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I wanted to howl in pain but made myself speak as calmly as I could manage. “Is it serious?”

She smirked. The question was funny to her, and I found some relief in that. “No. I’ve only known him for a few months. Why? Did he say something to you?”

“No. I just noticed he’s here a lot. Are you sleeping together?”

She was shocked and displeased at my nerve, I could tell. “That is none of your business, young man.”

I wanted to beg her to tell me, but only if it was the answer I wanted.

Once he and I were both in the café, seated a few tables apart, and we were there for the same reason. Some sight of her, however brief. She was particularly elusive on that day.

I watched Tom wait so long for an appearance from her that he got up and went into her back office, a place so private I’d never even gotten to step foot inside of it.

I lasted five minutes before I followed him. I couldn’t help it.

I found him crowding her, his arms on either side of her, not letting her pass though it looked like she wanted to.

They were arguing as he trapped her against the wall. He bumped her chest with his aggressively.

I saw red and lost my mind.

I only came back into myself when I realized I was now being pinned to the wall.

Tom was gone, though I could remember the feel of his neck between my hands.

All that was forgotten by the feel of her hands against my chest, pushing, holding me against the wall by force. She was strong, impossibly so, and I was now in the position Tom had had her in when I’d lost my mind.

“You’re not human. What are you?” I asked her. It wasn’t the first time.

“I told you not to ask me that or you won’t see me again. I’ll have to leave. You understand?”

I nodded, relaxing as I studied her. “I almost killed him,” I said even as I was realizing it myself. I would have snapped his neck if she hadn’t stopped me by force.

She looked as agitated as I’d never seen her. Worry was written across her face as she studied mine intently.

She didn’t take her hands away, and I didn’t bring it up. It was rare to get that kind of contact from her.

She fisted my shirt in both hands, an attempt to shake me though I wasn’t budging now. She looked deep into my eyes and spoke softly, “You can’t do things like that. You have to control it. You can’t come back from taking a human life, do you understand? And you should never take one for something so trivial.

“He was manhandling you.”

“And you thought that should have a death sentence?”

“I’m sorry. Are you mad at me?”

She let go of me, taking a deep trembling breath as she ran a hand over her face. “No, Dom. I’m worried about you. You can’t get mixed up in my business like this. I think you should steer clear of this place for a while, and while you’re gone you should work on your control, especially how it’s triggered by your protective instinct.”

I was crushed, but I did what she said faithfully because I wanted to be able to see her again.

A few months later, I was back at her place and she didn’t send me away so I kept returning in my usual pattern.

Tom was still hanging around, his eyes following her and more lovesick by the day. She was barely looking at him by this point, and I started to have hope that it was over.

I was controlling my temper constantly, I had improved, but eventually Tom followed her back to her office again, and I followed him because I simply had to.

He was holding her against the wall again, and she was turning her face away passively. She looked bored more than anything.

“At least tell me why,” he was saying to her.