His Inescapable Mate novel Chapter 20

Before Vincent could say anything, the back sliding glass door opened and Jessie walked in, wearing a small black bikini. She could pull off bathing suits better than me, that lucky bitch.

"Dude Nora!" she gushed. "I know you don't wanna hear it, but Kyle can't stop talking about how sexy he thinks you look. I heard from Veronica that he wants to ask you to Prom!" She looked all giddy until her eyes landed on a very pissed off Vincent.

His grip on my arms tightened and he let out a low growl. He had taken his shirt off earlier, so I saw how his powerful chest muscles expanded and contracted with every deep breath he took. "Who's Kyle?" he demanded, looking at me like I had wronged him somehow.

I rolled my eyes. "He's some loser who's had a crush on me since you guys revealed yourselves," I scoffed. Seriously, Vincent doesn't need to worry about me and…eww, Kyle. Just the thought of Kyle made bile rise up in my throat and my stomach twist with nausea.

Vincent's face physically relaxed and he stared at me for a little while longer. Jessie stood in awkward silence, wondering whether or not she should leave. Vincent finally smirked and turned to her.

"Jessie," he barked, "bring Kyle in here."

She nodded and literally ran out of the house and into the backyard.

Vincent looked back at me, his smirk still dominating his features. "I told you Mate," he said in a velvet voice, "I need to protect you from everything: vampires, dangerous people, yourself, and now even horny werewolf males. However, it seems to me that you don't like to listen, so I'm gonna show you the reason why I'm so protective of you."

That didn't sound good at all. "Are you going to feed me to a vampire?" I whimpered, my heart speeding up with fear. I've never seen one before, but I was told that they were even more frightening than werewolves, particularly because they eat humans. I heard that when a vampire mates with a human, there's some kind of method that they use to feed from them without turning them into one of them. Hence the human basically becomes a blood bank.

A look of horror passed over Vincent's face. He pushed his face closer to mine. "Listen to me Nora," he whispered, "I'd never hurt you. Ever. But this…you need to learn. If he tries to hurt you, scream and I'll come save you."

That sure as shit didn't calm me down! "What?" I whimpered, my legs getting shaky.

I stood at the edge of the sidewalk where the pool was, letting my toes hang off the ledge. I looked at the ground to see fifteen feet spray-painted in black right where we stood. Great, Kyle led me to the deep end!

"Uhh, can't we start over at the four feet point?" I asked, pointing in its direction.

"It's too crowded," Kyle said, "besides, there's no one at this point, so we'll have the water to ourselves."

Vincent looked a little pained and he bit his lower lip and clenched his fists even harder. When he looked over at me, his posture visibly relaxed and he gave me a shy smile. I turned away from him. It's his fault that I have to do this in the first place.

"We'll jump in," Kyle said. "Ya know, totally immerse ourselves, that way you're forced to deal with the water head on. Now follow me." He let go of my hand and jumped in the pool, sending cold water splashing all over my legs. I watched him submerge almost to the bottom before he kicked himself up back towards the surface. Soon his head bobbed up and he swam over to the edge. "Your turn."