Fated Mates: Paranormal Romance Series Starters Boxset

by Hariharan, Laxmi

  “Yours.”

  I only realize that I’ve said the word aloud when he stills over me. Then he scoops me up and turns me over to rest on his chest. He runs his palm over my hair. Once again, his touch feels almost tender. But that’s not possible. Surely, I am mistaken. The most brutal alpha in this part of the world is not capable of a soft touch. He is not.

  Is he?

  “Sleep now and recover your strength.” His voice sinks into my blood.

  There is a subtle command to the words that insists I obey him. I want to resist him, and yet, this once…just once, will it not be okay to shut my eyes and give in to this feeling of warmth and comfort and safety which cocoons me? Can I not give in to that part of me that wants to be owned?

  When I wake up, I am alone.

  25

  Zeus

  I walk into the war room for the daily recon to find the place is empty, except for Ethan. He rises to his feet as I walk in. I slow my steps.

  It’s not in the man to be that formal. Oh, he respects me all right, only he’s not given to such outward gestures, not when we are on our own.

  I pull out a chair, drop into it, and tip it all the way back. “Kayden is preparing to attack?”

  Ethan goes still; his gaze narrows.

  “Don’t be so surprised, Second.” I set the chair on its front legs with a thump. “The fucker is bound to spring that on us when we least expect it—”

  “Namely right after initiating the peace talks?” Ethan frowns. “Why am I not surprised that you’d have already anticipated it?”

  “Admit it, you are impressed.” I push back the chair, then prop my legs on the table.

  Ethan watches me with a frown. “That’s an antique table.”

  Boo fucking hoo. I scratch my chin. Nevertheless, I swing my legs off the table and set my feet on the floor with a snap. “You’re delaying the inevitable, Second.”

  “Oh, what the fuck.” Ethan shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Fine, I am impressed.”

  I drum my fingers on the table. “Why do I feel a ‘but’ coming on?”

  “You are so able to anticipate Kayden’s moves. Sometimes I think the two of you have some kind of a past that I don’t know anything about.”

  My shoulders freeze. “How did you guess?”

  “What the fuck?” Ethan’s features harden. He marches to the table and pounds his fist on the surface. “Why didn’t you tell me anything about this until now? Do you know how important this piece of information is to the future of this city, for the future of coming generations? For—”

  “Relax, brother,” I drawl. “I was yanking your chain.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Color rushes to his cheeks

  “Calm down, asshole. At this rate, you’ll have a coronary and die in this room instead of going out with a bang in a fight.”

  “Is that what you want, to meet a bloody end?” He leans down and grabs my collar. “Is this why you can’t wait to leap into a fight with Kayden, so the two of you can slaughter each other?”

  “You want a fight, Second? You only have to ask.” I hold his gaze. And it feels weird that I am calm while Ethan, the sensible one, is all worked up. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were worried about losing me.”

  “Oh, bloody fuck.” He lets go of me and steps back.

  “Can’t remember when you used that four-letter word so many times in one conversation last.” I grin.

  “What-fucking-ever.” He rakes his fingers through his hair, but his eyebrows draw down.

  “Now you are borrowing my dialogue.” I click my tongue. “Really, E, it’s time you think of something more original.”

  “Time you think of how we put an end to this Kayden-shaped problem. It’s bad enough that you took the omega to bed—”

  “What’s your point?” I crack my neck from side to side. My shoulders flex. Ethan’s right, much as I hate to admit it. Kayden had sent the omega to kill me…and I had mated her.

  What a fucking mess. “The bastard is as much in my head as I am in his,” I growl, more disturbed than I want to let on.

  Our two countries have been at war for so long that I’d known it would come to this—a bloody battle which I intend to win. Not for my Council or the citizens of this fair city. I don’t owe any of them anything. Nope, it’s my pride that insists I defeat Kayden, quash any resistance. That and being able to use his resources to restructure this city. Wipe it clean of the dirt and muck, the corruption that grabs at its roots. I am so close now, to getting what I want, I can taste it. The fine hairs on my neck harden. I drum my fingers over my chest. It can’t be that simple.

