to say, I’m not going to waste valuable time on you if you can’t give me what I want. I’ll find someone else who will.”
    The thought of Chyna in the arms of another man had Jaxon fighting