The Moonlight Breed 8: Leap in the Dark by Gabrielle Evans (chrysanthemum read aloud .txt) 📕

his bed with Xander curled against his back instead of on the floor with someone who definitely wasn’t Braxton on top of him. Maybe, but he wasn’t going to hold his breath.

“No.” Stopping in his tracks, Braxton fisted his hands at his sides and spun on his heels. There was a perfectly logical explanation for what he’d witnessed. No matter how rocky things had been lately, Xander wouldn’t do that to him.

Even if it was exactly as it appeared, they’d been through too much for him to just call it quits. Maybe their union wasn’t legally recognized, but he’d committed himself for life the moment Xander had claimed him.

If Xander was messing around on him, he’d kick the cheating bastard’s ass from one end of the state to the other, but he wasn’t just going to walk away without a fight.

“Braxton!”

Watching Xander jog toward him, Braxton realized he hadn’t made it very far in his trek. Hell, he could still see the damn dorms. He really sucked at playing the jilted and betrayed lover. He silently damned himself for being a mature adult when running from his problems would be so much easier.

“Braxton, wait.”

He hadn’t moved a muscle since Xander had first spoken his name. What the hell did the guy think he was going to do? Dart off into the woods like a jackrabbit? “I’m standing right here.”

Rather than offering an apology or begging forgiveness, Xander cradled the back of his neck and leaned into him so that his spine curved as his lover planted a searing kiss on him that spiked Braxton’s blood pressure and made his toes curl. As the kiss deepened, his head began to spin with the lack of oxygen, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. They’d shared a lot of kisses during their relationship, but ones like this—ones that completely consumed him—had become few and far between.

“It’s not what you think.” Xander held him close and rained kisses over the top of his head and down one side of his face. “I swear it, chulo. You’re it for me. You’re the only one I want.”

“I was trying to prove a point when you walked in,” Spiro added as he approached them. “I’m sure it looked very lewd to you, but it wasn’t.”

Braxton’s eyes narrowed as he sized up the doctor. “What point would that be?”

In the blink of an eye, Xander was ripped from his grasp and pushed face down in the dirt. Spiro covered his back, creating an almost identical scene to the one in the living room. Then he jerked Xander’s head to the side and bent so that his lips hovered only a millimeter from the pulsing vein.

“Goddamn it,” Xander snarled. “Get the fuck off me.”

Spiro stood and casually brushed the dirt from his clothes. “I was just demonstrating how quickly someone could rip your mate’s throat out if he didn’t start taking his training seriously.”

Braxton didn’t know what the hell to say to that. So he just stood there with his mouth hanging open like an idiot. While relieved that it definitely hadn’t been what he’d feared, this new development left him feeling cold.

He’d been a total wreck since the night Xander had been shot. Somewhere along the way, he’d deluded himself into believing his mate was a shifter, and therefore, indestructible. Seeing him bleeding out onto a stretcher as he was rushed into surgery had been a huge wake-up call.

Xander could die. He might be a bit more durable than Braxton, but he certainly wasn’t immortal. Obviously, there were some wounds that shifters couldn’t heal. That was just another lie Braxton had been telling himself. If Xander could be paralyzed—even if it was just an arm—what other permanent damage could he sustain?

“I understand, and I overreacted.” Turning to Spiro, he pointed a finger in the guy’s face. “Don’t touch my mate again.” Xander wasn’t the only possessive one in their relationship.

“You’re hot when you’re jealous,” Xander teased him.

Swinging his arm so that his extended finger pointed toward his lover, Braxton glared, seeing absolutely nothing humorous about the situation. “We need to talk.”

“Can we do it naked?”

“This is not a fucking joke, Alexander. As much as it pains me to say it, Spiro’s right. If you don’t start taking this shit seriously, you’re going to end up dead.” Growing more pissed off with each breath, he strode past the two men and marched straight back to the dorm. “Come find me when you pull your head out of your ass,” he called over his shoulder.

It was something they were going to discuss, but he needed to get himself together first. Otherwise, he’d just end up yelling, Xander would get defensive, and nothing would be accomplished. If Xander thought he was just going to sit around while the jackass got himself killed, he was sorely mistaken.

And Braxton would get that through his dear mate’s thick skull if he had to beat it in with a mallet.

Chapter Six

Xander wasn’t typically one to drown his sorrows at the bottom of a bottle, but having a drink—or five—sounded like a good idea right then. Instead, he pushed himself up from the ground, dusted the dirt off, and trudged back to the house to take his ass-chewing like a man.

Everyone was making a big damn deal about nothing, as far as he was concerned. Spiro had decided that since Xander hadn’t taken goofing off with his pack brothers seriously, he obviously didn’t take his limitations seriously. That would have been bad enough, but then, he’d been able to convince Braxton of it.

His mate might be half his size, but when his temper flared, everyone ran for cover, including Xander. He’d made it his life’s mission to provide everything Braxton needed to feel safe, secure, and loved. Maybe he was embarrassed about his new limitations. Maybe he wasn’t the touchy-feely type. However, when it came to his mate, he was shameless.

With that thought in mind, he entered the kitchen through the back