  Kayden couldn’t have been so careless that news of his plans would so conveniently reach me, giving me time to plan a defense.

  I rise to my feet, only to pace along the length of the room.

  Ethan watches, his gaze hard. “Aren’t you going to gloat we should have listened to you and attacked a few days ago when you first mentioned that offense was the best form of defense?”

  I pause and swivel around on my heels. “It’s not in me to strike a man when he is down…not.” I peel my lips back at him, let the glint of satisfaction show in my eyes.

  “It’s clear we need to get our troops together, to prepare for a fight.” He turns to leave.

  “No.”

  He pauses mid-step, then shoots me a glance. “Excuse me?”

  So fucking polite. I much prefer the Ethan who says what is on his mind. But then he’s the gentleman, trained in the etiquette that makes him the kind of alpha that omegas yearn for.

  Me? I am the marauder, the one who takes. Who protects, too—not that I’d ever admit to that—just without the finer points of behavior that Ethan can lay claim to.

  “You heard me.” I rub the back of my neck. “How many people know of this?”

  “Just you and me, and the spy who brought the news.”

  “Keep it that way.” I set my jaw.

  “What are you playing at, Zeus?” He frowns.

  “You knew what you were getting when you chose me. You know I don’t trust anyone with my plans.”

  “A strength.”

  I nod.

  “Except when it isn’t. When you hold your cards too close to your chest, when you don’t allow anyone else to see what you are, then what you become is a dictator.”

  “Right on first count.” I chuckle, the sound harsh. “I have never tried to hide what I am. I am not the idealized version of the leader you think I am.

  “You are not a monster, Zeus.” He leans forward on his feet, his gaze measured, his chin rock-hard.

  “I didn’t take you for an ass-licker either.” I grin.

  “You are too smart,” he continues as if I hadn’t spoken, “too intelligent to waste your position, the title you carry, your bloodline…you wouldn’t use it without reason. You have a plan all right. It’s just not the one you are sharing with me and the Council. And unlike them—”

  “You’re not gullible.” A smile tugs my lips, the first genuine one of the day since I fondled the omega and touched her face and reluctantly left her sleeping in the bed stained from the evidence of our rutting.

  I shouldn’t let thoughts of her interrupt this important session. This is the reason I’ve fought so far, the reason I’d overthrown the old order, brought in people of my own, cultivated the city. And yet when the goal is so close, when I can all but taste the revenge, the fruit of my years of struggling, all I can think about is her.

  “You are losing your focus.” He grimaces. “She is making you lose your concentration.” And the smile on his face is one of satisfaction. As if he’s been waiting so long to see me fall. He’ll relish every last second of seeing me drown in the feelings that are engulfing me.

  “I hear every word you say, friend.” I emphasize the last word, making it a mockery of what it is meant to be. “Do not for a second think I have lost sight of what I want.”

  “Except
what you wanted forty-eight hours ago…is it the same as what you want now?”

  “Of course it is. I—” The words cease. Something very much like an epiphany sweeps over me. He’s right. It’s not sufficient to kill Kayden. Not adequate to raze this city to the ground. Not enough to organize for those who are loyal to me to be part of the new world I hope to build. No, there is something more. Her. I need her with me. Want her close by so I can bury myself in her sweet cunt when the need takes me. So I can feel her soft skin, twine the silky hair around my fingers, see her grow fat with my child, and kiss her and love her and mate her and… Sweat beads my brow. My vest sticks to my back. The heat in the room is suddenly too much to bear.

  I stalk to the window and fling it open, leaning outside. I’d never done this before, looking for fresh air in a city where there is none. Where the smoke from the charcoal fires that people burn at night to keep warm settles over the space, coating everyone in fine grime.

  Where a deep breath in the open will clog the pores on your skin. Yet I find myself leaning out and gasping lungfuls of the pollution. Laced below the pea-soup fog I smell the moisture from the Thames. The sluggish brown sludge of the river flows in the distance. Over the years the water has reduced to a trickle of what it was. The ruins of the bridge that had been destroyed by the bombs mock me from a distance.

