Page 111 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

“Sloane did.”

Marcus’s expression darkens. “I don’t know how she got the key, but I will make sure she doesn’t come here again.”

“She called Mia a hybrid,” I reveal hesitantly. “So she knows.”

Marcus sighs and looks toward the trees. “It’s fine. She can’t do anything to Mia. Shifter children are precious. My uncle is more likely going to tell me to drop you and take Sloane as a mother figure to Mia than he is to tell me to get rid of my daughter.”

I immediately stiffen, and he lifts a hand. “I’m not doing it, Jessa. I’m just telling you the worst case scenario.”

A wave of anxiety washes over me. I’ve never felt so helpless before. These people, they can easily get rid of me if I inconvenience them. They can take Mia, and it doesn’t matter where I go. They will be able to find me. If not them, then the hunters.

I can’t even protect my own daughter.

Marcus tugs the beer bottle from my hands and sets it down on the boards. “I shouldn’t have said that. Jessa, you are Mia’s mother. You will always be the most important person in her life, and there is nobody who will take her from you. I’ll make sure of that. I want you here, both of you. If you’d rather have your own place, I’ll set you up on pack ground, somewhere safe, somewhere close. I am not going to force you into anything.”

“I don’t want that,” I say abruptly. “I want Mia to have her father.”

He goes still. “And what do you want, Jessa? For yourself, I mean.”

I don’t have an answer for that, so I press my lips shut. Marcus rises out of his chair. He crosses to me, lifts me by the waist without effort, and lowers himself into my seat with me pulled across his lap, my legs over the arm, his heartbeat steady against my shoulder. His palm settles heavily on my thigh.

“I asked what you want,” he says against my hair. “For yourself.”

I stare at the buttons of a shirt he isn’t wearing. “The first time we slept together, we didn’t love each other. We didn’t even know each other.” My fingers find the edge of the healed skin on his ribs and skirt around it. “When I came looking for you afterward, it wasn’t to trap you into marrying me.”

“No?”

“I wanted to give you the chance to know her. If you wanted it.” My voice roughens. “I never meant to keep her from you.”

His arm tightens around my back. “And now?”

“It’s different now.” I can’t look at him.

“How so?” His voice stays low.

I don’t have the words, and I’m not certain I want to find them. My mouth stays shut.

Marcus lifts my hand off his ribs and closes it inside his. “Then I’ll say it for you.”

I hold my breath.

“Ten years ago, if you’d reached me, I’d have married you.” His thumb sweeps over my knuckles. “Or tried to, at least. I’d have wanted her raised with both of us in the house.”

“And if I’d told you no?”

“Then I’d have respected it.” He turns my hand over in his. “I’d still have been there. I wouldn’t have walked away from either of you.” My eyes sting, and I blink against it. “I’ve already told you this. I’d have fallen for you regardless,” he goes on. “You’re an incredible woman, even when you’re mean to me.”

A wet, exasperated laugh escapes before I can stop it. He doesn’t laugh with me. His fingers rise to trace my lower lip.

“I don’t care how mean or harsh you are to me sometimes.” His voice has gone rough. “I just like hearing you talk.” Heat crawls up my neck.

“These last few months, I’ve fallen in love with you.” His forehead comes down against mine.

My breath hitches at how easily he admits it.

“Even if Mia wasn’t in the picture and you and I had met on that road, I would still have fallen for you. If you and I had gotten married ten years ago, I would still have felt this way.”

His hands move down my sides and along my thigh. He’s laying claim to me, and it undoes me more than any seduction would.