Chapter 52

[James’ POV]

James believed himself to be many things. But ‘violent’ had never been one of them.

Sure, he’d gotten into his fair share of childhood brawls with some of his friends, but none of them were really ever out of true anger.

But this...This was different.

Ever since he and Mia showed up at the event, it seemed like one aggravating thing after another kept happening around them. What truly seemed to have tipped the man over the edge was when Edward made the back-handed comment about his ex-wife.

And not a single nerve in his body would have ever thought that his own mother would be the one to stick up for Mia. For a brief, flicker of a second, James was filled with pride and relief, only to be torn down by that unnecessary remark afterwards.

The man felt his heart drop into his stomach when Mia fled the table. Hell, he couldn’t even blame her.

There were far too many things he wanted to say to Diana at that very moment; however, James wasn’t about to cause any more of a scene. Instead, he viciously glared at the woman and got up from the table as well.

He struggled to find Mia as he looked around for her. It wasn’t until his hypersensitive senses picked up a distressed cry that he knew something was horribly wrong. He followed the sound down the hallway and was struck by a scene that he never hoped to have ever witnessed.

Standing just feet away from him was Rudolf Lawerence crowding over a frightened-looking Mia with her arms pinned above her head. Something feral had come over him.

He grabbed Rudolf by the back of the shoulders and threw a series of hard punches at the other man’s face.

“Don’t you ever come near her again!” James growled.

He hadn’t even noticed that in the midst of his refraining from literally tearing Rudolf to pieces, they had collected a small crowd. The only thing that broke Alpha from his mindless state was when Mia reached out and rested her hand over his arm. It was as though an internal switch was flipped and reality was setting back in.

James collected himself as best as he could and pulled Mia close to his side. “I’m sorry for ever having brought you here tonight,” he said to her.

Mia shook her head. “Let’s go home.”

He felt a mixture of anger and regret as the two of them made their way toward the main doors.

The drive back to the house was primarily kept in silence. But, in all honesty, neither James nor Mia seemed to have minded much.

That was not how the evening was meant to play out. The Alpha Gathering had been preying on James’ mind for months. It was meant to be the night in which he would show off his wife with pride and joy. It was bad enough that he couldn’t come out and plainly state that Mia was so much more to him than just a wife. She was his fated mate.

But knowing that he hadn’t even had the chance to tell her this bit of news, didn’t make it right for him to just throw it out to everyone else and basically blindside her.

As the car pulled up to the house, most of James’ rage had lowered down to a bearable simmer. He gently took Mia’s hand and led them inside. Multiple staff members stopped what they were doing to catch a shocking glimpse of the couple as they made their way through. Lily was the first to rush over to them with a look of worry painted on her face.

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “What happened?”

Mia held up her hand and shook her head. Neither one had it in them to explain what had happened. Once they were in the privacy of their bedroom, both James and Mia let out a long breath.

James was the first one to try and break the silence. “Mia...”

“James, you don’t need to s—”

“Yes, I do,” he stated. He pushed himself off the door and moved closer. “Tonight was fucking horrible. I don’t know what to apologize for first.”

Mia shook her head once more. “James, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. I’m sure my leaving in the middle of dinner wasn’t exactly a good look for our relationship. What went on with your family was, I'll admit, a bit unexpected. But, I didn’t really think that everything was going to run smoothly.”

“Well, I did,” he said firmly. “I figured at the very least, considering the circumstances, that they would all be on their best behavior. Clearly, I was wrong.”

Mia took her bottom lip between her teeth, causing James to let out a low growl. A spark of heat ignited within his chest.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For helping me deal with Rudolf, at least.”

James’ expression twisted with bitterness. “That asshole never knew how to keep his hands to himself. When I saw him hovering over you...I just lost it.”

Mia reached up to take his face in her hands. “You weren’t the one I was afraid of.”

James leaned down to capture Mia’s lips in a much-needed kiss. His hands wrapped around her waist till they reached for the zipper of her dress. He hummed in his throat. “As much as I loved this dress you chose, I want to see you out of it. Now.”

He did away with the remainder of her attire and practically tore at the confines of his own clothing. The creature within him was antsy. He needed to have Mia close—to feel her beneath him.

James guided them over to the bed where he rested back against the headboard. With a sly grin on his face, he tipped his chin up and beckoned her over. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her over to straddle his hips.

He knew she could feel the evidence of his arousal and watched her cheeks blush a beautiful shade of pink.

“I want you to ride me,” he said roughly. “But first...I want to watch you come.”

Mia gaped at him. James reached his hand forward to delve between her thighs to seek out her own growing arousal. A broken cry tore from her mouth when he scored his fingers through her slick, hot folds.

She shamelessly pushed against his hand, finding that perfect friction. James brought his other hand up to pinch and circled the stiffened buds of her nipples. He could tell from the erratic nature of her breathing, that Mia’s release was dawning.

“J-James...”

He sank two of his fingers into her tight channel and slowly began thrusting. Curling his digits with every push, Mia’s body broke out into a vigorous tremble.

Her desperate gasps drove James to the brink of his own sanity. “Ah. Ah. Ah.” It was like music to his ears, he never wanted it to end.

Seconds later, Mia was falling over the edge. James felt her inner walls tighten around his fingers he kept gently thrusting, wanting to draw out her orgasm for as long as possible.

He pulled her in for a deep, possessive kiss. “You’re all that matters to me.”