  There’s a touch on my shoulder, and I know it’s Ethan.

  “A mating bond goes both ways, or didn’t you realize that.”

  He’s right, and yet a part of me doesn’t want to accept it. The mating bond was not spontaneous. It was something I had decided on the moment I’d set eyes on her. I’d known that I was going to claim her. And yet I shake his hand off.

  “You gloating now?” I turn on him.

  “You know I don’t do that.” He puts up his palms.

  “Yeah, you leave the finer points of being an asshole to me.”

  “Like I said, you are a better man than you give yourself credit for.” He grips my shoulder, his gaze serious.

  I almost tell him what I have in mind for the city then. Almost. “You’re wrong.” I step back. “You don’t have to worry that this will derail our plan to fight the Scots.”

  “I never doubted that anything would take your mind off the goal at the end.” His voice is sincere. He sounds exactly like the Ethan I know.

  “Power. Ultimate power, that’s all I crave.” I say it aloud and I know it’s to remind myself of what I have at stake.

  A way to help focus my mind which insists on reaching out through the mating bond to her.

  As if sensing my interest, the mating bond twangs. Grief and loneliness sweep through. It twists my heart. A band of ice tightens around my chest. A feeling of such utter dejectedness crawls into my gut, and I know without a doubt it is her. That the omega is awake and needs comforting and tending. Likely she is coming down after the high of the heat cycle. As the reality of what has been done sinks into her, she will rebel and try to escape. And I cannot, will not let that happen. “I need to go to her.”

  My gaze snaps on Ethan. My voice sounds hollow and desperate, and I don’t try to mask it.

  “It’s normal for the first months of a newly paired bond for each to be so attuned to the other that you have difficulty telling your emotions apart from hers.”

  His voice is solicitous, and it should soothe me that he is trying to calm me. Instead, a burst of anger twists my insides. “And how would you know that?” I snap.

  His gaze widens, but there is no other change in expression. “So I have heard. Consider it advice from one friend to another. The crux of my experience should help an alpha who is about to enter a very tumultuous stage of a relationship, one that will affect your mind and hence the plans that the entire Council has worked on so meticulously over months.”

  I look at his features, trying to detect any trace of the fact that he was making fun of me, or that he was speaking in jest, but all I see is seriousness, a trace of concern perhaps. I drop my hands and step back. “Advice accepted.”

  I swerve around him and head for the door.

  “I let go of the omega who could have been my mate and I will forever regret it.”

  I pause at the exit, then turn to him. “She’s—”

  “Alive. I met her on my last trip to Russia, was attracted to her instantly, wanted to claim her…” His voice trails off.

  “But you didn’t.” I angle my head, watching him closely.

  His lips firm. A pulse ticks above his jaw. “I waited too long. I didn’t act on my instinct. When I went back in search of her she was gone. The Vikings invaded Russia and all hell broke loose. They caught me and almost killed me. Only let me go when they realized I was your second.” His lips twist. “Even those barbarians did not want to cause a diplomatic incident with you.”

  “My reputation precedes me.” I should feel a fierce surge of pride that news of how I had taken power in London had traveled that far. I should feel gratified that the fiercest warriors in the land hesitate to challenge me. Instead, all I can think of is the softness of her curves under my fingers. Smell the scent of her arousal as I bury my nose in her core, the taste of her essence as I lick her moist folds. And all of it insists that there is more to life than absolute power.

  How can I think that? I roll my shoulders and try to school my thoughts into some semblance of familiarity. Soon I’ll be taking pity on my own people, pardoning their faults, rebuilding the infrastructure for them, and what the fuck? Obviously, the proximity to the omega is softening me up.

  “So you see, I understand a little of what you are going through… Hell, I am envious that you found an omega who calls to you the way she does.” He drags his fingers through his hair. “And ignore what I said earlier. Ultimately if she is the woman for you, then nothing else matters, certainly not the fact that Kayden sent her to kill you.”

