Marisa Chenery - Miles’s Redemption

Kareena didn’t say a word as he shifted her to his side and tucked her under his arm.

He was tall—at least six-foot-three. She liked tall men since she was no munchkin. The heat from his body seemed to envelope her as she put her arm around his waist to anchor herself. The scent of his cologne hit her nose, and she dragged in a lungful of it, liking the smell.

Outside, her friends gave her encouraging smiles and said their good-byes, leaving Kareena alone with the hottie. She was sure she’d get phone calls from all of them tomorrow.

She looked at the hunk and found him intently watching her. Her pussy clenching with need, Kareena said the first thing that came to her mind. “I’m Kareena. Why don’t you take me back to your place?” Of course all her words kind of slurred together, but the smile he flashed her said he didn’t seem to mind.

“I’m Miles,” he said in his deep voice. “Are you sure you’re in any condition for that?”

“I’ll admit I’m a bit drunk, but I’m good.”

“How about I drive you home instead?”

“Okay. You can spend the night with me.”

He chuckled and walked her over to the parking lot and a fancy black Audi. With a push of a button, he had the car unlocked. Once he had the passenger door open, he helped her onto the leather seat and waited until she’d buckled her seat belt before he closed her inside. In a matter of seconds, he was behind the wheel and starting the engine.

Kareena settled deeper into the seat as Miles backed up, and then drove out of the parking lot. Her eyes grew heavy when he merged with the traffic. Unable to keep them open any longer, she fell into a deep sleep.

Miles glanced over at Kareena and opened his mouth to ask for her address but closed it when he saw she was fast asleep. He nudged her a couple of times without getting any response. It looked as if his would-be mate had passed out, which didn’t really surprise him. She was more than a little drunk. If she’d been a werewolf, the amount of alcohol she’d consumed wouldn’t have had any effect on her. His kind had to drink a crap load of it to get drunk. Enough to more than likely give a mortal alcohol poisoning.

He nudged Kareena again, but she didn’t awaken. All she did was let out a soft snore. Well, so much for taking her home. She hadn’t given him her address before she’d fallen asleep. And since he couldn’t get her roused, that left him with only one option—

he’d have to take her to his penthouse. Hopefully Kareena wouldn’t wake up in the morning and be too upset about it. But it wasn’t as if he he’d just dump her into the street somewhere. She was his mate, his to protect and care for.

Being inside the small, closed space of the car with Kareena made her scent stronger and had Miles’s libido going haywire and his mating urge riding him harder. The need to claim her as his beat at him, but he wouldn’t. For one thing, she wasn’t in any condition for him to make love to her. And for another, she was mortal and had no idea he was a werewolf. He’d have to tell her the truth about him before he let things get too far. Hiding it wouldn’t do him any favors. He’d learned that with Jaden’s mother. She hadn’t taken the news too well.

But that hadn’t been the reason why she’d left him when she’d first become pregnant with Jaden without telling him about it. It had been his inability to give up his quest to find the foretold one who would rule over all the werewolf packs. For a great many years, he’d looked for this special werewolf, wanting to use him or her as a figurehead so Miles could rule. That was behind him now, though. Jaden, his own daughter, had turned out to be the foretold one. There was no way he’d do anything to hurt her. She was the love of his life, as was her unborn child.

Miles glanced over at Kareena as he arrived at his penthouse. And now he had his mate to add to his list of people he’d do anything to see happy. His sister, Saskia, who was also the leader of the Protectors who watched over the foretold one, was right up there as well. She hadn’t been for years, but with the new leaf he’d turned over, he was working on rebuilding the connection he’d once had with her.

He parked in the underground garage. Miles scooped Kareena into his arms from the passenger seat before he headed for the elevator. Once it arrived, he stepped inside and hit the button for the penthouse. On the ride up, she snuggled deeper into his arms. She felt right. He ached to take her pouty lips in a searing kiss, but he wanted her awake and aware when he did that.

At the very top floor, the elevator doors silently slid open. Miles walked the short distance down the hall to his door. Easily holding Kareena with one arm, he unlocked it and pushed it open. After stepping inside the penthouse, he kicked the door shut with his foot. He didn’t bother to turn on any lights since he could see in the dark as if it were daytime.

Inside his bedroom, Miles pulled back the covers on his bed and put Kareena down on it. He took off her shoes and tucked her in, leaving her completely dressed.

Undressing her wasn’t an option. It would only upset her if she were to wake up and find herself only in her panties and bra. There was also the fact that it would just make his mating urge worse, seeing her almost naked. He was just a man and could take only so much before he lost the tenuous hold he had on his control.

As he straightened, Miles felt his cell phone vibrating in his jeans pocket. He’d turned off the ringer in anticipation of his date. Deciding to answer it out of the bedroom so he wouldn’t disturb Kareena, he quickly left the room and shut the door behind him as he took out his phone.

He smiled when he saw it was his daughter calling. “Hello, Jaden.”

“Hi, Dad. So how did your date go? Is she your mate? Did she set off your mating urge?”

Miles chuckled. “One question at a time. In answer to your first one, the date didn’t go.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she stood me up. She sent me an email just before she was to meet me, saying she couldn’t make it. She wanted to set up another date, but I won’t be doing that.”

“All right. We’ll just have to try the other matches that came up on Dirk’s dating service.”

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

“Dad, you can’t give up so soon just because your first date didn’t go as planned.

Your mate is out there waiting for you to find her.”

Miles smiled, even though Jaden couldn’t see it. “I already found her.”

There was a short stretch of silence, and then Jaden asked, “What did you say?”

“I said I already found my mate. She arrived at the restaurant where I was to meet my date.”

He had to pull the phone away from his ear when Jaden let out an excited sounding shriek. In the background Miles heard Leif complaining about Jaden bursting his eardrums with her yelling. His daughter ignored her mate.

“I’m so happy for you, Dad. I knew you’d find her. So what’s she like? When will you see her again? And most importantly, when will I get to meet her?” she asked excitedly.

“Calm down, Jaden. You’re almost a week away from your due date. Do you want to have your baby right now?”

“I’m fine. You’re just as bad as Leif. He thinks anything and everything is going to start my labor. The baby will come when it’s ready. Now tell me when you’re going to see your mate again.”

“Actually, Kareena is here at my place.”

“Then what are you doing talking to me on the phone?”

Miles chuckled. “Well, she had a little too much to drink at the restaurant. She was there with three of her friends, celebrating one of their birthdays and another’s breakup from her boyfriend. From what I heard, he was a bit of a jerk. I offered Kareena a ride home, and she passed out in my car before I could get her address. She’s asleep in my bed right now.”