  “And the surprises keep coming.” So not what I’d expected to hear from Ethan. That must have cost him, given how much he hates the Scots. This fight with Kayden is personal for him. For me…it’s a means to show the world I am better than my father.

  “We’ll find her.” I stalk back to him. “I’ll help you find her.” I grip his shoulder.

  His gaze widens. Guess he hadn’t expected me to say that. Hell, I hadn’t expected myself to say that. The omega’s influence is more consuming than I realized.

  The mating bond stutters, and a cold feeling coils in my gut. My shoulders stiffen, and I half turn toward the exit.

  Ethan’s eyebrows furrow. “Go.” He jerks his chin to the door.

  I don’t question the urgency that sweeps through my blood. She needs me. Swiveling around, I rush for the exit.

  26

  Lucy

  I look at myself in the mirror and wince. My hair is caked with cum, and there is fluid drying on my body. My lips are swollen, the skin around my lips is chafed, my nipples look unusually larger, and my breasts…?

  I cup them and grimace.

  They feel sore, like they have been squeezed and pummeled.

  Well, to be fair, he had been gentle with my breasts. Overall, he’d been gentle with my body. For a big man like him, his fingers are unusually light in their touch. He’d rubbed his cum into every part of me that he could access, then poured some of our joined-up liquids into my mouth, and I had…loved it.

  I admit it.

  I had relished every touch, feel, taste of him.

  I had reveled in his scent. I had fucked him right back.

  I grasp the edge of the wash basin and lean forward, my hair falling over my face, bringing with it the scent of sex. That darker, deeper, muskier essence of his laced with the lighter one that I recognize as the spoor of my own arousal.

  It feels like he’s right here with me in the room again. His scent, his touch, his caresses surround me. My lower belly cramps, and liquid seeps out from between my legs.

  I squeeze my eyes shut and will back the sickness that twists my gu
t. The mating bond twangs and coils inside, trying to reassure me that this is as it should be, that he is my mate, he had taken me, used me. Claimed me. It is only right that my body responds to him.

  No, no, no. I swing out and smash my fist into the mirror. Cracks spider over the surface and pain slices through the sexual haze that has gripped me. Scarlet drips down my fingers and splashes on the floor dripping over the shards of broken glass. I swear bring the side of my palm to my mouth and suck on it. I have made a mess of this place. Is he going to punish me for this? Probably. Most likely he’ll fuck me again, and my body will enjoy it and ask for more.

  My shoulders hunch, and the adrenaline fades. I am bleeding, and I know I need to stop the flow of blood, and yet my legs feel too heavy to move.

  Every part of my body aches.

  Not surprising, though, for it’s been what, five, six days since he brought me here and locked me in his space? Since he ravished me and forced the mating bond on me?

  I only have myself to blame. I made the first move. I bit him, I staked my need for the bond. It was the heat cycle, of course, and I can keep telling myself that.

  That my hormones are at play and I am not really aware of what is happening. It doesn’t change the reality of everything that has taken place.

  Tears burn at the backs of my eyes and fall on my hand, burning the broken skin that still bleeds. I need to get ahold of myself. The bond twinges again, and a feeling of warmth pours down it, bleeding into my muscles. It’s as if he knows of my discomfort and is trying to soothe me. Lies, all lies. I don’t trust him. All of it: his taking care of me, making sure I am fed, trying to get me to say his name, seducing me by sharing a little bit of the broken man I sense inside the monster on the outside. All of it is an act.

  I feel his presence creeping under my skin, twinning with my blood. He’s becoming a part of me.

  Just as he’d rubbed his fluids into every crevice on my body, making sure to strengthen the bonding process. Making me a part of him, too. The thought sends a shudder of fear down my spine. I am losing myself in the omega I am at heart. That core of me who is bonded to an alpha, who wants to be taken and cared for. Who needs an alpha to rut her through a cycle. I am all of that and more. So much more. I need to stop resisting him. Need to let him in, let him take, allow myself to dissolve into him…then find myself again.